Write here, write now

Second Annotated Bibliography

2006-04-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

Abdullah, Mardziah. “The Impact of Electronic Communication on Writing.” ERIC Digest. 2003. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication. 2 Nov., 2005. OCLC First Search. EMU Halle Library. .

This article is a collection of research relating to writing behavior performance in the digital age. It concludes that writing process and content are changing as a result of increased use of electronic media. The study also acknowledges greater collaboration among students as a result of using electronic media.

Anderson, Mary Alice. "The evolution of a curriculum: yes, you can manage iMovie projects with 170 kids! (The Media Center)." Multimedia Schools 9.4 (Sept 2002): 17(3). Professional Collection. Thomson Gale. Eastern Michigan University. 10 April 2006 /itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=SPJ.SP05
&docId=A91205175&source=gale&srcprod=SP05&userGroupName=lom_emichu&version=1.0>.

This article focuses on the ways new communications technologies were incorporated into the curriculum of one Minnesota middle school. Students worked with iMovie, digital editing software, powerpoint in combination with traditional literacy skills training to create collaborative portfolio projects. The author, Mary Anderson, also provides tips for working with these technologies in the classroom.

Fisher, Pamela W., Jane B. Drotos, and Mesut Duran. "Invigorating literature analysis: technology helps students deepen their understanding of characterization, imagery used by writers, and reflective writing.(Language Arts)." Learning & Leading with Technology 32.6 (March 2005): 25(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. Eastern Michigan University. 10 April 2006 .

This article was the based on a study conducted to determine how fourth grade students in one Michigan school responded to the introduction of multi-media digital technologies in the classroom. The students used digital cameras, concept mapping, drawing, presentation and Word processing software as part of the literature an3alysis curriculum. The researchers found that it gave students new ways to articulate concepts about imagery and characterization in literature, as well as improved their collaborative and reflective skills. This study was “component of the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology initiative.”

Lankshear, Colin, Ilana Snyder. Teachers and Technoliteracy: Managing Literacy, Technology, and Learning in Schools. Allen & Unwin: St. Leonards. 2000

This book is the result of an Australian research project – Digital Rhetorics: Literacies and Technologies in Education (Current Practices and Future Directions). The main focus of this book is how literacy and technology issues are becoming intertwined in regards to teaching. It also explains the extent of current digital technologies inside and outside the classroom the classroom and ways for teachers to modify their practices to incorporate these technologies.

Levy, David. Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age. Arcade: New York. 2001.

This book takes a look at the long history of written documents as a way of recording and transmitting information. Levy also focuses extensively on the current transition period we are now in where so much of recorded human knowledge is being transferred from paper to digital format. He discusses the potential impact on research and credibility as a result.

McGee, Tim and Patricia Ericsson. “The Politics of the Program: MS Word as the Invisible Grammarian.” Computers and Composition. Vol. 19: 2002.

This research essay examines the impact of grammar and style checking programs in word processing software. McGee and Ericsson focus on the “theoretical underpinnings” of MS Word and contrast it against traditional grammar pedagogy, concluding that a more thorough dialogue needs to be opened about “the very notions of stylistic and grammatical correctness.”

Smith, Leanne, Jo Mathis. “High Tech, Ancient Art: Students’ podcasts involve Internet, storytelling.” Ann Arbor News. 8 April, 2006. A3, A4.

This newspaper article describes some of the ways Michigan teachers are incorporating podcasting, Internet, into traditional school curriculum like narrative writing and science.

Vernon, Alex. Computerized Grammar Checkers 2000: Capabilities, Limitations, and Pedagogical Possibilities. Computers and Composition. Vol. 17: 329-349.

This research article examines the history of spell check technology in word processing software. More than a literature review, Vernon the limitations of such programs and offers suggestions for teachers on how they can use spell and grammar check as part of the composition curriculum.

Wallis, Claudia. "The Multitasking Generation: They're e-mailing, IMing and downloading while writing the history essay. What is all that digital juggling doing to kids' brains and their family life? (Cover Story/genM)(Cover story)." Time 167.13 (March 27, 2006): 48. Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale. Eastern Michigan University. 10 April 2006. /itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IACDocuments&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A143414831&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=lom_emichu&version=1.0>.

