LibGuides: Designing Research Assignments: Scaffolding Research Assignments

What is scaffolding?

Educational scaffolding refers to the process of providing temporary supports for learners to guide them towards achieving a goal or completing a complex task.

Scaffolding can take many forms. One type of scaffolding is called process scaffolding, where a complex task, such as a research paper is broken down into smaller, more manageable parts.

Attribution

Portions of this page were modified from Lehigh University Libraries' Information Literacy in ENG2: An Instructor Guide and Modesto Junior College's Designing Research Assignments Guide.

Scaffolding a Research Assignment

Assignment Ideas for Each Stage
Selecting a topic	Identify a broad topic area Proposal Develop a research question Develop a thesis statement
Finding background information/Presearch	Refine a broad topic area Revise initial proposal, thesis or research question based on information gathered during presearch Brainstorming Concept mapping Class discussion to share findings on a topic, changes to research focus, questions that have arisen
Research	Annotated bibliography Research log/journal Analyze a single article in depth
Source evaluation	Compare and contrast discussion of a topic in different types of sources (scholarly vs. popular) Critique a source Investigate a scholar/scholar biography
Draft	Outline First draft Peer review
Final Draft	Final Draft with: self-assessment or research reflection

Scaffolding Suggestions

Research Stage	Support Provided
Selecting a topic	Students often have considerable difficulty selecting a topic and coming up with an appropriate research question. Provide a list of broad topics for students to select from so that they do not feel overwhelmed and spend less time choosing between topics. Spend time working with students on coming up with researchable questions. Show examples of weak research questions, and work as a class to improve the research questions.
Research	Provide students with sources to use for their paper, and have them focus on evaluating and analyzing the sources rather than on searching for sources Provide students with a single source with an extensive bibliography to use as a jumping off point. Demonstrate how one source can lead to many other sources.

Research Stage

Support Provided

Selecting a topic

Students often have considerable difficulty selecting a topic and coming up with an appropriate research question.

Provide a list of broad topics for students to select from so that they do not feel overwhelmed and spend less time choosing between topics.
Spend time working with students on coming up with researchable questions. Show examples of weak research questions, and work as a class to improve the research questions.

Research

Provide students with sources to use for their paper, and have them focus on evaluating and analyzing the sources rather than on searching for sources
Provide students with a single source with an extensive bibliography to use as a jumping off point. Demonstrate how one source can lead to many other sources.