Sessions

Templates for term paper research notes

Academic Writing is a required two-semester course for first year students at Kyoto University. In the second semester all students write a long essay (normally a literature review) of at least 1,000 words. Textbooks typically focus on the language used (paragraph and essay structure, common genres, academic style, etc.), but aside from stressing the importance of paraphrasing and summarizing to avoid plagiarism, no guidance is given on how to take notes while conducting research. Students must efficiently read through multiple sources, and synthesize points into a coherent argument. This requires research and cognitive skills not covered in the textbooks. Dedicated software exists to help researchers organize their work, but teachers are not likely to require students to use such apps. The presenter will show simple templates in MS Word and Excel, and discuss how he uses them in his classes.