ANTH 201: ANTHROPOLOGICAL INQUIRY

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This is an
opportunity to learn
and hone research

Think anthropologically skills (synthesize)

and connect them to
your future career
THIS COURSE WILL GIVE
plans
YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO
DO RESEARCH

PURPOSE OF A RESEARCH COURSE

This class exists to help majors (and other
interested students do three things: 1)
synthesize, 2) re ect upon, and 3) operationalize
their anthropological education to this point
with the ultimate goal of preparing them for
their post-graduate life. We will do this by
focusing on the research process—the core of
what we do—and associated skills. You will
Day of the Dead altar
bring together your diverse educational
experiences to explore the research process and
to complete an original research project of your
own. Throughout this process, we will have
explicit discussions of the skills you have
learned and how they apply to future careers.

YOUR APPROACH TO ANTHROPOLOGY

View everything we do in this class as an 18th-century grave marker in Connecticut Australopithecine skull
opportunity to gure out your approach to
anthropology and how anthropological skills,
concepts, and ideas can work for you. This This Semester’s
course is as much practical as it is theoretical, so
ask questions, interrupt lessons (respectfully), Topic:
and let’s have discussions about how
anthropology is an avenue to get you where you
Death
want to go.

ANTH 201: Anthropological Inquiry | Fall 2022 | Dr. Jones

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 COURSE OBJECTIVES PAGE 2

These are closely tied to our department objectives for all majors

The objectives of this course exist to understanding of the problems addressed.

support our majors (and other students
interested in anthropology) in integrating
their infor mational and theoretical
foundations in anthropology to address
current issues in the discipline. Students will
be expected to utilize a variety of learning
strategies, including self-directed learning
and learning in small groups to explore
problems presented to them in class by the
anthropology faculty. Students will present
their ndings in a variety of formats both
written and oral.
Below are the department’s goals for
you as a student along with the assignments
and activities in this class that will relate to
them. These assignments will help you
solidify these skills, and over the course of
the semester, we will discuss the utility of
these skills in your post-graduate life and
career.
Goal 1: Understand human diversity
Lessons and your associated projects
and presentations will address diverse
human experiences with death. Your nal
research projects will also deal with how
different groups of people address speci c
death-related topics.
Goal 2: Ethical and moral leadership
You should be prepared to assume roles
of ethical and moral leadership informed
by anthropological perspectives. Studying
death and the dead brings up several
important ethical topics. Thus, several of
your presentations will include moral and
ethical dimensions.
Goal 3: Apply theory
Yo u w i l l b e a b l e t o e m p l o y
anthropological theory in a range of
contexts. In your group presentations, short
papers, ePortfolio posts, and research
project, you will re ect theoretical
Our modules will have strong theoretical
bases to them to help you through this
process.
Goal 4: Conduct original research
This course will prepare you to
conduct original research. Your
research project will be original
research of your choosing.
G o a l 5 : Fo u r - e l d
knowledge
You will be required to
write formal and informal
pieces that require you to
integrate multiple sub elds.
Goal 6: Critical Thinking Highgate Cemetery, London
These will be re ected in
all your assignments, but
particularly emphasized in papers and
presentations. Faculty will demonstrate
critical analyses in their presentations.
Goal 7: Develop and Support an
Argument These skills, while
This will be an integral part of your important to being a
presentations and research project.
good anthropologist,
Goal 8: Strong Academic Writing
are applicable to
almost any career
Writing skills will be assessed through
all written assignments. In addition, your choice.
presentations will focus on components of
research and writing that will help you hone
these skills.
We will spend
several classes
Goal 9: Strong Presentation Skills discussing career
Students’ presentation abilities will be planning and how to
assessed in two formats, group presentations showcase and use
throughout the semester and paper/poster
presentation in the mini-conference.
your anthropological
skills

