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Thriving in Academe
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The Term Paper and Mid-Term Exam

As director of a thriving Teaching & Learning Center, I have been offering faculty an easy prize—any book from my tome-laden bookshelves. To earn it, they have to show me just one bit of information: the authority that has mandated that a good college course should include either a 15-page term paper or a mid-term exam and a final exam (not counting administrative mandates, of course).

Over the years, with all the publicity I have given this challenge through workshops and personal consultations, no winner has yet come forward. Some have tried by quoting one author or another, but it always turned out that the quote had little to do with a data-supported statement of necessity for either a term paper or the mid-term and final exams.

Rather, the statements usually involve suggestions for "good practices" in using the two.

The simple truth is that the methods we use to teach college courses come directly from how we were taught. This is nobody’s fault, of course, as most of us were never truly trained to teach.

So while the prize is still on my bookshelf, and will likely remain there forever, I’ve been offering faculty some practical ideas for rethinking their courses.

—Leora Baron
University of Nevada

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