I have posted your Portfolio reflective essay assignment in google docs in the "Portfolio Reflection" folder (I have also put a link to this assignment under course documents on the right side of the blog). At the bottom of that document are the instructions for turning in your portfolio (your "final" thing to do for our class). I'm pasting those here as well.
Portfolio Guidelines and Checklist:
You will create a document (First name_Portfolio) in your individual folder which contains the following (in this order):
1. Your portfolio reflective essay
2. Your final draft of your reflective essay for your researched project (including works cited)
3. Your final draft of your "thing" (if you have a link for your "thing," just include it there, and I'll follow it to your "thing")
This Portfolio document will be due by noon on Thursday, but you're welcome to turn it in earlier if you finish. I will give you feedback on the pieces of your portfolio up until Wednesday evening. If you have a draft of your portfolio reflective essay that you want feedback on, you can upload it to the portfolio reflection folder, and I'll get to it as soon as I can. If you have questions, just email me at jcharlton@utpa.edu, particularly if you are concerned that your document is not uploading properly. You can always send me your doc through email as a backup. I will not be able to accept late projects as I have very little time to get your portfolio graded and your final grades turned in on Friday.
I'm out of town until Monday night, and I'm having a little trouble inserting comments on your docs in the mobile version of google docs, but I think I have a workaround for that, though I'lll only be commenting in the late afternoon and evening tomorrow. Good luck with your revisions and the writing of your reflective essay for your portfolio. Remember, the most important part of writing your portfolio reflection is to be VERY specific, referring to specific revisions you've made in response to particular comments, particular blog posts, readings, etc. The worst thing you can do is be vague or too general in your claims.
Showing posts with label research project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research project. Show all posts
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Friday's (8/12/11) & This Weekend's Work
Today and this weekend, I want you to work on revising your "thing" and your reflective essay based on the feedback you've received from me and your peers. I'll be giving feedback throughout the day and the weekend a few times a day, but if you need to draw my attention to something because you're working on it right then, just send me an email, and if I can, I'll go look right then. On Monday and Tuesday, we'll work on our end-of-semester portfolio reflection. Your finished portfolio will be due by Thursday, 8/18, at noon (though you are free to turn everything in as early as Tuesday if you're "finished" then). More details on the portfolio on Monday, but just FYI, it will include your revised research project--thing and essay--and your end-of-semester portfolio reflection.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Thursday's Workshop on Reflective Essay
The plan is for everyone to have a draft of the reflective essay portion of your researched project finished by this afternoon. I don't give page length requirements for this because that would be somewhat arbitrary, but if you're not writing 4+ (double-spaced) pages, you probably aren't doing some part of it justice (if yours isn't this long, don't freak out or pad it; I'll give you feedback about how you might develop it). When you're done, post it to the "Researched Project Drafts" folder in Google Docs (if you have trouble, send it to me via email--what's most important is that you get some feedback on it so you can revise this weekend). Then, I'd like you to read your partner's essay and respond to the following things, being as specific as you can and providing suggestions for revision when appropriate:
1. What context does the writer provide for the discussion surrounding his/her research question? What problem or misconceptions are at the root of the question? If the writer doesn't provide a discussion of the context, make note of that.
Pay close attention to the writer's discussion of his/her sources for these next three questions.
2. Organization of Source Discussion: How does s/he present what s/he's learned from the sources--Does she relate a story of finding the sources and present them in the order she found them (almost like a story of her research process? Does he discuss one source per paragraph, or does he organize the discussion more synthetically--by issue, rather than by source?
3. Source Analysis: Does the writer provide an analysis of her source's arguments, or does she just present the source information as "facts"?
4. Documentation: Does the writer document her source ideas correctly--using parenthetical documentation, even when ideas from sources aren't directly quoted? To what extent does the writer incorporate those ideas smoothly and meaningfully into his own writing (introducing a source, discussing the source ideas and its connection to his/her own point, etc.)? For this, you may want to take another look at the meaningful incorporation of sources handout I posted a few days ago).