ANT 390: Student-Faculty Seminar | Fall 2014 | Dr. Jones

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 COURSE EVALUTATION PAGE 3

You will be graded on the following assignments and activities

Writing assignments 100
Class participation 100
Module presentations 120
eJournal re ections 40
Annotated Bibliography 15
Outline 25
Presentation 50
Paper 100
Total 550 points
Writing Assignments
During the course of the semester,
you will have four short papers, ranging
from 2-4 pages in length, addressing
your career plans, an abstract of your
project, the anthropological study of
death, and your approach to
anthropology.
Class Participation
This will be a highly interactive
class with very few lectures. Your
performance in class discussions and
the modules will make up this class
participation grade. The largest part of
this grade will come during the
modules in which you are not
presenting. You will be graded on the
quantity and quality of your
contributions. This will come from
both your preparedness for class and
your willingness to contribute. This
course is all about bringing together
what you have learned about the eld
of anthropology and how it applies to
our topic and your particular interests.
Even just the anthropology majors
have had different courses and focused
on different sub elds. Thus, you, as a
collective, have a diverse educational
background. I want you to bring your
experience in here. Bottom line, be
educatedly vocal. Final note: if you are
not here, you cannot participate and
will get a poor grade.
Presentations
Starting in Week 4, we will have
two-day modules on an anthropological
topic related to death. On the rst day
(Thursday) I will direct the class and
give you all a mini-project. On the
second (the following Tuesday), you will
present on your mini-project. The
format of your presentations will vary,
and you will have input on this. Speci c
details will be provided in each module.
There are 6 total modules, worth
20 points apiece, that focus on a
particular part of the research process.
eJournals
You must write four short online
journal posts about your learning
during the modules. The sole purpose
of the ePortfolios is for you to show
what you have learned and to
REFLECT, which is thinking about
how you learned. You should post not
just about what you learned, but how
you learned it, why you learned it, and
how it connects to your research
project. This component of the course
exists to give you a creative,
unstructured outlet for connecting the
modules to what you have learned in
other courses and how you will use
your education going forward. It also
gives me an alternative to tests for
ensuring you pay attention during the
modules. You will be required to post 4
times on your ePortfolio. These posts
are equivalent to a 1-page paper worth
10 points apiece.
Research Project
Your big deliverable for this course
is to complete an original research
project that addresses a meaningful
anthropological question about death
that collects original data and applies
theory. You will complete every step of
the research process from developing a
question to designing methods to
interpreting them to presenting your
ndings.
There are several graded
components to this project that total
half of your course grade. More details
on the project are on page 4.
Your rst task is to develop a
question. You should see me for help in
this process. Don’t just complain that
you have to pick a topic by week 8. Do
some research and get my help. This is
writing assignment 2 and is due on
October 4th.
You second task is to construct an
annotated bibliography. This is a list of
15 scholarly sources and a 2-3 sentence
summary of each source and how you
will use it in your research. These must
be scholarly sources. This is due on
October 25th.
Your third task is to construct an
outline of your paper. This will detail
each section of your paper and the
topics/information you will address in
each in a bulleted outline. You need to
include citations in this as well. This is
due on November 17th.
This project has two nal
products: a presentation and a paper.
The presentations will occur during a
during the last two class meetings. This
will give you an idea of what it is like to
present work in an academic setting.
Regardless of your future plans, this is
great experience. You will not have a
job that does not require you to present
your ideas/work to others.
Your paper will be 15-20 pages in
length and will be a full description of
your research project, detailing the
question, background research,
methods, results, and interpretation of
your results. This is due on December
8th.

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 FINAL PROJECT PAGE 4

Catacombs of Paris Funeral pyre

Your nal project will be a work of original
research from the formation of a question to
the background research, data collection,
analysis of data, and interpretation of those
results. There are several goals for this
project: 1) to conduct original research; 2) to
understand the utility of anthropological to
modern social concerns; 3) development of
your presentation skills; 4) development of
your writing skills.
This project is broken up into several
components that will help you to organize
your thinking and improve the quality of the
nal product. These are outlined on the
previous page.
You must come up with a topic that
addresses death, and you must either collect
data or use existing datasets and analyze
them. Some tips for generating a question/
topic and completing your research project:
1. Find a narrow but interesting question.
This can be evaluating a hypothesis/
theory from an article you read. In fact,
that is a good place to start.
2. We do not expect an honors thesis. We
want evidence that you can complete a
meaningful project from start to nish. We
understand that a project taking 2 months
will have limitations.
3. Know your topic. Do a lot of background
research into similar studies or those that Theory!
use similar theory or methods. Remember,
you can pull ideas from anywhere. They
don’t have to be from studies that did the Anthropological
exact same thing you are doing. theory is what
4. Remember, that qualitative data are data, separates our work
too. Do not get hung up on needed to
produce numbers. Numbers are great
from other social
when appropriate, but remember, sciences. It is what
anthropology is ultimately about people. gives us our holistic
5. If you want to do a project with people and relativistic
today, participant-observation is the
lifeblood of ethnographic research, not
approach. See this
surveys. Surveys have their utility, but in class as an
anthropology it’s often to set up more in- opportunity--at all
depth experiential research. Try to avoid times--to apply what
surveys as your main source of data as
you learned in other
much as possible.
6. Analyzing data is all about having courses.
multiple variables and seeing how they
relate to one another. Theory should be at
7. Play to your strengths. Use the skill set you
the forefront
have learned in your courses. Use those
skills and interests. You will enjoy the throughout your
project and do a much better job on a research project.
topic about which you are passionate. Always be thinking,
8. WORK WITH ME THROUGHOUT. “why?”
I’M HERE TO HELP.

