Syllabi in Students as Scholars courses at any level should contain a statement, like the ones here, that show the students that this course is associated with the Students as Scholars initiative and is intended to teach them a set of skills that will better prepare them for their academic and professional careers. You are welcome to modify this language as needed to communicate these ideas with your students. It is important to include the specific student learning outcomes, too.
If you are teaching a course that is approved at any level, you are also welcome to use our lightbulb on your syllabus or course page.
RS Designated Courses
This class is designated as a Students as Scholars Research and Scholarship (RS) Intensive Course, which means that students are given the opportunity to actively participate a research or creative project and make a significant contribution to the creation of a disciplinary-appropriate product. To learn more about Students as Scholars, visit oscar.gmu.edu. [Additional language specific to the goals of your class.]
By the time you have finished this course or project, I expect that you will be able to:
- Articulate and refine a focused and manageable question, problem, or challenge that may contribute to the field.
- In consultation with a faculty mentor, design a project that has the potential to make contributions to knowledge, appropriately adapt research or design strategies as the project progresses, and complete the project.
- Clearly communicate the results of a scholarly or creative project through publishing, presenting or performing, consistently employing conventions appropriate to the audience and context.
- At least one Method outcome:
- Consistently choose effective methods for exploring an inquiry, and address advantages and limitations of those methods
- Acquire information or data using effective, well-designed strategies; consistently use appropriate criteria to judge the credibility of the evidence.
- Consistently analyze or synthesize new and previous evidence to make important contributions to knowledge.
Note: This is an example of adapting this language for her syllabus:
This class is designated as a Students as Scholars Research & Scholarship intensive course, which means that you will be working on an authentic research project on tracing origins of a staple food product and presenting your results at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Students as Scholars is Mason's initiative to give students the opportunity to conduct undergraduate research. Check out OSCAR.gmu.edu or stop by the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research to learn about the many other programs they offer students. I'll also be sharing additional research opportunities as I hear about them, and I will be happy to meet with you if you have additional questions.
Scholarly Inquiry Courses
This class is identified as a Students as Scholars Scholarly Inquiry course, where students learn about the recursive process of scholarly inquiry either through studying previous scholarship or as preparation for participating in an original scholarly project. To learn more about Students as Scholars, visit oscar.gmu.edu. [Additional language specific to the goals of this class.]
In this Scholarly Inquiry course, students will:
- Articulate a question, problem, or challenge that is generally relevant and appropriate in scope.
- Identify some relevant ethical issues; demonstrates some attention to ethical principles at some stages of the inquiry process.
- Communicate knowledge from a scholarly or creative project through writing, presenting, or performing, employing some conventions appropriate to the audience and context.
Note: Here is the statement Bethany Usher uses on her Food and Human Evolution course, which is taught to meet the Scholarly Inquiry student learning outcomes:
This class is taught as Students as Scholars Scholarly Inquiry course, which means that you learning about the process of conducting research in anthropology through multiple assignments. We will concentrate on how to create and refine a manageable and interesting research question through your Staple Food Project. We will also focus on how to evaluate and use academic literature throughout the class. You will critique how food and diet are presented in the media, and in peer-reviewed research writing, with respect to anthropological and evolutionary perspectives. From this class, I expect that you will be able to :
- Articulate a question, problem, or challenge that is generally relevant and appropriate in scope.
- Identify some relevant ethical issues and demonstrate some attention to ethical principles in the inquiry process.
- Communicate knowledge from the project through writing and presenting, or performing, employing some conventions appropriate to biological anthropology (using the American Journal of Physical Anthropology style guide), and
- Articulate a general understanding of the value of research and creative inquiry to individuals and communities in local, civic, professional, and global contexts. Identify some implications of, and questions raised by, the staple food project.
Students as Scholars is Mason's initiative to give students the opportunity to conduct undergraduate research. Check out OSCAR.gmu.eduor stop by the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research to learn about the many other programs they offer students. I'll also be sharing additional research opportunities as I hear about them, and I will be happy to meet with you if you have additional questions.
Discovery of Scholarship Courses
This class is identified as a Students as Scholars Discovery of Scholarship course, designed to introduce students to scholarship, and include some active or inquiry-based learning. To learn more about Students as Scholars, visit oscar.gmu.edu. [Additional language specific to the goals of this class.]
In this Discovery of Scholarship course, students will:
- Begin to make distinctions among personal beliefs, opinions, claims and evidence.
- Begin to articulate the value of research and creative inquiry to individuals or communities in some local, civic, professional, or global contexts.
- Begin to articulate how scholarly knowledge is disseminated and begin to make some connections between own and others' work.
Here is a sample from a Discovery-level syllabus GEOL302, Mineralogy:
This course has been identified as a Students as Scholars Discovery of Scholarship course. This means that you will be learning about how knowledge is generated and disseminated in mineralogy. We will also discuss the importance of scholarship and mineralogy to society. We will be looking into in these topics by:
- Comprehensively reviewing a Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) Journal article by Robert Hazen (and others) on Mineral Evolution. Dr Hazen is a Robinson Professor at GMU
- Investigating aspects of a mineral of your choice.This will include evaluation of peer-reviewed literature and websites and applying appropriate scholarly conventions such as the MSA style guide
- Helping to run the annual Gem, Mineral and Fossil show at GMU
To learn more about Students as Scholars, visit oscar.gmu.edu.