Day 9
W-Th, Sept. 26-27 (Week V)
Class notes
In this class period, I met with small groups to go over the academic articles you found for the motivation theory presentation and help you choose which article to focus on.
Homework
Due M-Th Oct. 8-9 (Day 10)
➤ MOTIVATION THEORY RESEARCH PROJECT: STEP 3
Deliver your group presentation!
How presentations will work:
Each group will have 9 minutes total (3 minutes per person). You will not use a powerpoint: instead, you will just speak to us as a class, while sitting at the table. Speak to us, please; you may refer to notes, but do not read word-for-word off of a paper.
Each person in the group will perform one role. (You choose among yourself who will do what.)
Person 1: Explain the theory.
Person 2: Summarize the article.
Person 3: Explain why the theory and article are (or could be) relevant to us (the class). Be specific. Use concrete examples.
How you’ll be graded:
To get full credit for this assignment, the answers to the questions below must be a strong “yes.”
Individually:
Did you finish in 3 minutes?
Can I and your classmates understand you?
Do you speak directly to us, rather than reading word for word off of a paper?
As a group:
Do I understand the key ideas of the theory clearly? (Pretend like I and your classmates have never heard of this theory before.)
Do I understand the main points of the article, and/or what the researchers were trying to do and what they discovered?
Do I understand clearly how the ideas you discussed are, could be, relevant, to us?
➤ Short Essay #4
In about 300 words, summarize the article.
If the article makes an argument, explain the author’s main point and what evidence they use to try to convince the reader of that point.
If the article reports research findings, explain what question the researchers were trying to answer, what they did, what they found, and why they believe their findings are significant.
Important: When you talk about the theory, make sure to explain it. Don’t assume that the reader already knows. Imagine your classmates are your audience. Explain the theory in your own words — tell us what you understand it to mean.
A successful essay (one that gets a check-plus for the writing component) will:
Explain the key ideas of the article clearly enough that someone who hasn’t read the article can understand them well enough to incorporate these ideas into their own writing
Not plagiarize the article
Follow my Rules of Thumb
Examples of summaries of academic articles
(Most of these are taken from the websites of writing teachers at other universities.)
