For some instructors, the use of students' own experiences has proven to be an extremely useful starting point in the college composition classroom. In a first semester freshman composition course, students wrote autobiographies in which they examined different perspectives of the many communities in which they lived. Students then used the…

Findings and recommendations presented in this study of the role and nature of doctoral disserations are based on deliberations of a task force of graduate school deans and 48 reports submitted by selected universities. Findings are offered in the areas of: distinguishing characteristics of dissertation research and dissertations; originality,…

Probabilistic reasoning as developed by John Locke can provide the English teacher with a useful system for teaching the research paper since it consists of four major strategies for probing a subject: (1) the use of maxims or principles, (2) the framing of hypotheses, (3) the use of analogy, and (4) the reliance on authority. However, it is the…

Library research skills are included in a required graduate level research methods course offered at Bowling Green State University (Ohio). The course--Biological Documentation Techniques--is broadly involved with biological literature retrieval, bibliographic techniques, and data storage. It is taught cooperatively by the Department of Biological…

These four papers by a reference librarian discuss the potential for students at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego to engage in a positive academic career that will have a significant impact not only on their growth as people, but also on their future endeavors. The first paper, "Self-Definition: Naming Yourself in a College…

The approach taken to chemical engineering education at New Mexico State University is described in this report. The curriculum model for its undergraduate and graduate program emphasizes both content and skill development. Involvement in tasks related to ongoing research projects is stressed and serves as the basis for course assignments at the…

Field research gives graduate students a direct experience in appreciating the differences between doing research and reporting it. This paper reports the field experience provided in a doctoral program at the School of Education at Syracuse University. With the support and assistance of faculty consultants, a structured problem approach was used.…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a philosophy of education for the gifted and place that philosophy within the framework of practical education. The paper sketches the philosophy--language arts must be taught in a way that emphasizes the wholeness of the language experience--and discusses two key points: (1) If language arts consist of…

This guide for Merrimack High School in Merrimack, New Hampshire was written to help ease demands on teachers' time and to improve the quality of papers through standardization of format. The authority used for the guide is the 2nd edition of the "MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers" published in 1984, which teaches the methods…

Intended to help teachers and others to think through their roles in assisting children to become more effective learners, this book focuses on the contribution which project studies can make to that objective. The book is divided into (1) "Types of Projects"'; (2) "Starting Out"; (3) "Relating Projects to Other…

In 1983, 100 members of a second-year marketing class at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) participated in a market research project to determine the views of BCIT and other postsecondary institutions held by various groups outside of the college, to analyze the findings, and to prepare recommendations for action by BCIT. A total of…

Teachers of a basic writing course broadened their theme approach from growth and change in adolescence to the theme of language and identity, developed sequenced writing assignments, and worked toward the culminating unit--a mini-research project through which all the language and thinking skills developed throughout the semester could be…

Benefits of attending research conferences for the master's-level graduate student are described. The following goals and benefits cited by Carsrud et al. (1982) are applied to the graduate student: (1) incentive for students to undertake independent research, the results of which will be reported at a convention; (2) communication with others…

Certainly reasons can be enumerated for the widespread use of handbooks and other "canned" materials in high school debate programs, but the quality of these resources and their actual use by debaters make them competitively negligible in value and counterproductive to the educational and competitive values that the forensic community…

The practical nature of technical writing is one of several concepts illustrated by the feasibility report assignment used in a technical writing course at Central Maine Vocational Technical Institute. As much as possible, the class is set up to simulate a work environment, including handouts printed as memos on letterhead paper. Students are…