ANT 390: Student-Faculty Seminar | Fall 2014 | Dr. Jones

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 COURSE TOPIC PAGE5

This semester we will be exploring how

anthropologists study death
WITHIN THIS TOPIC, WE WILL EXPLORE HOW TO APPLY ANTHROPOLOGICAL
CONCEPTS TO MANY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT DEATH

During the modules, you will be
required to complete short projects
related to death. Most of these projects
can be completed collecting data
locally. Others will be examinations of
existing data. Your nal project will
require you to collect data, meaning for
many of you it will have a local focus.
Death has been a topic of study
for anthropologists since the earliest
times of the discipline. Topics of study
related to death include: perceptions of
death, funeral rites and ceremonies,
mortuary rituals, burial goods and
facilities, grieving, ancestor worship,
sacri ce, cannibalism, and memorials.
Each of the four sub elds has
examined death. Archaeologists
primarily explore mortuary rituals and
items and what it tells us about
associated societies. Treatment of the
dead and connection to buried
ancestors is a signi cant ethical issue
within the eld. Who “owns” the
remains uncovered?
Cultural anthropologists study a
wide variety of topics, helping us to
better understand not only the process
of dying, but also perceptions of death,
religion and ritual, and treatment of
the dead in both the physical and
spiritual sense.
Linguists examine how we talk
about death, dying, and any ideological
components. Discourses of death are
particularly important studies of how
we perceive and symbolize death and
the afterlife.
Biological anthropologists study a
range of topics from using skeletal
remains to study past populations and
societies to the evolution and genetics
of senescence and dying.

