Building a Better Term Paper: Integrating Scaffolded Writing and Peer Review

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2014-12-01
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Padgett-Walsh, Kate
Prokos, Anastasia
Bird, Sharon
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Padgett-Walsh, Kate
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Philosophy and Religious Studies
The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies focuses on two areas of study. Its major in Philosophy seeks to examine human experience and reality through critical reflection and argument, developing skills in critical analysis and knowledge of ethics and philosophy. The major in Religious Studies seeks to investigate and reflect upon world religions in an objective, critical, and appreciative manner, providing students with knowledge of religion’s nature and its roles in social and individual life.
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Philosophy and Religious Studies
Abstract

This paper presents a method for teaching undergraduate students how to write better term papers in philosophy. The method integrates two key assignment components: scaffolding and peer review. We explain these components and how they can be effectively combined within a single term paper assignment. We then present the results of our multi-year research study on the integrated method. Professor observations, quantitative measures, and qualitative feedback indicate that student writing improves when philosophy term paper assignments are designed to generate multiple rounds of drafting and review.

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This is a manuscript of an article published as Padgett Walsh, Kate, Anastasia Prokos, and Sharon R. Bird. "Building a better term paper: Integrating scaffolded writing and peer review." Teaching Philosophy 37, no. 4 (2014): 481-497. doi: 10.5840/teachphil201410225. Posted with permission.

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Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2014
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