This activity was part of a larger class session focused on preparing students for their interdisciplinary research projects. At this point in the semester students did not yet have their own research topics. It also took place outside of a computer classroom where not all students had laptops. Students break up into groups of 3-4 students. You can make as many topics as you want. For a class of 25 I created 4 topic options. Each group receives 5-10 minutes to complete each segment. When the timer is up they switch with a group. No one should receive the paper they start with until the very end. At the end of the activity we come back as a class and discuss how it went and what strategies they might implement in their own research processes. (I first heard about the idea of passing a problem in an interactive way from Sarah Lucchesi and Jenn Sams from Michigan Tech at Lake Superior Libraries Symposium, this is inspired by their idea.)

This exercise is due week 3, usually before library instruction. As a result, the library created a 4-minute instruction video done as a pre-visit homework assignment called "Developing a Topic with CQ Researcher and Opposing Viewpoints" available on this LibGuide: http://libguides.lmu.edu/RHET1000/LibraryVisit

Using a Topic Development exercise, students will explore and conduct preliminary research on three separate research topics. This is in conjunction with the Information Literacy component of the course as stated in "Rhetorical Arts: Speaking and Writing for Social Justice" common syllabus. A requirement for all first-year students, Rhetorical Arts is a course designed specifically to integrate important skills- information literacy, writing, and public speaking- into the Jesuit Rhetorical Tradition "Eloquentia Perfecta." Students will also engage with important ethical themes related to the common good. 

This is the first assignment in a sequence of writing and oral assignments (followed by a Research Proposal, Annotated Bibliography, Persuasive Research Paper, etc.). Each successive assignment expands on the previous assignments.