Aztec sacri cial knife Wendat Feast of the Dead

ANT 390: Student-Faculty Seminar | Fall 2014 | Dr. Jones

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 ENGAGEMENT
I encourage all students to be active participants
in their own education. If anyone has suggestions
for topics in which they are interested, a need for
more examples, interesting websites or articles
that you have found, or general thoughts on how
the class can be improved please relay them to
me (in a constructive manner; I have feelings,
too). I try to make this course the best it can be,
and that requires student input. Please do not
hesitate to approach me with questions or
comments on this subject. We will also be doing
evaluations, during which you will be able to
anonymously offer your opinions on what works
well and doesn’t in the course. I do read them
and use them.
ATTENDANCE
If you are the type of student that does not
like to be in class, you should consider taking
another course. This course is about building
knowledge as a group. The learning of concepts
and theory, which are critical to knowledge
building will happen in class. I will make all
necessary adjustments to accommodate legitimate
university-sanctioned reasons for missing classes
or examinations. These include participation in
university-sponsored events and illness. I do need
to know about the former in advance. Extensions
for exams will be provided in the event of illness
or family emergency. I need to know about these
circumstances very soon after you do. No
accommodation will be made for people who do
not inform me of a legitimate reason the same
day of when an exam is handed out or when an
assignment is due.
CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM
You are expected to follow the University of
South Carolina Honor Code and maintain the
highest possible standards of academic integrity.
Any deviation from this expectation will result in
a minimum academic penalty of your failing the
assignment, and will result in additional
disciplinary measures. This includes improper
citation of sources, using another student's work,
and any other form of academic
misrepresentation. Here are some websites for
you to visit to learn more about University
policies:
Carolinian Creed (http://www.sa.sc.edu/creed)
Academic Responsibility (http://www.sc.edu/
policies/staf625.pdf)
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Of ce of Student Conduct and Academic
I n t e g r i t y ( h t t p s : / / w w w. s a . s c . e d u /
academicintegrity/)
Information Security Policy and Standards
(https://sc.edu/about/of ces_and_divisions/
division_of_information_technology/security/
policy/universitypolicy/)
Plagiarism: using the words or ideas of another
as if they were one’s own is a serious form of
academic dishonesty. If another person’s
complete sentence, syntax, key words, or the
speci c or unique ideas and information are used,
one must give that person credit
through proper citation
LEARNING ASSISTANCE
Accommodations will be
provided for students with
d o c u m e n t e d p hy s i c a l , s e n s o r y,
systemic, cognitive, learning, and
psychiatric disabilities. If you believe
you have a disability requiring
accommodation in this class, please
notify the Director of the Learning
A s s i s t a n c e C e n t e r ( e m a i l a t Relics of a Catholic Saint
lacenter@wfu.edu or call at
336-758-5929). They will provide me
with veri cation of your needs, and will
recommend appropriate accommodations.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
The university is committed to a campus
environment that is inclusive, safe, and respectful
for all persons, and one that fully embraces the
Carolinian Creed. To that end, all course This class will be
activities will be conducted in an atmosphere of quite a bit different
friendly participation and interaction among from your other
colleagues, recognizing and appreciating the
unique experiences, background, and point of anthropology classes
view each student brings. You are expected at all in that you will be
times to apply the highest academic standards to
this course and to treat others with dignity and
given a lot of
respect. Please keep in mind the following freedom on
commitment expressed in the Carolinian Creed assignments.
(www.sa.sc.edu/creed): “I will discourage bigotry,
while striving to learn from differences in people,
ideas and opinions.” Likewise, the Student Code Please come and see
of Conduct (STAF 6.26 (http://www.sc.edu/ me, or the module
policies/ppm/staf626.pdf) stresses, “The
University of South Carolina strives to maintain instructor, if you
an educational community that fosters the have questions.
development of students who are ethical, civil
and responsible persons.”
page 6
 General Academic Success
Disability Services
Student Disability Resource Center (http://
www.sa.sc.edu/sds/): The Student Disability Resource
Center (SDRC) empowers students to manage challenges
and limitations imposed by disabilities. Students with
disabilities are encouraged to contact me to discuss the
logistics of any accommodations needed to fulfill course
requirements. In order to receive reasonable
accommodations from me, you must be registered with the
Student Disability Resource Center (1523 Greene Street,
LeConte Room 112A, Columbia, SC 29208,
803-777-6142). Any student with a documented disability
should contact the SDRC to make arrangements for
appropriate accommodations.
Writing Center
(http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/write/university-writing-
center). If you need help with the writing assignments for
this course, The University Writing Center is an excellent
resource! It's open to help any USC student needing
assistance with a writing project at any stage of
development. The main Writing Center is in Byrnes 703.
Student Success Center
In partnership with USC faculty, the Student Success Center
(SSC) offers a number of programs to assist you in better
understanding your course material and to aid you on your path
to success. SSC programs are facilitated by professional staff,
graduate students, and trained undergraduate peer leaders who
have previously excelled in their courses. Resources available to
you relevant to this course include:
• Peer Writing: Improve your college-level writing skills by
bringing writing assignments from any of your classes to a Peer
Writing Tutor. Similar to Tutoring, you can visit the website to
make an appointment, and to view the full schedule of available
drop-in hours and locations.
• Success Consultations: In Success Consultations, SSC staff
assist you in developing study skills, setting goals, and connecting
to a variety of campus resources. Throughout the semester, I
may communicate with the SSC via Success Connect, an online
referral system, regarding your progress in the course. If
contacted by the SSC, please schedule a Success Consultation.
Success Connect referrals are not punitive and any information
shared by me is confidential and subject to FERPA.
SSC services are offered to all USC undergraduates at no
additional cost. You are invited to call the Student Success
Hotline at (803) 777-1000, visit the SSC website (www.sc.edu/
success), or stop by the SSC in the Thomas Cooper Library on
the Mezzanine Level to check schedules and make appointments.

Counseling Services University Libraries

(https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/
student_health_services/medical-services/counseling-and-
psychiatry/index.php): The University offers counseling
and crisis services as well as outreach services, self-help,
and frequently asked questions.
University Libraries Resources (sc.edu/libraries)
University Libraries has access to books, articles, subject specific
resources, citation help, and more. If you are not sure where to
start, please Ask a Librarian! Assistance is available at sc.edu/
libraries/ask.