This article focuses on the educational implications for children growing up in an increasingly networked society. Wallis presents findings from many different studies which describe the social, physical, and cognitive effects of multi-tasking. While some of these studies focus on an alarming decrease in students’ ability to focus for long periods on single tasks, others describe the benefits of using curriculum which expands the learning experience through multi-media presentations.

516 Research Update

2006-04-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

Steve, first let me apologize for my late proposal. Some of your concerns were helpful to me, so I will try to sharpen the focus for you in this post. Although I'm not completely sure how my research will come together, the general thesis states that the influence of new media technologies (primarily visual and hypertext formats) is demanding that writing teachers re-evaluate how traditional English composition is being taught, mainly in regards to narrative and argumentative expression.

Another concern you mentioned was the outdated nature of some of my sources. For the most part, I agree with you, but I want to try and show a bit of the subject's background. I am still looking for more recent examples of curriculum to support my thesis, but I also want to overview the topic from a variety of interesting angles in an attempt to show that this evolution is not simply technology-driven, but cultural and multi-faceted.

So far, I have a partial outline detailing intro w/ background info, body support describing and defining the technologies at issue here, a section describing the conflict between traditional compositional goals and some new media approaches, and a section discussing a blending of styles. I still have a ways to go, but I feel positive about my vision for this project as a piece of persuasive information.

I would like to open the paper with a brief personal narrative detailing my own struggles with computer technology simply as a way to provide some perspective to the audience. I think this would be an effective rhetorical strategy, not only as a researcher, but as a teacher who also struggles with the issues addressed in the essay.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

516 Research Proposal & 1st Annotated Bibliography

2006-03-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

Technologies – not simply computers as we know them – are changing the ways writing teachers are required to teach composition in the classroom. The main problem lies in the gap between what generationally challenged instructors (many born in the late industrial age), and the digital adeptness of the students they teach. This problem may bloom into crisis unless there is some kind of leveling of the playing field between student and teacher. The influence of emerging visual communications technologies is having a profound (and sometimes confusing) effect on not only the way English composition is being taught, but in the ways students interpret narrative, argumentative, and expository rhetoric in what are otherwise standard writing assignments.

It is all too easy to dismiss the changing formats that students use to express themselves with ideas and language, especially if we as instructors have been schooled in the pedagogies of traditional, canonical literature and formulaic compositional structures like the five paragraph essay. However, mediums like hypertext, and visual technologies (hand-held video recorders, flash software, Photoshop, digital cameras, power point, etc.) have, and are continuing to evolve, compositional genres in ways that are still trying to be understood – ways that are critical to the future of writing curriculum.

Nonetheless, the proverbial elephant in the room continues to be the question of our students’ basic writing skills – their ability to string words, sentences, and paragraphs together in purposeful, meaningful ways. Issues about teaching ideologies and pedagogical theory, although crucial in any discussion about composition, are too subjective and complex for an examination of the influence of visual rhetoric in the writing classroom. Although it will be important to address the various theories concerning the current state of students’ written language skills, it is equally important to illustrate the cognitive changes that are happening as a result of students’ cultural immersion in the new media environment of digital communication genres.

Another important aspect of my research focus lies in the question of how conventional (reading & writing) literacy, and technological (making a web site) literacy are becoming increasingly interrelated. Will it soon be just as critical to understand new levels of discourse, such as html code or podcasting, to be considered literate in the most basic sense of the word? This might be projecting a bit too much into the future, but is important considering the many prognostications about an expanding information-based society.

The first part of my research will focus on communications technologies in relation to pedagogies, literacy, and post-modern notions about writing. The second part will emphasize the actual technologies that teachers and students are using to create new compositional genres in the classroom and beyond. Although I assert a general thesis that these trends are inevitable, the main purpose of my project will be to inform the reader about the increasing influence of visual rhetoric in the classroom, and to raise questions concerning the necessity of textual literacy in an educational environment whose practical curriculum is becoming increasingly graphical, non-linear, and interactive.

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Barker, Thomas T., Fred O Kemp. “Network Theory: A Post-Modern Pedagogy for the Writing Classroom.” Computers and Community. Carolyn Handa, ed. Portsmouth:
Boynton/Cook, 1990.

This article argues that because composition curriculum is moving away from the exclusively teacher/student interaction to a more community-centered, peer-critique environment, changes in the structure of writing classroom must be made to accommodate the post-modern “communal aspects of knowledge-making.” The authors introduce network theory as it relates to using computers in the classroom as a way for students to engage in collaborative writing using a variety of mediums such as email, publishing software, and electronic discussions.

Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001.

In this book, Manovich builds on theories about cinema and narrative to create a
language for discussing the new media forms of hypertext and databases. An important emphasis here is on the way the user moves through the spaces of these new media environments.

Plant, Sadie. Writing on Drugs. New York: Picador, 1999.

This book examine the history of drug use in well-known writers such as Poe, Burroughs, Foucault, and Coleridge. It also describes the influence drugs have on social consciousness and cultural life as a result of these artistic forays. Of interest here is a connection between MDMA (ecstasy), and the evolution of cyberpunk literature – creating the vocabulary for human-computer interface through an accelerated neurochemistry.

Rice, Jeff. “Cybogography: A Pedagogy of the Home Page.” Pedagogy: Critical
Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture.
5.1 (2005).

In this article, Rice combines theories about Web writing as a method of identity formation, and expressivist theories of composition (Peter Elbow), to create a new “theory of the home page” called Cyborgography. Rice explains that his purpose is to “defamiliarize” the process of using code to write a home page so that students can gain a richer understanding of the “complex relationships between writing, technology, and personal experience” (66).

Rice, Jeff. Writing About Cool: Hypertext and Cultural Studies in the Computer
Classroom. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004.

More of a textbook than a discussion of theory, Writing About Cool uses the concept of “cool” and how it is defined by popular culture as a focus for teaching connections between writing and technology. Rice use examples from the media, advertising, the Web, literature, and music to help students gain a critical understanding of popular culture’s influence on their daily lives.

Skubikowski, Kathleen, John Elder. “Computers and the Social Contexts of Writing.”
Computers and Community. Carolyn Handa, ed. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook,
1990.

Although this article was published early on in the era of computer-mediated writing, it provides some valuable background about the way students’ writing changes as a result of the social interaction of networking, and the fluidity of word-processed text. The authors found that students were more willing to take chances with their writing if they perceived the process as “playing” with a piece rather than drafting an essay.

Swiss, Thomas. “Electronic Literature.” (no further bibliographic info available)

In this article, Swiss examines the past, present, and future of electronic literature in all of its forms. He covers everything from classic literature being re-formatted for the Web, to the continuing evolution of hypertext fiction and other examples of new media. Swiss also discusses the changes in publishing industry as a result of new modes of distribution.

Yagelski, Robert. Literacy Matters: Writing and Reading the Social Self. New York:
Teachers College Press, 2000.

This book is a thorough examination of the ways in which literacy affect our lives and shape our identities as social beings. Of particular interest here is Yagelski’s discussion of how definitions of literacy are being shaped by communications technologies such as email and hypertext.

Writing Inquiry

2006-01-23T07:06:00.000-08:00

A general reflection on the meaning of writing is always somewhat of a double-edged sword. As a student heavily invested in the meanings, purposes, history, and future of “writing,” my first instinct is to be forcefully idealistic – espousing the importance of the written word, describing its role in advancing human civilization. However, the other side of this coin reflects the divisiveness of literacy, miscommunication, and the smug certainty of truth we often attribute to the words we bandy about.

Speaking of coin, Nietzsche employs an incisive coin metaphor in an essay about the slippery subjectivity of “truth” and the inability of language to capture it: “[T]ruths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are; metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins” (On Truth and Lie…). On that note, I will begin my statement of beliefs regarding the current purposes and definitions of writing
by simply saying this: the tail is wagging the dog…our technologies are advancing faster than our ability to define ways to use them, and in regards to writing – everything is uncharted territory.

As for “theory” versus “practice” in the teaching of writing, I see theory as the methods, concepts, and strategies that have been conceptualized as scholarship for the purpose of building curriculum that teachers can study. Theory can include various ideologies about the way students learn to write, along with the research projects conducted to support various claims. Some theory can be very helpful in providing suggestions and roadmaps from which to construct one’s own pedagogy, but it also can seem dense and disconnected from the actual reality of the writing classroom.

“Practice” includes the actual, real world, day-to-day methods we use in our writing classrooms. The main difference is the leap of faith we make by exposing our students
to these methods and strategies that, for the most part, were theories, gleaned from scholarship, that appealed to our sensibilities about teaching. Over time, we develop and solidify our ideologies as writing teachers from a combination of simpatico theory and time-tested, successful in-class practices and assignments.

