Making the Implicit Explicit
Academics are well practiced in carrying out scholarly research, reading, and writing and easily control the sequencing and coordination of the processes involved as they work. In order to reach a similar level of sophistication, students need opportunities to recognize and practice the component skills in a more focused fashion.
SPARK provides a means to make explicit several of the tasks and skills implicit in the work of experienced academics.
Understanding the Assignment
Understanding the Assignment is a complex skill involving many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- recognizing that assignments have pedagogical purposes and that addressing these is important
- distinguishing between instructions that call for description and those that call for analysis, similarly for explanation and argument
- recognizing the components of an assignment and planning an appropriate schedule to complete them
Topic Formulation
Topic Formulation is a complex skill involving many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- defining and understanding the scope of a scholarly field (for example, key areas of debate, primary scholars, etc.)
- recognizing what content does and does not fit within a particular discipline
- moving from a broad area of interest to a specific and viable research question
Library Research Skills
Library Research Skills involve many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, and academic and popular sources
- appreciating the difference in potential value among various resource formats (for example, books, articles and web sites)
- developing an effective search strategy using keywords, Boolean logic, and controlled vocabulary
Making Notes on Academic Sources
Making Notes on Academic Sources is a complex skill involving many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- understanding the need to evaluate resources and developing evaluation criteria
- recognizing that arguments have components – claims, evidence, examples, etc.
- structuring notes to organize and integrate information, rather than simply listing facts
Academic Reading
Academic Reading is a complex skill involving many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- identifying an author’s purpose, point of view and key elements of the argument presented
- identifying the main components of a reading and understanding their purpose (for example, abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, etc.)
- placing an author or article within the context of other authors and articles
Academic Writing
Academic Writing is a complex skill involving many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- drawing connections among ideas, rather than simply listing ideas
- using drafts to try out and reorganize ideas and arguments
- putting oneself in the place of a potential reader
Editing
Editing is a complex skill involving many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- recognizing the limits of spelling and grammar checkers
- connecting punctuation to clarity
- tracking one’s most frequent errors
Citing
Citing is a complex skill involving many components that might be taken for granted by instructors, such as:
- understanding the purpose of citing sources
- selecting an appropriate documentation style
- creating and using in-text citations
- creating footnotes or bibliographies
