Monday, March 30, 2015

3.30 Workshop on research proposals: sign up for conference

Work on research proposals
Review  Research Proposal assignment

Problem statement  (research questions) see p. 115
Literature Review  see p. 117  for rubric, and review Ch. 3 (119-121)
Methods: (review introductory chapter + think back on our discussions of what different methods can and can't do)
Review creating research questions.
Re-visit research interests list and project proposals => in-class work to plan research proposals

Above is a (more or less) frame for what we talked about in class - though what we really did was have "whole class" conferences, where each of you talked through your project and everyone worked together to make sure the project was:

clearly focused
doable (allowed for fine-grained analysis but would not require more time than is realistically available for doing a two-semester thesis)
important/relevant/appropriate for writing studies
connected to the right literature

We didn't really develop too much discussion on the last point, though in our discussion of the literature review we acknowledged that the proposal really needs to discuss in some depth at least 3 sources.  This discussion could serve to describe the "gap" by pointing out how your work will connect to/build /correct on earlier work.  What your study adds may be discussed both/or in terms of content (findings) or methods (think about the claims Perl made for her study).

I backed off on asking you to write a drafty draft for next class, mostly because class discussion seemed to set you up with most of the brainstorming necessary to write a drafty draft, and I don't really feel I need to check in.  At the same time, because we DIDN'T cover the lit review material - I would like to see some evidence that you have an idea which writing studies essays you will need to connect to in your opening discussion (either in terms of defining your method, or in terms of clarifying what your work will add/do).

For next class:

Write: send me a list of the 3 main essays you plan to refer to in your literature review
Read: Bruffee, 395;  Pepper,  http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/18.2/topoi/pepper/index.html

During the first part of class we will discuss the midterms + the readings.  During the second part of class Dr. Sutton will provide some interactive work  on quantitative approaches most often used by writing studies researchers.

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