Centre collégial de développement de matériel didactique

Step 3

SELECT AND INTRODUCE THEME

  • Read Themes and Sample Theme Descriptions to get an idea of what you could select as your dedicated theme. It is advisable to have some expertise with the theme.
  • Once a theme is selected, prepare a presentation to orient the Research Scholars. Get them enthused about the prospects for their own research proposals. Find materials that relate to significant and impactful research on the theme, such as YouTube panel discussions across disciplines or poignant definitions by key scholars. Point to notable gaps in the literature to give the students a sense that there are unanswered questions and that the field is still open to investigation.

Suggestions

  • Consider doing an in-class exercise featuring articles on the theme taken from one of the general social science publications. For instance, The International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences is a 26-volume specialized encyclopedia that is available in most academic libraries. Such articles provide great overviews of the scholarly knowledge on the theme, often referring to a number of discipline perspectives. The perfect time for this is when the students are working on Steps 3 & 4 of their Research Scholar Script Form. You could place them in multidisciplinary groups of three. Provide them with an encyclopedia article and ask them to address the following:
  • List three elements of the encyclopedia article that help you to understand something about research that has been conducted on the dedicated theme:
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  • Find a quotable excerpt that expresses something relevant to your discipline. Place the quote here:

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