Markodimitrakis 1

Lesson Plan: Finding, Critical Reading, Evaluating Sources and Source Material
High Tech-Low Tech
GSW 1120
Materials needed: Photocopies of the assignment, visit to the Library, notebooks

Overview-Objectives

Students by the end of class should be comfortable with finding secondary sources for
any given subject, while they should at least start mastering strategies to evaluate and
critically examine secondary sources and find any arguments/quotes that support their
own.
Low Tech
1. For this section the Low Tech Plan will consist of the class going to the library
and doing some research on a given subject, which could be the subject of
their Critique paper (as they are comfortable with it.
2. After entering the library students will be greeted by the librarians. I will have
arranged a small talk by the librarians on how the library works and what they
can find in each section and/or floor.
3. I will divide them in groups to find some specific psychology and/or books
from other genres that have to do with the term Happiness and the students
will have to trace them in their designated floors/sections.
4. They will then have to see if the books are related to the topic we are working
on in class or if they are completely unrelated (I will have some title that are
off-topic entirely)
5. They will all write down the relevant titles and find quotes relevant to the
topic
Conclusion
Concluding this lesson, I will stress the importance of thorough research and how
library needs to be one of the first places they need to visit when doing their research.

Markodimitrakis 2
Lesson Plan: MSE
High Tech-Low Tech
GSW 1120
Materials needed: Canvas, Internet, Laptops,

Overview-Objectives

By the end of class students will be able to effectively annotate sources based on the
workshop that will take place in class and will familiarize them with the ways to
effectively and quickly go through academic articles and trace all the information
needed.
High Tech
1. Starting this class, I will first introduce once more the EBSCO search engine
and the library website as well as the specific filters they can use in them
searching for the articles.
2. Afterwards, I will have the students quickly go through the articles and
underline topic sentences and any terms that are italicized or in quote marks.
3. Then they will have to create a document where they will write in two short
paragraphs the main points of the texts and how they intend to facilitate the
points in their MSE essay.
4. Afterwards they will have to exchange their first paragraph with their peers
and check if they all perceived in the same way the most important arguments
of the essay.
5. Finally, we will work in class on finding the terminology in the articles and
explore credible websites that provide definitions if some of them are not
familiar to the students.

Conclusion

I will assign them at home to read again their assigned articles and each choose an
article to present each time in class. I will not actually five them time to present it, but
will ask them questions on it to make sure they grasped the terminology and the
arguments of the author.

Markodimitrakis 3
Lesson Plan: Pre-Search
High Tech-Low Tech
GSW 1120
Materials needed: Canvas, Internet, Laptops, Notebooks, Whiteboard

Overview-Objectives

By the end of class will be able to critically analyze resources and also conduct very
targeted web-searches using both Google and EBSCO search engine. Students will
also practice the skills they picked up regarding annotated bibliography and will
exercise them in sources that they come up with.
High Tech
1. Taking for granted that students have come up with a proposal that
has been confirmed by the instructor, the introductory activity will
be to trace in the proposal the terms that will be examinedresearched.
2. Then students will use in two separate tabs the Google search
engine and EBSCO/Library website database and see what will
come up if they enter those terms.
3. Then I will show them the tools these search engines have so as to
produce more specific and accurate results, as well as how by using
various combinations of key-words they might be more productive.
Students will experiment with these tools until they produce the
results they want and search for.
4. Students will practice their annotation skills by summarizing each
paragraph into a sentence, and then tracing terminology related to
their argument.
5. As a concluding activity, if there is time left, students will begin
working on their own annotated bibliography using the notes they
took in class and compiling a list of sources that will be relevant to
their final project.
Conclusion
I will wrap-up the class by stressing the importance of creating a list of sources that
are as up-to-date as possible, as scholarship advances quickly in all fields, and assign
them as homework to compile a draft of annotated bibliography.

Markodimitrakis 4
Lesson Plan: Research Essay
High Tech-Low Tech
GSW 1120
Materials needed: Canvas, Internet, Laptops
High Tech

Overview-Objectives

By the end of the class students will have revised the research skills they have
acquired during the semester and test their synthesis skills.
1. Starting the class, I will stress the importance of a well researched essay as
well as that no matter how many sources an essay has, if the synthesis is not
good, then the outcome will not be very good. I will introduce them to the
main activity of the day, which is directly connected to their final project and
the annotated bibliography they created beforehand.
2. Students will need to write a topic sentence each that is in direct conflict with
their main argument. Then they should find at least 2-3 sources to back up
their topic sentence and also provide the appropriate analysis of it.
3. Then they will use the annotated bibliography information and arguments of
their own to construct a credible refutation, while at the same time using their
skills in critical reading, synthesis and employment of rhetorical strategies.
The counterargument and refutation MUST BE different from what they are
using (if they are) in their paper.
4. Then they will post heir responses on Canvas and will peer-review it. The
criterion will be if their partner(s) are convinced by wha tthey are reading, as
well as if the paragraphs demonstrate accurate information, cohesioncoherence as well as academic vocabulary.
Conclusion
I will wrap-up the class by underlining that the way the worked during these activities
in class should be their guide when they write their final drafts of the research paper. I
will assign them to do the peer review at home and make sure that everyone has
understood how synthesis of sources and argumentation works in research papers.