Assignment Description
Your task in this assignment is to research articles in the field of writing studies, searching for 3-4 articles that are participating in conversation about a shared issue, and then explain the conversation that the researchers are having and what you learned from it.
You will locate and talk about a significant and ongoing conversation about writing, reading or literacy that interests you, something that has not been resolved and is a continuing site of research and study, and talk about what the conversation means and why it’s interesting or important. While you will also share your thoughts and ideas, the goal of your assignment is not to argue for a particular position or stance, but rather to explain and represent this research conversation accurately and effectively. The goal of your assignment boils down to your ability to craft a sentence like the following:
On the question of X (for example, what it means to teach writing from an anti-racist ethic), two scholars argue for A approach, while three others argue for B, an entirely different approach.
In other words, this is a research assignment without a traditional finding or conclusion. Rather than answering a question, this assignment asks you to review and talk about research in order to identify and understand a question.
Assignment Requirements
You can compose your assignment as a traditional, academic essay, or you may choose a non-traditional/more creative mode with accompanying rhetorical explanation. Whichever format you choose, the fundamental goals and requirements of the assignment remain the same:
An introduction to your main question, in which you identify/preview the conversation you studied and your main findings about it
A brief discussion of 3-4 contemporary selections from scholarship in writing studies, with a focus on explaining the findings/arguments of these particular selections as well as identifying where they are situated in and what they reveal about the broader field of writing studies
Explanation of key terms, phrases, concepts as well as moments or events in the conversation
Identification of other connected or overlapping research conversations of interest
An explanation of what you learned from the conversation, why this conversation interests you, what changed for you with this research, and what might you want to know more about now
How to do this
Step 1: Get ready to research: identify what questions you are interested in
Consider your own experiences and frustrations related to writing, reading and literacy, as well as the topics and questions in our readings that have sparked your interest this semester. For example, if you were frustrated by your high school English teacher’s focus on grammar or rules, you might start with keywords including “teachers, rules, writing” or “what makes writing teachers effective?” or “teaching grammar.” If you are curious about how to foster anti-racism at all levels of writing instruction and composition theory, you might search for keywords such as “race and writing instruction,” “anti-racist pedagogy,” or “students’ right to their own language.”
Step 2: Research sources in academic databases in order to locate articles about common research questions/topics. Review your findings to ensure that they are focused on a shared conversation.
Visit CompPile and begin searching the CompPile database. If one search term doesn’t work, try thinking up synonyms or connected words. CompPile also has a glossary you can search to try to see what words researchers use to refer to these ideas.
Each list of search results represents a conversation, and after playing with several keyword searches you will identify 4 to 6 sources that seem interesting, relevant, and connected in their conversations and that you want to read. These should be relatively recent sources (within the last 10 years) unless there’s a good reason to include an earlier source (sometimes there is a good reason, such as identifying a foundational or initial piece of the conversation). The point is that these sources are about a related idea or question, and that the question is still interesting to you.
Apply CARS moves to understand how the authors of your selected texts create research spaces within a shared conversation. Use these moves to help you skim introductions and figure out what gap the authors are filling and how they plan to fill it. You can try to find the results or findings sections of the articles to get a good preview of what the authors are saying. Doing this first rather than deeply reading every word will save you time and energy.
Step 3: Review your findings to discover what the conversation is that brings these texts together
Once you’ve skimmed to assure yourself that each of your choices are participating in a shared research conversation, settle in to read deeply. Look for the big ideas: What are the problems or questions the authors are taking up? What are their arguments or findings?
Having read and taken notes on all of these, look for connections between the texts. How are these authors speaking to each other? Do they cite any of the same authors, or even each other? What conversation are they having? How do the turns they are taking, the pieces of the conversation they create, fit together?
Attend to context: When was each article written? What historical or research context does each piece provide for the issues it takes up?
With your notes about findings, contexts, and connections, try summarizing the conversation into a statement like this: On the question of X (for example, how best to teach grammar), two scholars argue for A approach, while three others argue for B, an entirely different approach.
Ways of approaching the final product
Your final product for this assignment is an accurate and effective explanation of the conversation you observed. How you accomplish this is up to you, and you should use an approach and medium that makes sense for your audience. Some of the options for approaching this assignment include:
Write a research report, in which you explain the conversation to our class as an audience. In this case, you will want to be sure to situate the conversation you studied within the conversations we studied this semester (let us know how and whether it connects to our class)
Write your account as a letter or email to a friend (presumably not in our class)
Create a blog or vlog post, including links to each of the pieces you read.
Create a Snapchat or Instagram story by finding photos online of the participants in the conversation to go with summaries and snippets you write of what they said.
Write a dialogue between the participants as a Facebook post.
Write a narrative of the “event” of this research conversation.
If you choose a mode and/or audience that you feel hinders your ability to fully accomplish the goals of the assignment: get creative, ask for help, and include a rhetorical explanation that explains your rhetorical choices.
