From research papers to writing with sources: Helping faculty transition toward student-centered, process-based assignments

Faculty members often express disappointment or frustration with their students’ research papers. Students may express anxiety, boredom, frustration or apathy about their assignments. In this session, we will discuss some of the common problems, including patchwriting and poor integration of sources, that undergraduate students’ research projects may suffer from, as well as predictable student misconceptions about research. We will examine why faculty members’ “expert blind spots” may make it difficult to guide students around their research obstacles and pitfalls. We will explore the potential benefits of introducing process-based research assignments and examine the opportunities they provide to develop information literacy and critical thinking skills. By centering what the student does (writing with sources) instead of the final product (a research paper) and by incorporating opportunities for exploration, reflection and low-stakes writing into the process, we can distribute the cognitive load for students, increase their motivation, and ultimately facilitate the development of higher-quality research projects. Finally, we will discuss how librarians and instructional designers can effectively support faculty members through a transition to process-based assignments in order to produce better student learning outcomes.