Did you know this course is on an approved course list for Graduation with Leadership Distinction? Do you engage in
research, study abroad, internships, or community service? If so, you could be eligible to graduate with leadership distinction.
Meet with a GLD Advisor to learn more and consider ways to get involved throughout your time at UofSC. You’ll even have your
achievements recognized on your transcript and diploma. Demonstrate to graduate/professional schools and future employers how
you can apply course concepts in real world settings and apply what you learned to make decisions and solve problems!
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: Your Pathway to Purpose!

page 7
Presentations are a signi cant part of this
course... for a reason
YOU WILL BE PRESENTING SEVERAL SMALL PROJECT RESULTS INFORMALLY
AS WELL AS YOUR FINAL PROJECT FORMALLY

Oral communication skills will be an
important part of any career you
choose.
Here are several tips for presenting
during the module projects and for
presenting your nal research project.
These are guidelines that we use for
students presenting at academic
conferences. They are widely
applicable.
Your presentation lengths will vary,
but none will be longer than 15-20
minutes. Most will be shorter. You will
have to address questions afterward, so
anticipate what others may ask. Think
about the strengths and weaknesses of
your work. Every project has both.
Practice, practice, practice. No one
wants to hear anyone simply read a
written paper. Practice it so that you do
not have to rely completely on your
text. Practice in front of others so you
are used to an audience and to get
feedback. You also want to make sure
you are within the time limit. You will
be graded on what is presented even if
you run out of time.
Be animated, make eye contact.
Overall, be engaging. Again, the more
you practice, the less you have to read
and the more you can be yourself.
If you use aids like PowerPoint...
use them well. Keep the text to bullet
points to help your audience follow
along. Include images and necessary
data. Do not get too fancy. Avoid ashy
graphics and garish colors. Use images,
tables, and graphs to support what you
are talking about.
Be organized. Present your
q u e s t i o n , w h y i t ’s i m p o r t a n t ,
background information, methods,
results, and discussion. Focus on your
results and discussion. Use your time
wisely.
Above all, be professional and be
your self. You are a researcher
presenting research, but you can also
be you. Just make sure your work and
what you did is at the forefront.

Burial mounds in Ireland Funeral procession

ANT 390: Student-Faculty Seminar | Fall 2014 | Dr. Jones

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 Course Schedule

Week Theme Day Topic Readings Assignments

1 Aug-18 Introduction and Discussion of Course and Topic Syllabus: DM&B introduction

Conklin (ch. 20 DM&B); Hill 1983;

Anthropology of Death: Topics in Cultural and
2 Aug-23 Matsumoto 2011; Kwon (ch. 23
F Linguistic Anthropology
DM&B)
o
u
Anthropology of Death: Topics in Archaeology and Brooks 2011; Fashing et al. 2011;
n Aug-25
Biological Anthropology DeWitte 2014
d
a
3 Aug-30 Career Planning Brooks ch. 4
t
i Sep-1 NO CLASS - Work on Writing Assignment 1 draft
o
4 n Sep-6 Career planning; peer editing and discussion Writing Assign. 1 draft
s Sep-8 NO CLASS - Work on Writing Assignment 1 nal
Skills and careers; ePortfolios and re ective
5 Sep-13 Writing Assign. 1 nal
learning; project topics

Module 1 Sep-15 Module 1: ethics in bioarchaeology Larsen & Walker 2005; Watkins 2020
Ethics
6 Sep-20 Module 1 presentation: What is ethical research?
Module 2 Sep-22 Module 2: mortality in the 19th century Huataniemi et al. 2016 eJournal post 1
7 Questions Sep-27 Module 2 presentation: what is a good question?
Module 3 Sep-29 Module 3: Archaeology and the Study of Sacri ce Schwartz 2017
Lit Review/
8 Background Oct-4 Module 3 presentation: what is a good lit review? Writing Assign. 2 draft

Oct-6 Module 4: the Grandmother Hypothesis Hawkes et al.; Madrigal et al. eJournal post 2
Module 4
Methods Module 4 presentation: how do you gather good
9 Oct-11 Writing Assign. 2 nal
data?
Oct-13 FALL BREAK

10 Oct-18 Module 5: Cemeteries, identity, and modern society Rainville 1999 Writing Assignment 3

Module 5 Oct-20 Module 5: what is analysis? Crowell & Mackie 1984

Methods
Module 5 presentations: what are meaningful Annotated
11 Oct-25
patterns? Bibliography due
Oct-27 What is Theory? Ellen 2010 eJournal post 3
Module 6
12 Theory Nov-1 Module 6: Does mortuary analysis work today? Binford 1970; Chesson

Nov-3 Module 6 presentations: what do you think?

13 Nov-8 Research Design Discussion Writing Assignment 4
Nov-10 Open - Research Time eJournal post 4
14 Nov-15 Open - Research Time

Research Nov-17 Open - Research Time Outline due

15 Projects Nov-22 How to present your research
Nov-24 THANKSGIVING BREAK

16 Nov-29 Presentations
Dec-1 Presentations
Finals Week Final Paper due 12/8

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 Writing Assignment and eJournal Post Topics
All writing assignments must be done in Word and submitted on Blackboard. The lengths and spacing
requirements are in each assignment below. Due dates are always by the start of class. If you want an
extension, you must ask before the day the assignment is due.

