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How do writing and language do work in the world

May 21, 2021
Christopher R. Teeple

 

“People meet social needs by working and learning together over time to achieve particular goals or to act on particular motives. To facilitate their activities, people also develop and use tools. These tools include not only things like hammers or computers, but also language—probably the most complex tool of all.”— Donna Kain and Elizabeth Wardle, “Activity Theory: An Introduction for the Writing Classroom,” Writing about Writing p. 397 “When we sit down to write an argument intended to persuade someone to do or to believe something, we are never really the first to broach the topic about which we are writing.

Thus, learning how to write a researched argument is a process of learning how to enter conversations that are already going on in written form. This idea of writing as dialogue—not only between author and reader but between the text and everything that has been said or written beforehand—is important.

Writing is a process of balancing our goals with the history of similar kinds of communication, particularly others’ arguments that have been made on the same subject. The conversations that have already been going on about a topic are the topic’s historical context.”— Stuart Greene, “Argument as Conversation: The Role of Inquiry in Writing a Researched Argument,” Writing about Writing p. 33BackgroundWhen you hear the word “essay,” what comes to mind?

If you’re like most students, you probably imagine a generic sort of academic writing that you only do in school. While the term has been used to describe almost any kind of multiple paragraph writing, “essay” also means a trial or attempt. I want to encourage you to take this meaning to heart. Inquiry of the sort we’re practicing here is about seeking and generating new knowledge, and that involves some risk-taking and being willing to move beyond the comfort of what you already know, or even that which can easily be discovered.

This project represents the first step in your semester-long research journey to get at the question at the heart of Composition II, “How do writing and language do work in the world?” Early on in the research process, investigators often struggle to identify a meaningful direction for their research. As researcher and teacher Stuart Greene notes above, writers always must balance their ideas with the ideas that others have presented for them, in essence joining a conversation that began before they ever entered the scene.

This essay, then, invites you to listen in on that conversation in order to begin developing a specific focus for your research this semester.Your TaskWrite an essay of at least 3-4 pages (or at least roughly 750-1000 words) in which you review and then build on some of the methods and arguments of the writing studies researchers you’ve encountered in the first part of the course to identify a specific context in which to conduct your semester-length investigation into the question, “How do writing and language do work in the world?”

This might be a particular community that uses writing or a specific literate activity that you would like to learn more about, or a writing-related problem that interests you. Present some initial data (an interview, some texts the community uses, an observation of an online interaction, etc.) related to this context, consider that data in light of the ideas presented by some of the writing researchers who came before you, and figure out how further investigating this context might help you learn more about how writing does work in the world.Your audience for this essay is, first and foremost, your professor and your classmates, but it will also help to think of yourself as joining the conversations about writing with the authors we’ve read and will read.

This is an audience familiar with the pieces you’ve read for class, but less familiar than you with the specific context in which you are investigating. Be sure to explain your ideas and examples clearly as well as define any specialized terms, texts, or objects related to this context.Key Due DatesWorkshop Draft Due: Friday, May 22nd by 11:59 pmInitial Graded Submission Due: Thursday, May 26 by 11:59 pm Final Draft Due: Friday, June 25 by 11:59 pm as part of Final ePortfolioHow to Submit: Click “Submit Assignment” in the top right of this page and submit a Microsoft Word or PDF document of the draft you’d like me to grade.

What to Do in Your EssayHere are the moves you’ll need to make in your essay in order to accomplish the task required by this assignment. You may think of these as “sections,” if you like, but don’t feel bound by this structure: if you have a better idea for how to go about completing the task, try it out.Review and evaluate some of the methods and arguments you’ve read about in in this part of the course.You should not discuss every single idea we’ve read or talked about this semester. Instead, pick out the points that have resonated the most for you, that made you curious, or that seem most useful to developing your understanding of how writing does work in the world. Draw on at least two different authors.
Instead of summarizing each article, pull out the arguments and ideas that are relevant to what you want to say.

This will mean using a careful blend of quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. See EasyWriter Chapter 15 for ideas and examples.

Look to draw connections between the texts we’ve read—or, in other words, synthesize—rather than discuss them individually. How does what one author does or suggests relate to what another says? Where do authors seem to disagree, or at least emphasize different points? How is your understanding enhanced by considering both ideas as opposed to just one or the other?

Since this assignment calls on you to cite particular sources, be sure to include a works cited page. See EasyWriter Chapter 45/46 for details on citing sources, both in-text and in a works cited page.
Present some initial descriptions and data about the context in which you’d like to investigate how writing and/or language do work in the world.A key goal of this assignment is to begin identifying a particular focus for your semester-length investigation into writing. The class as a whole revolves around the question, “How do writing and language do work in the world?” but that question is too broad to answer on its own.

Each of you will need to find a way to refine and narrow that question to make it your own. The way to do this is to decide in which context you would like to conduct research. For this course, that will be one of three things:A community that uses writing in some ways that you would like to investigate further (as in Tony Mirabelli’s analysis of the literate practices of the servers at Lou’s Diner).

A particular literate activity you want to examine closely (as in Madeline Halvey’sLinks to an external site. studyLinks to an external site. of the writing associated with dance).
A specific writing-related problem you want to learn more about (as in Elizabeth Wardle’s consideration of the difficulties of enculturating in a new job).

You’ll want to choose carefully the specific context around which you decide to focus for this writing task. The one you choose will be at the heart of your research and writing for the rest of the semester. In the spirit of Greene’s notion of “inquiry,” you’ll want to make sure that this literate activity is something that you’re curious about and genuinely would like to understand more fully and learn more about.

We’ll do more extensive data collection a little later in the semester (see Task 3: Primary Research Report), so for now focus on sharing what you already know from firsthand experience and your initial research during the first two weeks of the semester. This will mean including very specific descriptions as well as whatever data you’ve gathered through interviews, observations, and text collection so far to help you create a picture of this community, activity, or problem for your readers.

Consider what you know about this context in light of the ideas we’ve studied so far to make claims about how writing and language are being used there and what would be of interest to Writing Studies researchers.This will mean positioning your descriptions and data about this context in the conversation about writing you introduced earlier in your essay. How does what you know about this context seem to reinforce the ideas of the researchers you’ve cited, or not? What would these researchers be most interested in?

Think, too, about what you yourself find most interesting or surprising, or even inexplicable. You are at the start of your research here, so it’s helpful to continue thinking about what makes you most curious, and why.
Try to make at least one initial claim about the context you’ve begun to investigate and how writing is used there. Remember that a claim is something arguable. Based on your initial look at writing in this context, what have you learned?

Develop some research questions that arise from this initial analysis.What questions remain? What are you interested in looking into further? What would other Writing Studies researchers want to follow up on? Identify at least three or four possibilities.

Articulate, as well, why you think these questions are relevant. Remember, the class as a whole is focused on the question, “How does writing do work in the world?” How will the questions you’ve developed help you get at that in some way? How will you be able to contribute to the learning of the class as a whole through your investigation?
What Makes It Good?Successful essays will…demonstrate the student’s willingness to engage with new concepts and ideas from Writing Studies.
showcase the student’s understanding of the research and concepts studied in the course so far.
present meaningful data from the student’s initial research as well as prior knowledge with enough detail and explanation for a reader to understand the context in which writing is being investigated.

include relevant and interesting claims about writing that arise from that data.
highlight the student’s ability to pose interesting questions that matter in the field of Writing Studies.
In addition, all major projects you submit in this course are expected be clean and error-free as well as properly presented in either MLA or APA style (your choice, but please be consistent). Our focus on this project, however, will be on the above criteria.
Requirements: 750-1000 words

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