Research Paper Baby Steps Summary

Pfaffinger “Research Paper Baby Steps” “Research Paper Baby Steps” describes a teacher’s method for scaffolding a research paper. She begins by explaining the common problems that students encounter: plagiarism, overwhelmed, to many notes. She then explains her method. Pfaffinger assigns two research papers: a short one where she controls every step and a longer one where the students develop their own topics and essays. Pfaffinger begins with plagiarism and then moves to lessons on paraphrasing and summarizing to help students take effective notes when researching. The teacher models, scaffolds, and checks for understanding for the reminder of the paper. Pfaffinger says that after this assignment, the students are not intimidated by the longer research paper and produce a higher quality of work. I found this article interesting and …show more content…
The only advantage to rubrics is the fact that teachers can grade faster and more efficiently. Students begin to depend on rubrics to the point that they can no longer think and reflect on their own writing and avoid taking risks. Rubrics put a cap on student grows; they will only work hard enough to achieve the “A” instead of genuinely trying to achieve their personal best. Rubrics cause students to lack confidence in their writing. This source is somewhat useful. I would have liked Kohn to go into more detail about alternatives to rubrics. It is difficult to compare this article to other entries because it is the only one that speaks about rubrics and the grading process of writing. The information is biased to an extent which makes the article less reliable than other articles in the bibliography. The article lacks research and evidence. The goal of the source it to persuade teachers to stop using rubrics. I would be more easily persuaded if there was research and alternatives to the