ALTERNATIVES TO THE RESEARCH PAPER

Contact the Library Instruction Coordinator, Jen Jarson (jarson@muhlenberg.edu / 484-664-

3552) or your Subject Specialist Librarian to discuss these and other assignment ideas.

Abstract
Write a condensed version of a longer piece of writing that highlights the major points
covered, concisely describes the content and scope of the writing, and reviews the writing's
contents in abbreviated form.

Anatomy of a research paper

Conduct the research for a term paper. Do everything except write it. At various stages,
students submit: 1) topic clearly defined; 2) annotated bibliography of useful sources; 3)
outline of paper; 4) thesis statement; 5) opening paragraph and summary

Annotated bibliography
Find a specified number of sources on a topic (or on an author’s writings) and write
descriptive or evaluative annotations. Include commentary on why the item was chosen or
how it contributes to the knowledge base.

Bibliographic essay
In writing a bibliographic essay, students introduce a topic and evaluate resources related to
that topic. In reviewing the resources in the essay, students can: consider a topic’s
significance; identify major themes, perspectives, people, organizations relevant to the topic;
compare/contrast relevant resources and discuss their utility in understanding the topic.

Bibliography or literature review update

Select (or assign) a topic on which a review article was written a number of years ago and
update that review, analyzing, synthesizing, and integrating the ideas they find,
demonstrating the evolution of a particular topic and the scholarly communication
surrounding it.

Book review
Review a book relevant to the discipline/course. Consider the author, the value of the text
to the discipline, and the context of related research. Peruse relevant scholarly journals to
explore format, content, and approach of typical book reviews.

Case study analysis

Provide case studies for students (e.g., demonstrating sexual harassment). Students can
analyze case, applying concepts, data, and theory from the course.

Compare book reviews

Locate, read and compare the [three, four, etc.] reviews of a work, exploring the
importance of critical reception.
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Compare internet and database searches

Provide a precise statement of the search topic. Run the search on the Web (try more than
one search engine) and on a database (Academic Search Premier, LexisNexis, PsycINFO,
MLA, etc.). Present some representation of the search results and compare the findings.
How did results vary? Was one source better than the other? If so, why and how? Justify
the choice of databases.

Contradict your perspective

Working in pairs or small groups, take for and against 'positions' on an issue - based on a
specific journal article. Find a range of resources to support your position. Share the
resources with the class for further discussion.

Contrast journal articles

Use an index to locate two articles that present differing viewpoints on the same topic:
scholarly/popular; conservative/liberal; primary/secondary; popular/scholarly article from
which popular quoted. Compare content, style, tone, audience, purpose, authority, currency,
accuracy.
OR
Read several articles that appear to address the same question but reach different
conclusions. Account for the differences by examining the methods used, the experimental
design, and the interpretation of results. (Professor would select the articles.)

Convert a newspaper article to a scholarly article

Select a newspaper article on a topic related to the course. Students will then convert the
newspaper article into a scholarly article complete with a bibliography and written using a
scholarly style.

Corporate event
Identify a corporate event (IPO, spin-off, merger, major new product introduction, etc.) and
examine the stock price reaction to the published disclosure of the event. Students must
provide an accurate assessment of the consequences of the transaction on the company’s
common stock. Students produce a report which incorporates graphs/charts pertaining to
the assigned company, as well as research from five or more firms that undertook the same
corporate event and examine the market reaction to the public announcement.

Current scholarly discussions

Have the class generate a list of cutting edge issues in a field by having them survey the
current literature and identify topic areas that are especially under debate.

Different accounts of same event

Locate and compare different accounts of the same event in bibliographic databases and in
search engines.

Dissecting a scholarly article

Select an article from a scholarly journal (pertaining to a specific discipline). Get the
instructor’s approval. Prepare a 4 to 6 page article review, providing an introduction to the
topic of the article, the issue being discussed, the hypothesis being studied, the sample
(random/non-random and size), the methods used, major findings, and conclusions (adding
opinions, views, clarifications, or claims regarding the research). Attach article to critique.

Double-entry journal
Students draw a line down the middle of each journal page and record data (a line of text, a
useful explanation) in the left-hand column and their response to the information in the
right-hand column. This separation of data and responses requires students to assess, form
 3

opinions, and make judgments about information they read or hear about. Students should
reread their journals from time to time, reanalyzing and refining their initial responses.

Editorial vs. scholarly article

Students examine an editorial and discuss what evidence would need to be provided to turn
it into an academic argument for a scholarly audience. Have the class locate and analyze
evidence and write a response to the editorial based on their new knowledge.

Encyclopedia entry
Students create an online encyclopedia for the course. Each student can write an
encyclopedia entry on a specific topic.
OR
See Wikipedia, below.

Examine coverage of a controversial issue

Examine the treatment of a controversial issue in several sources (newspaper editorial,
scholarly journal, journals from different disciplines, etc.), examine, scrutinizing bias and
the variety of perspective.

