The Challenge of Having Students Successfully Engage in and Document Research Efforts

1. The Challenge of Having Students Successfully Engage in and Document Research Efforts Cheryl Aschenbach Lassen College Instructor NCWP Summer Institute 2010

2. My Experience • 17 years of experience • 5 yrs as a collegiate softball assistant coach • 6 yrs as a collegiate softball head coach • 3 yrs in 7-12 • 6.5 yrs at university level • 10.5 yrs at community college level • 15 yrs physical education and coaching • And now…2 yrs English

3. Why English? • It is at the core of all communication • It is an academic field • Recognition as an academic professional • Get away from PE stigmas and stereotypes • Opportunities at Lassen and beyond • Make a difference • The challenges! • This is the best part! I love it!

4. My College • Lassen Community College • LCC serves students in Lassen, Modoc, and neighboring counties, including Northern Nevada • Lassen County = 4,557.27 square miles • Persons per square mile = 7.4 • Situated in Susanville, LCC serves the communities of Susanville, Westwood, Herlong, Alturas, Bieber, Adin, and Alturas

5. My Students • 2006-2007 Enrollment Data from 2008 ARCC Report • FTES = 1,471 • Unduplicated headcount = 3,591 • Gender • Males = 53.2% • Females = 44.1% • Unknown = 2.7% • Age • 27.2% of enrollment is in 18-25 age group • 45.6% of enrollment is in 25-49 age group • 20.9% of enrollment is in 49+ age group

6. My Students • Recent HS graduates from surrounding areas • Athletes from Northern Nevada and beyond • Re-entry students • Learning disabled • Mentally ill • Recovering addicts • Using addicts • Single parents • First in family to attend college • Inmates at county, state, and federal correctional institutions • Veterans – current and past conflicts • Financial aid recipients • Unemployed / retraining • Transfer students • Those seeking personal development

7. My Community • Unemployment Data – March 2010 (*Dept. of Finance Labor Market Data) • Lassen County 17.2% • California 13.0% • United States 10.2%

8. The LCC Community

9. Measuring Student Success

10. My Course: ENG50Intro. to College Comp. • One level below transfer (ENG1 College Comp) • For students entering F’09 or later, ENG50 no longer meets A.A. requirements • Spring 2010 placement data for my ENG50 sections (n=53, informal in-class surveys on January 14 & 15) • 24% successfully completed ENG102 first • 74% directly placed • 2% placed into ENG1 but opted to “refresh” skills in ENG50

11. ENG50Student Learning Outcomes • Write paragraphs and complete essays that are free of nonstandard English grammar and errors in punctuation and spelling • Research material for and write an 800-word essay that conforms to MLA style in its in-text source citations and works-cited pages. • Write a cohesive and coherent 800-word essay that has an introduction, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion. • Ability to write 800-word essays, apply patterns of development appropriate for expository writing, including personal narrative, comparison/contrast, and argumentative.

12. The Challenge • Research material for and write an 800-word essay that conforms to MLA style in its in-text source citations and works-cited pages. • SLO Assessment completed at the end of each semester, with the goal of 75% of students demonstrating the ability to appropriately incorporate research and use MLA style to document sources, as measured by receipt of passing grade on research paper. • The reality: 75% is fine, but my own expectations for students are much higher.

13. The Results

14. What You Did Not See

15. What? • Over a two year period, four semesters, 42% (80 of 192) of my students did not earn a passing grade on the research essay • They either did not demonstrate a complete grasp of the concepts, did not effectively integrate research into their writing,did not appropriately cite their sources, or did not submit the essay at all. • Very few of these same students passed the class; most failed • This is not okay with me!

16. My Philosophy • Whole-Part-Whole • Demonstrate the Whole • Teach & Practice the Parts • Practice and Perform the Whole • To me, teaching students how to use and document research shouldn’t be any different than teaching them how to throw a frisbee or spike a volleyball • But am I right?

17. The Process • Discuss and reinforce academic integrity • Read and lecture on research chapter • Sources • Evaluating Sources • Documentation • Samples • Learn and practice book citations • Learn and practice interview and lecture citations • Learn and practice periodical citations • Learn and practice online citations

18. The Process • Group activity to practice all citations as well as evaluate sources • Apply skills to include one direct and one paraphrased citation in Essay #3 • Apply skills to include two direct and two paraphrased citation in Essay #4 • Meet SLO with Essay #5: include six citations using four sources (no more than two from any one type of media)

19. My Questions • I want to see a greater number of my students succeed in academic writing. • How can I continue to build on the process I have in order to help students understand academic integrity, how to do research and evaluate sources, how to incorporate research into their writing without losing their voice, and how to appropriately document their research in writing? • Or am I off track? Do I need to adjust my philosophy and make research less of a step-by-step practice and process?