1. Designing the PACS 2 RESEARCH PAPER Assignment
Mike Peterson, PhD
Director of University Writing Programs

2. What is the point of assigning a Research Paper?

3. Before Creating Your Prompt
Consider what you want the assignment to require the students to do, in relation to the PACS 2 objectives
Before Creating Your Prompt

4. The primary objectives of PACS 2 are to help students:
Continue working to answer the question, “What is a good society?”—this time through a topically focused exploration of some particular aspect or facet of society.
Become better:
writers—able to put down one’s thoughts in a concise, cogent, audience- appropriate manner.
critical thinkers—sharp, nimble, inclined to search for evidence and skilled at appraising it.
readers—able to understand an author’s main and supporting points, and how a reading is organized.
speakers—comfortable, clear, and compelling in formal and informal contexts.
Develop academic research skills – retrieval, evaluation, synthesis, and documentation of information, all of which jointly can be referred to as information competency – appropriate to college students.
Become more socially aware and better equipped to be responsible, engaged citizens.
PACS 2 Objectives

5. Before Creating Your Prompt
Consider what you want the assignment to do, in terms of the larger questions of your course
Before Creating Your Prompt

6. Before Creating Your Prompt
Consider What kinds of thinking you want students to do (define, illustrate, create, compare, analyze, critical/creative thinking, etc.)
Before Creating Your Prompt

7. Before Creating Your Prompt
Consider Your students’ writing process
(remember, they’re still freshmen)
Before Creating Your Prompt

8. Before Creating Your Prompt
Consider outlining your research requirements
in a way that educates students
about the research process
Before Creating Your Prompt

9. What makes a good prompt good and a bad prompt bad?
Discussion

10. What to Include in a Prompt
Context, Audience, Purpose
Business Details: length, due dates, formatting
Be clear about what you want and what you don’t want
Component Instructions (specific tasks): proposal, drafts, annotated bibliography, etc.
Available Resources: library course, writing center, sample papers, preferred books or journals, etc.
Rubric or Grading Criteria
What to Include in a Prompt

11. A Word or Two about Components
Map These Out: give yourself time to read & respond to the draft and other components as necessary Remember, PACS 2 requires at least one draft that you’ll respond to
A Word or Two about Components

12. A Word or Two about Components
Substantially revised work can count double (e.g. 5 draft pages plus 5 final pages can equal 10 total pages of formal writing)
(But how do we get students to
substantially revise their drafts?)
A Word or Two about Components

13. Some Ideas for Revision
Reduce the Page Count for the Final Draft For example, rough draft = 9 page minimum
final draft = 7 page maximum
Change Mode Between Drafts
For example,
draft 1 = inquiry driven (with a driving question)
draft 2 = thesis driven (with a thesis statement)
Other Ideas?
Some Ideas for Revision

14. A Word or Two about Components
Some Common Components:
Proposal
Annotated Bibliography
Informal Exploratory Writing Prompts
Draft (on which you’ll comment)
Peer Response
“The Research Story”
Final Draft
Presentation
A Word or Two about Components

15. A Final Note about Prompts
A good prompt helps the
Student Writing Center mentors
when students bring them in
A Final Note about Prompts