Evaluate websites
Visit two, or more, websites and evaluate the contents. (The sites could be assigned.)
Critically compare and contrast the format, structure, content, target audience, and purpose
of each site. Who is the site intended for, how well does it do its job, what can you tell
about the owner of the site? Sites could represent a range of authors (e.g., academic,
corporate, personal), treatment of issues, etc. Submit the URL and front page of each.

Follow the publication trail using a timeline

Track publications regarding a controversial issue by creating a timeline of articles in local
newspapers, national newspapers, popular magazines, scholarly journals, websites,
encyclopedias and other sources found. Provide a brief report comparing and contrasting
the information with regard to changes or differences in information, bias and focus in
addition to the timeline and the evolution of information. Avoid adding daily newspaper
entries that do not change in tone, content, focus, or perspective to the timeline.

Forecasting in retrospect
What did articles written in the [1960s] predict about the future of [computers]. Did the
forecasts come true or not? Why?

Historical video assignment

Compare and contrast the film version of an event to the actual event in history. Students
will write a short paper on the historical accuracy of the film and the accurate portrayal of
plot, main characters, settings, events, etc. They will differentiate elements based on facts
and those based on interpretation.
Variation: Can be tailored to non-historical topics as well, such as movies about person,
works of literature, social movements, etc.
Possible addition: Locate at least two lengthy reviews of the film. Compare the two reviews
and discuss any biases displayed by the reviewers, as well as any misrepresentations or
inaccuracies you find in the review.

Identifying major journals

Identify (with professor’s help) major journals in the discipline. Compare and contrast them.
Analyze their content, tone, audience, and impact.
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Images
Students examine a painting or other graphic image from a time period you are dealing with
or which touches on a theme you are discussing in class. Brainstorm questions and theories
about the image, then list information sources that might help address those questions.
Assign groups to a cluster of questions for information-gathering and then pool
interpretations.

Information ethics
Students look at headlines on the same day from three different newspapers (e.g.,
online/print, local/national/international). Students must analyze the headlines, language,
story content.

Information evolution
Research a topic using information from different decades. Discuss changes that have
occurred in societal or scientific attitudes, perspectives, research interest, or theories.

Interview
Students prepare an interview--either one to be actually carried out or one that they can't
because the subject is long dead or otherwise unavailable. To generate useful questions
students would have to become familiar with the person's life and work and understand its
significance. They could either write up results of a real interview or write their own
imaginary responses based on available evidence.

Keywords
Students generate a list of "key words" which are important concepts for the course. They
locate uses of these key words in a variety of contexts and/or disciplines and write an
analysis of the words' multiple meanings.

Lesson plan
Students prepare a lesson plan on a particular topic for teaching in the higher education,
high school, elementary, or other setting. A variety of sources (scholarly, popular, audio-
visual, etc.) need to be consulted to prepare and teach the unit. Consider major scholars in
the area, significant unresolved questions about the subject, “who’s doing what where,” etc.
Option: Students must actually teach the plan (to their classmates or partner with a local
school for other grade options).

Letter to government
Write a letter to a government official (or organization leader or any “decision maker’) about
an issue in your state/region. Justify your arguments using a range of sources, including
statistical sources and evidence in government reports. Send letter (or allow students
option to not send).

Letters or diaries
Students examine texts written by a figure discussed in class, generate questions from
those primary sources, and prepare an annotated version of the text that answers or
provides speculation on aspects of the text that are unclear. This could be a group project,
with a set of letters or diary entries distributed among the class.

Literature review
Review the literature on a specific topic for a given time period examining the evolution of
research.
 5

Look behind the book

Examine the credibility of the course textbook or a major book in the discipline. Examine
the author, publisher, credentials, and reviews. Consider the value of this book to the
course at hand.

Memo writing
Write a memo that convincingly summarizes recommendations to colleagues. Memo topics
could range from explanations and reinforcements of good company accounting practices to
upcoming policy decisions. This exercise gives students practice in summarizing, providing
evidence, and arguing persuasively.

Point of view
Students study the ways different disciplines treat the same subject or the ways different
audiences (e.g., popular v. scholarly) shape the presentation of information by locating and
analyzing materials that approach the same topic from different directions.

Policy analysis
Students follow a particular [foreign, domestic, educational, social] policy situation as it
develops. Who are the organizations involved? What is the history of the issue? What are
the ideological conflicts?

Poster session
Research a topic and present it as a poster that other students will use to learn about the
topic. Students should create a bibliography of sources used.

Primary vs. secondary (historical event)

Provide the class with primary sources that recount an event that is open to more than one
interpretation. Then students locate and critique secondary source explanations of that
event. Have students examine differences in secondary sources and relate these to their
own interpretation of the available evidence. (Students are often surprised to find secondary
sources tell the same story differently.)