Writing Assignment #1: 20pts.

Construct a curriculum vitae (as long as it needs to be to include all of your activities) and a statement of purpose/cover letter (1-
page, single-spaced). The letter should be geared toward your immediate plans. Don’t feel too much pressure; this can be
completely hypothetical. The goal is to think about how your anthropological education is applied to your interests. That is, sell your
skills. If you had multiple options, pick one of those and gear your letter toward it. Be speci c and explicit about your interests and
how the anthropological skills you have learned make you a great candidate for this job/school/internship/fellowship.

Writing Assignment #2: 20pts.

Write a 1-page (single-spaced) proposal your nal research project. This should include:
1. a central question (stated very early on)
2. a very brief overview of research that has been done on this question/topic
3. how you will answer this question (sources of data, general methods of data collection, and analysis)
4. why the topic is important
You should de nitely cite other works for this (the works cited page does not count toward your 1-page limit).

Writing Assignment #3: 40pts.

Write a 4-page (double-spaced) review paper of the topic you chose for Module 3.

Writing Assignment #4: 20pts.

Write a 2-page (double-spaced) essay on what is good anthropological research. This is purposefully broad and can be very
personalized to your own views of what anthropology or academic scholarship in general should be.

All eJournal posts are to be done on Blackboard and be a minimum of 300 words and no more than 1000 words.

ePortfolio Post #1: 10pts.

Write a post on what you learned about generating a worthwhile and ethical research question, why it matters, and how it will be
useful to you.

ePortfolio Post #2: 10pts.

Write about how to do a good literature review, why it matters, and how these skills will be useful to you.

ePortfolio Post #3: 10pts.

Write how to develop good data collection and analysis methods, why it matters, and how these skills will be useful to you.

ePortfolio Post #4: 10pts.

Write about your theory. In other words, what do you think motivates human behavior and how does this related to your
experiences and how does it shape your view of the world.page 1

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 eJournal Guidelines
Use the following as a reference throughout the semester for completing your eJournal assignments and other unprompted
entries.
Important: The number one guiding principle for your posts in this course is: relate what you have learned in each module,
why it is important, and how it relates to your personal skill development and/or future plans.
What is an eJournal: they are electronic journals that document your learning experience. They are used in various contexts
and at various scales. We will be using them in this course to document your experiences in rst-hand learning environments.
Although journals, such as these, may seem “soft” do not underestimate the importance or power of these types of learning
tools. They are thought by some to be some of the most accurate assessments of what people have learned and are
increasingly becoming highly valued evidence of academic skill and professional potential by employers and graduate
programs.
Format: the standard here is the blog tool on the course Blackboard site. However, if you have done this before for another
class and want to continue there, you can post the link to your ePortfolio/eJournal on Blackboard as your submission.
Sharing: Read each other’s posts. One goal of these is to have you keeping up-to-date on each other’s progress and
research projects throughout the semester. This is a collaborative e ort.

Focus on process:
The purpose of eJournals is to encourage learners to focus on the process of learning as much as the outcomes. If you are
regularly thinking about how you learned something, why it’s important, how it connects to other knowledge, and how it is
applicable, you will come out of this course learning much more than simply focusing on doing well on exams.

Grading Rubric for eJournal posts: Each assigned entry is worth 10 points of your total 40 eJournal points. You will be
graded based on the following criteria: content/depth of understanding, organization and writing style, presentation/creativity,
and re ection. Your grade will be assigned using the following rubric:
10 points You include all of the necessary information, display a deep understanding of the topic and related ideas,
write clearly and e ectively, and re ect (i.e. discuss why you learned what you did, why it matters, and how it
relates to your own academic and future life plans)
8-9 points You are de cient in one of the categories
6-7 points You are de cient in two of the categories
4-5 points You are de cient in three of the categories
1-3 points You post but are de cient in all of the categories
0 points You fail to post an entry on this topic

Some tips for creating a successful eJournal

• Document (what you are learning), re ect (on what you have learned), and present (your experience). Focus on the
process of learning as much as the outcomes. In this case, relate the information in the modules to your own research
project.
• Find connections between information in this course and that from other courses and experiences outside of your
academic life
• This is somewhat about what you’ve learned but much more about why it matters to you and in general

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