Although what writing actually is evolves constantly, I would have to say that it’s defined as marks, symbols, images, or any visual representation of thought, message, or idea, rendered on a medium, whether digital or analog, to communicate a concept.

In regards to the kinds of things having to do with computers writing teachers should convey to their students, we need to be careful. Often, the student will be much more technologically savvy than the teacher, so the main focus should remain on the content, or, the types and validity of information students are getting from the Internet. Holding students responsible for correctly citing their research is also important in this age of “cut and paste.”

Technology and writing are always intertwined. The most important characteristic, I feel, is the ability of technology, whether printing press or computer, to change writing, and reading, in unexpected ways.

one small step for an idiot...

2006-01-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

Did I draw you into my "web?" Ha Ha ha

Sample Post

2005-11-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

Here's the way we post a blog....

2005-06-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

OLD NEWS...But, What the Hey!

Nietzsche’s idea of slave morality is no more dangerous than, let’s
say, the bible. It is what people end up doing in the name of an
idea which is dangerous. The drive for a “higher self,” in both
cases, is a spiritual quest open to misinterpretation. Slave
morality is like a state of atheist purgatory for those who cannot
break from the herd and stand as individuals. The underman,
condemned to live within the limitations of society, resents and
envies the overman’s individuality.

Nietzsche’s philosophy clearly predicts the effect of the modern
world on human beings: disillusionment with traditional values and
less dependency on others for survival. The issue of his highly
charged language (slave, god is dead, uberman) is a problem in
itself, and is where most of the disagreement about what Nietzsche
meant can seem dangerous.

It is unfair to think that people should not carry some resentment
for the dominant culture. Since the beginning of human society, that
which is different is a danger to the whole. So in a way, all of us
have had to suppress our individualistic urges to get along and
thrive within our culture.

However, the truest expression of Nietzsche’s ressentiment can be
found in the guise of entitlement and political correctness. The
notion that people are helpless victims of past events and therefore
entitled to whatever (a good grade, the benefit of the doubt) is, I
feel, unhealthy in the long run. The individual will never out in a
situation like this, but wallow, powerless to break free of the
forces that shaped him.

An Emotional Conviction: Cautiously Advocating Embryonic Stem Cell Research

2005-05-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

History is littered with truth-seekers who paid dearly for engaging in religious contradiction. When Galileo observed planets moving in space through his newly-discovered telescope, the Church of Rome quickly branded him a heretic. The field of medical ethics has long been the central venue for debating, in a public forum, similar controversies. Science, religion, and ethics have been, and still are, a necessary triad for arriving at rational opinions about similar issues of human discovery. When reasonable discourse unfolds, often over a span decades or centuries, an evolution of human thinking occurs – usually to the benefit of civilization and culture. But, it seems to be the natural disposition of the human species to cling to deeply-held spiritual beliefs about the place and purpose of life on Earth. Stem cell research, one issue currently under attack on religious and ethical grounds, must continue to be debated and responsibly researched due to its potential to improve human health and the quality of life of our descendants.

As a teacher of first-year composition at a local community college, I have been informed of the standard practice of steering budding rhetoricians away from topics related to “sanctity of life” issues, not only because they tend to be knee-jerk in content and commentary, but are based, primarily, on personal, religious, and/or socio-political beliefs. The hot-button topics at the top of the list are usually abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, and more recently, embryonic stem cell research. More often than not, due partly to the inexperience of the youthful essayists, there are tired and predictable outcomes to the opposing arguments: the pro-choice stance comes off sounding like cold-hearted, secular-humanistic, rationality, while the pro-life position takes a position based on religious faith, a stubborn morality, and a general suspicion of medical science. The best of these papers simply employ sources that support their respective positions – riding them like a long-shot nag at Pimlico, lacking any sense of concession.

It is here where I stubbornly concede the futility of debating faith-based issues. Minds have been made up, opinions must be respected – this is simply the world we live in. I admit this concession with a full respect and appreciation for the beliefs of those who oppose embryonic stem cell research based on a personal sense of faith and morality. The one thing I cannot concede to is the employment of emotional hyperbole – a strategy that many who oppose embryonic stem cell research resort to in their predictably impassioned, but somewhat manipulative, attempts at argument.