Political rhetoric
Choose a political speech given to the people of [United States, other country of interest]
and argue the ways in which the speaker attempts to manipulate or influence his or her
audience and why. Research the context of the speech as well as views on the speech.
Analyze the speech, looking at what issues are addressed and how the speaker addresses
them. Consider why the speaker would take such an approach.

Propaganda
Students choose any issue that has been the subject of protest or propaganda at any time
in the past 500 years in any part of the world (limits or direction may be applied). Write a
paper detailing the issues of the protest/propaganda, putting the issues in the context of a
text/object (e.g., film, literary/musical work, poster, pamphlet, sculpture, painting, building,
historical event, etc.). What historical forces—technological, political, cultural—brought this
protested issue or point of propaganda to a critical point at the moment you are looking at
it?

Psychological tests
Review a psychological test based on the literature about the test, discussing the test’s
adequacy and effectiveness.
 6

Read the references

Read the articles cited in a research paper. Explain how each is related to the paper. In
what circumstances is it appropriate to cite other papers? What different purposes do the
citations serve?

Research design/proposal
Students are asked to design an experiment or other type of research. They must identify a
need (state a problem), select an appropriate funding agency, estimate costs involved, and
submit a proposal with a supportive annotated bibliography. Consider how this issue has
been addressed in the past, what current thinking is, and how proposal can address the
problem. Proposals could be reviewed by groups of students.

Research narrative
Assign a "research narrative" (beyond a log) that describes and reflects metacognitively on
all steps of the writing and research process. Try this as an occasional in-class writing
exercise, especially to open up discussion, or ask students to hand in a summative version
at the end of the course along with the paper/annotated bibliography/other project. It's
also a plagiarism-buster.

Research trends
Look at a periodical index (or yearbook, handbook, etc.) at 10 year intervals. Discuss the
explosion of research, and how its issues, content and methods change.

Review
Write a review of a journal article and a website on the same topic. Consider the purpose of
each, author's credentials, accuracy, objectivity and currency of the information.

Social movement (primary text analysis)

Students write a research paper that analyzes primary texts from a social movement that
organized to achieve some social change. The focus of the paper should be to analyze
primary sources from the movement and make an argument about these sources and their
relevance to the movement. The paper should also provide adequate background to
understand these sources (social, cultural, historical contexts relevant to focus). The paper
could identify an appropriate focus and attempt to persuade the reader to the point of view
taken.

Textbook analysis
Students trace a "fact" from textbook to its original discovery and dissemination. Have them
analyze the contemporary reception of the "fact"--was it challenged, debated, hailed, or
reviled? Was it recognized as significant? Was it newsworthy enough to be covered by the
popular press? (Requires careful groundwork to make sure it is workable and that the
materials are available.)

Topic by discipline
Compare the way that scholarly publications in different disciplines handle the same topic.

Tracking an author or a "classic" paper

Trace an important paper through a citation index. What does it mean to be "cited"? How
important is it that a scholar be cited?

Tracing a scholar's career

Students choose (or are assigned) a scholar/researcher. Explore that person's career and
ideas by locating biographical information, preparing a bibliography of his/her writings,
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analyzing the reaction of the scholarly community to the researcher's work, and examining
the scholarly network in which s/he works.

Understanding “the literature” of a discipline

What does “the literature” of a discipline look like? What comprises it? How is it produced,
disseminated, and accessed in a given discipline? How is the knowledge produced? By
whom? In which media is it presented? What is the publishing cycle? How important is
informal communication in the field?

Wikipedia
Students create/edit entries in the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, allowing them to discuss
and consider authority, bias, accuracy, etc., as well as participate in a larger knowledge
community. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:School_and_university_projects for
examples of how others have used Wikipedia.

Write your own exam

Write an exam on one area; answer some or all of the questions (depending on professor’s
preference). Submit an annotated bibliography of source material and rationale for
questions.

Writing about problem sets

Rather than asking students to provide the formulas or answers, ask them to describe how
they might go about solving a problem. This can demonstrate their true understanding of
the process.

This list has been adapted and compiled, in large part, from the following resources:
• http://www.lrc.macewan.ca/pdf/faculty/altrespap04.pdf
• http://www.nova.edu/library/dils/teachinghandouts/faculty/Ideas%20for%20informa
tion.doc
• http://www.library.queensu.ca/webisi/alternative.htm
• Term Paper Alternatives: Ideas for Information-Based Assignments, King’s College
(handout)
• http://library.ups.edu/instruct/assign.htm
• http://www.clark.edu/Library/Faculty/assignment_ideas.html
• http://www.acr.losrios.edu/~library/flex /altassign.htm
• http://teaching.berkeley.edu/docs/encouraging.pdf
• http://www.uni.edu/~drbill/professional/teaching/dr/assignments/bibliographic_essa
ys.pdf

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning: A Workshop for Faculty and
Librarians
http://www.lib.jmu.edu/instruction/2006assignments.aspx
JMU faculty from a wide variety of departments developed information literacy assignments
as part of a workshop. This site compiles their assignments, as well as their evaluation of
the assignments after their implementation.