Abstract
The recently expanding educational movement, writing across the curriculum, has encouraged instructors in all disciplines to require more undergraduate writing assignments, including research papers. A five-stage process for managing the research paper assignment is described. Students are instructed in gathering sources, organizing findings, and using a standard format. Progress is closely monitored at each stage with specific feedback. Student reaction to this technique was measured in upper-division courses using a 14-item questionnaire with Likert-type scaling and free-response narrative. Responses were overwhelmingly favorable, indicating that students would have less hesitancy and anxiety in completing future writing assignments.
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Additional information
Kathryn K. Rileigh is Professor of Psychology at Pembroke State University. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Vanderbilt University. Her research interests include psycholinguistics and psychological interpretations of literature.
Copies of the annotated bibliography of handbooks on writing research papers may be obtained by writing Kathryn K. Rileigh, Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Pembroke State University, Pembroke, NC 28372.
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Rileigh, K.K. Toward a palatable research paper experience. Innov High Educ 18, 123–131 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01191890
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01191890