Even though I am somewhat more experienced at argumentation than many of my students, I still carry an instinctual reflex to stay clear of issues strong on murky beliefs, and weak on empirical discourse. Interestingly, these are the reasons that even the best writers and debaters often fall short in persuasion. The starting point for the stem cell debate stands, and will continue to reside, at the stage where human life supposedly begins. Pro-life advocates stubbornly, and chauvinistically, bestow the mantle of life exclusively on the human coupling of sperm and egg. Again, there is a futility of arguing theological and philosophical positions here because “faith” and “belief” cannot be extracted from the discussion. The emotional, exploitive side-taking cannot be denied .

This extension of the abortion debate is, to many, a logical connection: sacred conception, a fertilized egg, and moral obligations. But it is one connection that “right to life” moralists are all too quick to adapt to any topic that make them philosophically uncomfortable. To me, this is a one-trick pony. If I were to employ the same strategy, I would quote humorist George Carlin. Carlin’s problem with the sanctity of life plays as an absurd, but thoughtful, concept: since all “life” on Earth is carbon-based, should we be burning all this coal? Granted, it is absurd on its face, but it draws out the primary essence of the debate.

There are currently two types of stem cells that have long been in use, advancing medical science and the hopes of many sick people over the years. According to the book, Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine, Thomas and Blume are quoted as saying Hematopoietic stem cells are “adult” stem cells which are crucial in the treatment of “bone marrow transplants in increasing the survival of patients with leukemia and other cancers, inherited blood disorders, and diseases of the immune system” (The Natl. Academy of Sciences, 19). Another type, fetal blood stem cells, are drawn directly from the umbilical cords of newborn infants. These cells can be stored indefinitely in event that the donor or relative, later in life, “encountered a serious, life-threatening illness,” where these specialized cells “would come to the rescue” (The Natl. Academy…).

The most heated controversy about stem cells concerns the embryonic type which can only be useful if extracted five to seven days after fertilization. This early development of embryonic stem cells is what also makes them so promising and special to medicine. The book, The Proteus Effect: Stem Cells and Their Promise, articulates the specific nature of these early cells, stating that “what generally sets (these) stem cells apart from other cells is that it is of immature status (some versions more than others) and unspecialized (some versions more than others) and more fancy-free than a mature cell that has specialized” (Parson, 2). When looking at it from this perspective, it is this non-specificity which makes all the difference. But, instead of facing an alternative possibility for stem cell research, opponents apply more emotional hyperbole about the precious gift of individuality – in reality, it’s simply apples and oranges. No two grains of sand are alike. Does that mean we should not melt them into glass? The early formation of this cell blastoma, its lack of “identity” as a potential human are critical facts in the “life” debate that suffocates reasonable discourse on stem cell research. This issue of “holy” semantics is one of the frustrating aspects of debating an issue such as embryonic stem cell research.

Embryonic stem cell research needs to continue, as the potential benefits are currently unknown. Currently in America, around 134 million people, with conditions ranging from heart disease and diabetes, to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, could benefit from continued embryonic stem cell research,. The philosopher John Stuart Mill, who conceived the theory of Utilitarianism over 100 years ago, suggests that “The greatest good for the greatest number of people,” was a morality in itself. This gem of common sense continues to be a mainstay for governments and individuals. If we exercise some amount of responsible empathy and respect, stem cell research could improve life in the years to come, not destroy it.

M.A. Project Coming Into Focus!

2005-04-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

After some hesitation, I am finally starting to get a handle on my writing center project. By simplifying my research question, I was able to expland the possibilities for creating a workable methodology. I was inspired to find one article that described the need for more scholarship about writing center spaces. Slowly, I'm starting to find a context for the work I plan to do.

Over the summer, I plan to establish which colleges to observe, and maybe some of the people I will need to interview. Also, I am still in need of a project advisor. Jacob Blumner was suggested to me, but I have not spoken to him about advising me. Basically, I need to start talking to more people to gather impressions about the road ahead.

Response Ann and Kathy: Chapter 5

2005-03-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

The use of interviews and surveys are vital to qualitative research when it comes to writing issues. The chapter, "How Do I Find Answers," provides a plethora of strategies and advice for the serious researcher. The information about personality types and making smart interview choices is a great starting point for a potential researcher: "Interviews provide information both about the person being interviewed and from that person's perspective. They provide insight into the person's thoughts, perceptions, feelings, motivations, responses, and actions in relation to the issues or situations being explored in the research" (Blakeslee, Fleisher). On top of that, the chapter discusses in depth the many situations that these methods might be critical to the research project.

