I had hoped to approve 22 research proposals this week, but some of you haven’t submitted your revised proposals yet. Remember, you cannot proceed with your annotated bibliography and research project until I have signed off on your research proposal. If you have submitted a revised proposal, I have responded to you, so check your proposal in Google Docs to see my comments. If you haven’t revised your proposal, you need to do so this weekend, then email me when you are ready to have me review it. At this point, only a handful of you have received final approval, so please make this your top priority in my class.

Next week, we will focus on finalizing your research instruments and continuing our discussion about how to create scholarly annotations for your bibliographies. Here’s how we’ll spend our time in class each day:

• On Tuesday, we will discuss how to conduct “human subjects” research. Please print out and read the PDF file titled “Conducting Interviews and Surveys.” In addition, please bring two printed copies of the research instrument(s) you plan to use for your research project. (To clarify: by “research instrument,” I mean the actual survey you will hand someone or the actual list of questions you will ask during an interview.) If you have created your instrument(s) using Google Forms, that’s fine, but please print out copies for our workshop in class.
• On Thursday, we will conduct a peer review session focused on your annotated bibliographies. Please bring three printed copies of one completed annotation to class. As you write this annotation, refer to the Annotated Bibliography assignment sheet and the “How to Write a Scholarly Annotation” handout. In addition, please read “Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively,” by Margaret Kantz (WAW, pp. 67–85). [UPDATE: Please remember that the revision of your literacy narrative is due at the beginning of class on Thursday. To submit your narrative for a final grade, please staple your revised essay to your first draft (the one with my comments and grading form attached).]

If you have little questions about your proposal, feel free to email me this weekend. If you are feeling lost, stuck, or overwhelmed, please come see me during office hours on Monday morning (9-12). The sooner you receive final approval on your research proposal, the better.