Implementation Group Guidelines

Recommendations from Faculty Implementation Group, 20 November 2007

Inquiry Seminar

A. Writing-Intensive Inquiry Seminar is one in which students

  1. Write a research paper
  2. Develop information literacy and research competencies
  3. Produce at least 15 pages of polished writing spread across multiple writing assignments
  4. Practice generative writing as a way of learning
  5. Practice a writing process, either 1) using a draft-revision cycle; or 2) breaking a large assignment into graded stages

Discussion:

The definition of research paper remains ambiguous because we imagine instructors from different disciplines will adapt the research paper requirement in different ways. In general, however, a research paper would be a thesis-driven argument of 8-12 pages based on a range of sources that are considered scholarly and appropriate by the standards of the library’s information literacy instruction. Further definition and discussion of generative and polished writing can be found in the first-year program’s writing handbook, Inquiry Matters.

Carl B. Ylvisaker Library

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