Essay Question Writing
Second year is often a great time to have students write their own essay questions. There are several pedagogic reasons that students benefit from writing their own essay questions, but there are two main reasons that I do this. The first is that it really gives students agency over their own education and learning - when they can craft their interests into a tangible piece of work they are often more enthusiastic and engaged during the research and writing, and subsequently produce better quality work because they are more invested in it. The second reason, is that second year is a time when many students start thinking about their dissertations. We might not formally present the dissertation to students in the second year, but anecdata suggests that many students are already thinking about potential topics for the dissertation in order to be strategic in the modules they choose - especially in third year.
But... most of our students don't know how to craft their vague ideas into a workable research topic. By introducing the concept of writing their own essay questions in a low-stakes (comparatively) situation where if they end up choosing something they aren't super interested in after all it's only going to cost them the time and effort of 2000 rather than 10000+ words, some of the anxiety of having to generate their own research topics is alleviated.
Of course, at this point, students need (and should expect) support and guidance in order to write their own questions. To that end, I introduce the concept in a lecture setting, then set a worksheet for them to hash out some of their ideas, and then offer each student a one-on-one meeting to go over these. There are definitely cases where students need more than one meeting, just as there are cases where students go though this process and then do not need any more than a confirmation email.
I also use this as an opportunity to introduce them to the purpose of the essay as a tool of assessment. This is ideally something which should be done earlier in their degree programmes, but usually is not.
Below you will find both the PowerPoint for the lecture and the worksheet that accompanies it. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like more information about the content of the lecture.
But... most of our students don't know how to craft their vague ideas into a workable research topic. By introducing the concept of writing their own essay questions in a low-stakes (comparatively) situation where if they end up choosing something they aren't super interested in after all it's only going to cost them the time and effort of 2000 rather than 10000+ words, some of the anxiety of having to generate their own research topics is alleviated.
Of course, at this point, students need (and should expect) support and guidance in order to write their own questions. To that end, I introduce the concept in a lecture setting, then set a worksheet for them to hash out some of their ideas, and then offer each student a one-on-one meeting to go over these. There are definitely cases where students need more than one meeting, just as there are cases where students go though this process and then do not need any more than a confirmation email.
I also use this as an opportunity to introduce them to the purpose of the essay as a tool of assessment. This is ideally something which should be done earlier in their degree programmes, but usually is not.
Below you will find both the PowerPoint for the lecture and the worksheet that accompanies it. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like more information about the content of the lecture.