In terms of my writing center project, the info about spontaneous interviews really captured my attention. Writing centers are pretty much an informal, spontaneous venue for students and tutors to discuss writing-related issues. Chapter 5 states that, "For example, you might observe something of note in your research setting and so engage oneof your participants in conversation about it." This applies nicely to the general environment of writing centers. The success if Informal interviews, as described in the chapter, depends very much on the researcher's use of interpersonal communication skills. This is something I will need focus on due to my own, self-acknowledged, mood shifts. Really analyzing my own psychological idyosyncracies is crucial not only to producing useful field work on the Master's level, but the overall quality of the project in general.

Further info about interview subjects, organization, timing, and documenting interviews are touched on in depth, providing valuable, practical advice that will be useful down the road. A next step would to be wading through this extensive text and deciding which suggestions should be embraced as I make decisions about methodologies for my project.

Research Observation

2005-03-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

I used chapter four as the template for observational skills, especially the data concerning the physical set-up, personal interactions,and conversational snippets. My subject was a coney island restaurant in "inner city" Detroit, on Grand River Ave. I used the Blakeslee and Fleisher's suggestions from chapter four to guide this practice exercise:"many researchers carry out observations early in the research process as a way of familiarizing themselves with a setting to see what might be interesting in it."

My observations were fundimental and simplistic, but provided me with a broad overview of this site which may be helpful for furthering my research project:

Although it is lunchtime during the work week, the restaurant is fairly slow for 12:30 p.m. There are two middle-aged men (one Afr-Amer, one White) playing chesson the far side of the room. They are laughing and kidding each other, apparently having a good time.

One Afr-Amer male employee, sitting in a booth eating, rushes over to help another female employee change the garbage containers.

The main sound in the room comes from a television hanging from the ceiling directly in back of me.

The employees are a mix of young Afr-Amer men and women, and young men of indeterminate nationality (I think Eastern European). I get the feeling that some of them either own the establishment, or are aquainted with the owner.

The restaurant seems recently remodled with new tile floors, walls, and new booths.

Suddenly, "Hey-hey - what's happening?" (AA gent with work-type folder)
"Long time, no see." (female worker sweeping the floor)

This hints at a community-oriented business that interacts with a variety of people on a daily basis. Because of the rough neighborhood, this community feelseems to be consciously fostered by the ownership.

Issues With My Topic! #$%#%&*&(^%@%$^&:=)

2005-03-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

Aside from not posting a blog message on a regular basis, I'm finding it difficult to get pumped and geeked about my impending grad project. It is really hard to describe my uncertainty and anxiety about this situation, but I have a feeling that it has a lot to do with the process of diving, somewhat reluctantly, into a multi-dimentional, "professional," project, balancing and interpreting many different social, mental, academic, and intellectial perspectives.

I have been involved with writing centers since my return to college in 1998. I have participated in many discourses concerning writing center operation, policy, and politics, but I now fear that my interest has waning. I still think W.C.s are viable laboratories for understanding literacy and the process of written communication, but I'm having sort of an existential (I noticed the word "empirical" in the dictionary definition of existential - Huh?!?) about my choice of subject. First off, I think my initial premise in studying writing center environments is kind of dumb and pointless. This belongs in the rhelm of people who design and construct actually spaces, not those who are supposed to be analyzing text within a specific situation. I have many interests and curiosities, but I need to make the right choice at this point in the research process to ultimately be successful and insightful in whatever I decide to do to gain that Master's Degree.

What to do, what to do, what to doo-doo?!?

Intersting Findings: "The Writing Center Journal"

2005-03-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

After exploring the Halle collection (without success) for print versions of my journal of choice for the review assignment, I decided to search the Web for a link to this publication. Fortunately, there is a whole site dedicated to the WCJ. However, the choice of issues available with full text are limited to those published before the year 2000. For my assignment, I've decided to download three of these issues, along with the available Table of Contents for the most recent issues. Overall, there is a wealth of helpful descriptive information, along with intruiguing and relevant scholarly articles on a variety of writing center topics that could be of use to my project.

