Welcome to the History of Education Society
The Educational Crusade
Charles Dorn
Bowdoin College
At Bowdoin, I teach a 16-student, first-year seminar in the history of education. Entitled "The Educational Crusade," the course is designed to both teach students something about educational history and to make transparent for them the expectations that Bowdoin faculty have for their reading comprehension and writing ability. Many faculty at Bowdoin use a "read and response" model for their first year seminars, requiring that students write several short papers during the semester in which they respond to course readings. I have chosen to use the more traditional "major research paper" model both because I have found that a surprising number of students arrive at Bowdoin never having had the experience of writing a major research paper and because many faculty expect that they already know how to do so.
For this entry, I have included a copy of the course syllabus as well as a copy of the research project assignment. You'll see that a central aspect of the project is the requirement that students write a research project proposal in which they pose a research question. As most of you know, many students who have written research papers in the past have never actually gone through the process of developing a research question (instead, they have chosen a topic and summarized the events surrounding that topic). As a result, I find that students really struggle (don't we all!) with clearly articulating a question. So, I spend a good deal of time discussing with students the characteristics of a research project proposal. The students submit those proposals to me and peer writing assistants for feedback, which gives me a chance to really push the students on, again, clearly articulating a (reasonable) research question. The students then use the feedback they receive to conduct a major revision of the proposal and submit it along with a bibliography. In the past, I have found it useful to provide students with a "sample proposal." I give them two samples, one drawn from my own work and one submitted by a previous student. I have included both of those samples with this entry as well.
The final aspect of the project that I find crucial to student success is the requirement that they submit a "complete" draft of their essays about three weeks before the final paper is due. I say complete because I've found that many students consider a draft to be whatever they have written by the time the draft is due. Again, students receive substantial feedback from me as well as peer writing assistants, ensuring that they have the experience of revising a complete essay rather than just using the time between when the draft and the final paper are due to complete the final paper.
Although it's not terribly innovative, I have found this process very useful over time. Student feedback on the process has been very positive. One word of warning, however. As you can see from the syllabus, I teach this history chronologically. The research project proposals, however, are due early in the semester. This means that students who are interested in proposing a research question relating to the Cold War, for example, need to read ahead (as I tell the students, you can't develop a research question on a topic about which you know nothing). So, this provide a bit of a logistical challenge. I've found, however, that as long as I make it clear to students that I'm aware of that challenge and am happy to meet with them to discuss possible topics that, chronologically, come later in the semester, it never poses a real problem.
Good Luck!