Integrative 2 Seminar
The Elevator Pitch
Seminar 2 sets the tone and expectations for the college level research paper. The course hones students’ sense of what makes a productive research question and goes deeper into how this process of inquiry can support, inspire, and guide their creative response and the making process.
Official Course Description
From the Course Catalogue
This course aims to challenge old beliefs about what you can do with writing. It invites inquiry and helps you to think about research as an energized idea. In Integrative Seminar 2 you will be encouraged to pursue topics you find perplexing and fascinating. How can curiosity lead you to ask productive questions and get answers to them? How can you create a writing process that is organic and unfolds over time?
In the first half of the semester quick assignments will introduce you to a variety of research methods and help you to define an area of interest. In the second half of the semester you will pursue your own research based project connected to Studio. Throughout the semester, you will read texts which explore a wide array of forms that researched writing can take.
Once again, Studio and Seminar will come together through a series of bridge projects that highlight the components of the research process: inquiry, context, investigation, interpretation, argument, connections and reflection. Bridge projects are the basis of the collaborative relationship of ideas between the two courses. They ask you to engage with writing as a form of making, and making as a form of thinking, in order to explicitly and productively blur the boundaries between seminar and studio.
How One Instructor Describes This Course
“From the very first day of Integrative Seminar 2, students take creative control of their research processes by developing productive questions inspired by their own interests and passions. They begin to enjoy what they had previously considered work! In Seminar 2, we use research tables, mind maps, and outlines for organizing and brainstorming. Other skills such as effective use of the New School library, how to properly structure a college level academic essay, craft a clear thesis, cite sources via footnote, and create an Annotated Bibliography, all build on this previous knowledge. Daunting projects are broken down into simple, concrete steps. Additionally, iteration and scaffolding are taught and practiced to help bolster student confidence and create a solid foundation for tackling more complex research and design challenges in the First Year and beyond.”
-Anna Fridlis
The Uniqueness of Integrative 2
Like Integrative Seminar 1, Seminar 2 is also designed with key moments that connect the content between the Studio and Seminar classes. These “bridges” are specifically designed to broaden student perspectives, allowing them to connect the various types of research that artists and designers employ in the real world. This allows them to create new research strategies and paths forward that are unique to their own making and thinking.
The examples shared here are just a sampling of project ideas.
The Learning Portfolio & The First Year
Integrative 2 and the Learning Portfolio were made for one another. One of the main goals of IS2 is to teach a variety of modalities and types of research (both primary and secondary). The LP is a place for students to record and document their discoveries and findings, including secondary sources, materials investigations, prototyping, and connections made between Seminar and Studio.
This online digital platform is encouraged and used extensively across the entire First Year. In their classes, students discover how others perceive their work; conversely, the LP is the place students learn what they think about their own work. The LP is a platform where they can record making and thinking processes, evidence growth, and ultimately become better makers and thinkers through self-reflection and assessment.
Week by Week Layout and Project Examples
Inquiry
Weeks 1-4
Observation alone has the ability to inspire creative questions and responses, both of which can serve as a valid basis for research. In the Inquiry section of the course, students learn to regard observation as a fruitful activity by beginning to slow down and disengage from distractions. They use freewriting as a tool, recording observations without prematurely self-editing or censoring.
Context + Investigation
Weeks 4-6
The second bridge project asks students to reflect on and analyze a situation where “context” and “relationship” are centered. Here they learn to assess their observations, seeking connections or other relevant information that can serve as a springboard for research. In this section, students develop a central research question for their final project of the semester.
Interpretation + Argument
Weeks 7-14
During this unit students refine their research questions, create research tables to organize their notes, familiarize themselves with the New School Library, and begin to develop an Annotated Bibliography of their sources.
Connections
Weeks 7-14
Once students construct research tables, they then refine their research question by developing mind maps of their findings, using “branching” to organize supporting ideas, examples, and evidence. With this new “map” they are able to compose a more refined draft of their thesis and paragraph topic sentences. They then incorporate peer and instructor feedback in an outline, and finally they draft, edit, and finalize their paper using Chicago style footnotes.
Reflection + Presentation
Weeks 14-15
For a final assignment, students are asked to reflect on their own evolution through short in-class essay writing. We also assess growth in small group chats as well as broader, whole class discussions.
What Students Take With Them When They Leave
“Integrative 2 teaches iteration. In Seminar this occurs through free-writing exercises, mind map building, outline construction, and writing multiple drafts. In Studio iteration happens through sketches and prototypes. These strategies and processes eventually become standard practice for students as they are able to concretely witness their own progress.
Both classes rely heavily on documentation and reflection. Students contemplate each final project by assessing process, strengths, areas of growth, wins and insights gained, as well as failures. They also meditate on the semester as a whole in their final presentations in Studio I and II and their final written reflections in Seminar I and II. Through this ongoing awareness of process, students begin to develop agency.
In Seminar 1 and 2, students write multiple written drafts, receive feedback from instructors and peers, and learn to implement self-editing techniques. In Studio 1 and 2, students create sketches and prototypes of their projects, receive feedback, edit, take risks, and experiment with materials — be it language or medium. Consequently, students build resiliency through process-based making and thinking; failure inspires and guides, rather than derails. It is a source for new beginnings.”
-Anna Fridlis