I will be combining much of this material in a wide-ranging analysis of The Writing Center Journal, including an observation of the way perspectives have changed about the roles of writing centers since the turn of the 21st century. The concern about computer technology and its influence on tutor/student interaction dominated the discourse in these earlier issues, but the neccessity of face-to-face tutoring was, and is, reagarded as an indispensible aspect of writing center philosophy. I plan on subscibing to this journal for the duration of my research as I feel it will be key to staying in touch with current, vital thinking on the subject of writing centers.

Response to Braddock

2005-02-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Richard Braddock’s 1975 research article, “the Frequency and Placement of Topic Sentences…,” is thorough, practical examination of two basic questions in regards to examples of professional writing: what proportion of paragraphs contain topic sentences, and, where in the paragraph do they appear? To measure a basic sentence, Braddock uses the T-unit, and breaks down topic sentences into various categories. Using the primary observation that writing teachers emphasize the topic sentence as a vital and necessary compositional element, Braddock studied a wide variety of professional essay writing from various, mainstream periodicals to determine if this assertion was true in practical applications. In short, he concluded that using the figures from 25 essays, “only 13% of the expository paragraphs of contemporary professional writers begin with a topic sentence, and only 3% end with a topic sentence” (39).

Rather than making a sweeping condemnation of writing education methods, Braddock simply states that, based on these findings, students should not be told that professional writers usually begin paragraphs with topic sentences. Dick Braddock seems to be a man concerned as closely with empirical truths as possible, in a field where these truths often seem elusive. The afterward of this article most clearly describes his beliefs and philosophies, some of which are inspiring to me as I embark on my own research process. For example, the ideas that “an ordinary doing systematic work could discover important truths,” and “people should not argue ahead of the evidence,” are simple, fundamental, and universal statements that provide good advice and encouragement to anyone pursuing research-based results.

Blakeslee & Fleisher: Chapter 3

2005-02-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

It's comforting to see the research planning stage mapped out in black and white. I can see using Ann and Cathy's text as a reference guide all throuhout the research process. I'm still not quite clear on the distinction between the problem statement and the research question. This chapter addresses it as a problem in a particular field that needs fixing, while the question raises certain issues about a topic which the research sets out to answer.

I like the idea of a lit review as an ongoing discussion about my particular field of study. This makes it seem a little less abstract. Also, I will be reading the information on the ethics of using human subjects more carefully as I proceed. This is one area where it could be very easy to take liberties, and is an important step toward legitimacy as a valid researcher.

Wake-up call

2005-01-31T21:02:00.000-08:00

The first paragraph of Ann and Kathy’s book provides an apt anecdote for my own perspective at this time in my academic career. In thinking about terms to describe the various hats I wear in life, “researcher” is not one that comes readily to mind. Throughout my time in college, the process of researching a subject has always been a mix of persistence, dumb luck, intuition, and a kind of innate ability to string ideas and source material together in a simulacrum of linear, coherent purposefulness. To be perfectly honest, I know for any serious scholar, many of my previous research efforts would rightfully be considered “faking it.” This brings me to the present time where a threshold needs to be crossed – where the deft writer and spin doctor within my process needs a serious wake-up call.

In the past year of my graduate studies, I’ve begun to be exposed to the kinds of research methodologies necessary to plan and execute a Master’s thesis or project. Within the curriculum of my grad classes so far I’ve developed topic presentations, critical analyses, practicum observations, annotated bibliographies, literature reviews, and case studies. Despite a short attention span and low boredom threshold, I’ve been fairly successful in my efforts. Reading Ann and Kathy’s work has been an inspiration and a comfort to me. It makes me feel a little less alienated from the research process, realizing that I’ve been evolving my skills throughout my academic and professional life.

Contact

2005-01-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

As I stated in class earlier, I have quite a few interesting possibilities for a research project/thesis. One of my primary stumbling blocks is the fact that I'm sort of vascilating between the two key interests of my master's program: professional writing and teaching of writing. It seems, based on instructor responses to my coursework thus far in my program, that using the changing nature of "literacy" as a foundation for something more specific would be a good place to start. I am hoping to compile some of my most promising and exciting ideas and present them to an academic advisor very soon.

During my first semester as a 120 instructor, I became interested the disconnect between high school and college reading habits, and how that translates to student writing. Somehow, I'd like to introduce issues of technology into the discussion, but that is further down the road.

Greetings English 621

2005-01-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

This is my first posting for Steve K's class at EMU. I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to write yet, but I just wanted to be here - la la la, la la, la la...

Here goes

2005-01-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

First post. Gotta start somewhere.