The syllabus specifies that:

• this paper should be based on the research logs you kept in your notebook all term.
• your analysis cannot be a rambling (or even coherent) account of how you researched a paper, from beginning to end. (That is, it should not be written as a story, but as an analysis.)
• the paper needs a thesis sentence which you then defend in it
• the paper should be focused on 2 or 3 critical issues relating to your research process. These issues could be aspects of your research process that are particularly interesting or problematic.
• you need to use specific evidence to support your assertions/claims about your research process. Specific evidence will primarily mean observations recorded in your notebook.

Additional points to consider:

• the paper should not be about the practical problems you encountered in doing research, like finding sources using the library, etc.
• the paper should be about your mental map and how it changed or developed during the research process. That is, it should discuss specific concepts you found out about and how they were related.
• A mental map is specific to a topic. It is not general. For example, your mental map about Star Trek would have different words and ideas in it than your mental map of Seinfeld.

Writer:

• Give copies of your essay to members of your writing group.
• Read the essay aloud to them, as they follow along on their copies.

Group members:

• As the writer reads, listen for the following.
  • the writer's thesis
  • the type of evidence the writer used
  • the critical issues that the author considered about the research process
  • the way the author organized the paper
• Underline or circle any relevant sections of the paper.

Discussion:

• Take turns explaining what you identified as the author's thesis
• Take turns explaining what you identified as the critical issues discussed by the author
• Does the author use as evidence specific points in specific readings and how he or she reacted to them?
• Take turns explaining what you learned about the author's mental map from this paper.

Final points:

As a group, consider:

• The coherence of the paper. What do you take to be its main statement of its thesis?
• The development of the ideas in the paper. Do subsequent paragraphs add information to this thesis?
• What should the writer do to improve this paper?