Contends that developing a semester-long independent study project is a useful way to motivate students. Argues that giving student the choice and responsibility for selecting a topic of study is highly motivating. (HB)

Discusses briefly obstacles to offering in-depth library research instruction to undergraduates. Describes a highly successful library research skills component of a freshman composition course developed collaboratively by bibliographic instruction librarians and composition instructors. (SR)

A college shares insights on the development and integration of a new molecular biology major into the curriculum. (ZWH)

Emphasizes writing a dissertation in undergraduate geography study as a means of giving the student some control over subject matter. Offers criteria for selecting a topic including originality, topicality, feasibility, and likelihood of sustaining student interest. Warns that choices by academic supervisors may be made with regard to grant money…

Provides an exercise for broadening students' understanding of what research is and why it is important. Shows how students can be taught the value of source materials as fundamentals of true research. Outlines a method of taking apart an expository article and tracking down its multiple sources. (HB)

Describes a research assignment (called "photo-elicitation") in a graduate course on the role of photography in society in which students interview people similar to the subjects in the photographs to discover how the photographs affect them. Includes material from one research project interviewing three recovering drug addicts responding to Larry…

Recommends a social studies activity that combines geography and history within a current events framework to make the curriculum more interesting and challenging to the students. Explains that students investigate natural disasters from around the world and determine the effect humans have on these "natural" occurrences. (CMK)

Describes how to develop a storytelling unit that will culminate in a festival in which all students can successfully participate and perform. Outlines the entire process, including research, "talk-abouts" and details, in-class activities to help students develop their tales, periodic evaluations, and the festival itself. (SR)

Describes a writing exercise with the "Oxford English Dictionary" that teaches students about research and attention to detail. Describes how the exercise, which involves the student in a set of serial tasks, makes students comfortable with the OED, teaches them how to extract full details of any word, and teaches students to take…

Explains how student projects enable second-year chemistry students to gain their first experience studying a chemistry-based problem before undertaking a major project during the third year of their chemistry studies. (DDR)

Describes how teachers can help students learn to use effectively the wealth of knowledge on the Internet by organizing research in advance, planning carefully and structuring assignments as students conduct their own research, and teaching students to evaluate web sites. (SR)

The yeast "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" has been used by human beings since ancient times for its ability to convert sugar to alcohol. Continual exposure to glucose in the natural environment for innumerable generations has probably enabled "S. cerevisiae" to grow in fermentative mode on sugars by switching off the genes responsible for respiration…

Reading comprehension games and activities are presented in four sections: literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, comprehension games, and comprehension questions. Section I offers detailed instructions for 10 individual activities which develop literal comprehension skills. Each activity includes a teacher objective, a student…

Describes a writing assignment designed to aid students' perception of audience, purpose, format, vocabulary, pertinent information, and peer editing. Establishes a framework for both independent student research and group work and revision. Encourages students to establish a rapport with groups to evaluate the writing's content, presentation,…

Presents an alternative to the usual selections taught in research paper writing courses. Suggests that Josephine Tey's novel is more relevant and enjoyable, as well as better suited for research projects, than, for example, "1984" or "The Sound and the Fury." (HTH)