5. Works Cited: Is there a works cited page? If not, make note of that as the writer will need to create one. If there is one, check it for accuracy. Only sources actually cited in the paper (check what's been parenthetically documented for this) need to show up on the works cited page. Are there sources mentioned in the essay, but not listed on the works cited page (or vice versa)? Also, do the citations include all the necessary info? Is it formatted properly according to MLA (or APA if the writer has chosen a different format)?
Now I'd like you to look carefully at the writer's discussion of the rhetorical choices she made regarding the creation of her "thing."
5. Has the writer focused his/her project on a single audience (teachers OR high school students at X school, parents of kids at Y elementary, etc.), or has s/he tried to reach too many audiences?
6. What claim has the writer decided to make to this audience?
7. What genre did the writer choose in order to reach this audience with this claim? Is there a good match between the claim, the audience, and the genre? In other words, if the writer has chosen a website to convey his message, but his audience isn't likely to have access to the internet, then there's a mis-match there which you'd need to point out.
1. What context does the writer provide for the discussion surrounding his/her research question? What problem or misconceptions are at the root of the question? If the writer doesn't provide a discussion of the context, make note of that.
Pay close attention to the writer's discussion of his/her sources for these next three questions.
2. Organization of Source Discussion: How does s/he present what s/he's learned from the sources--Does she relate a story of finding the sources and present them in the order she found them (almost like a story of her research process? Does he discuss one source per paragraph, or does he organize the discussion more synthetically--by issue, rather than by source?
3. Source Analysis: Does the writer provide an analysis of her source's arguments, or does she just present the source information as "facts"?
4. Documentation: Does the writer document her source ideas correctly--using parenthetical documentation, even when ideas from sources aren't directly quoted? To what extent does the writer incorporate those ideas smoothly and meaningfully into his own writing (introducing a source, discussing the source ideas and its connection to his/her own point, etc.)? For this, you may want to take another look at the meaningful incorporation of sources handout I posted a few days ago).
5. Works Cited: Is there a works cited page? If not, make note of that as the writer will need to create one. If there is one, check it for accuracy. Only sources actually cited in the paper (check what's been parenthetically documented for this) need to show up on the works cited page. Are there sources mentioned in the essay, but not listed on the works cited page (or vice versa)? Also, do the citations include all the necessary info? Is it formatted properly according to MLA (or APA if the writer has chosen a different format)?
Now I'd like you to look carefully at the writer's discussion of the rhetorical choices she made regarding the creation of her "thing."
5. Has the writer focused his/her project on a single audience (teachers OR high school students at X school, parents of kids at Y elementary, etc.), or has s/he tried to reach too many audiences?
6. What claim has the writer decided to make to this audience?
7. What genre did the writer choose in order to reach this audience with this claim? Is there a good match between the claim, the audience, and the genre? In other words, if the writer has chosen a website to convey his message, but his audience isn't likely to have access to the internet, then there's a mis-match there which you'd need to point out.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Notes on Reflective Essay for Researched Project
On Thursday, you'll be drafting your reflective essay for your researched project. Here's what the researched project assignment says about the reflective essay:
A Reflective Essay: This is the part that will look like a more traditional “research paper” in that this is where you’ll write about your sources. It’s designed so that you can take much of your plan of inquiry (minus the part about how you actually located your sources since this isn't a research narrative where you tell the story of your "discovery" of your sources) and revise it into your reflective essay (the revision is significant, yes, but it’s better than starting from scratch). So, the audience for the reflective essay is ME. It’s where you can show me what you know about your question and the context of it. This is where you’ll be citing your sources in traditional academic fashion (parenthetical documentation and works cited pages will be required), but more important than that, you’ll be showing me how you’ve synthesized your research, analyzed the information, and come to your own claim in response to all you’ve learned. Please re-read Kantz as you’re writing this final essay as it’s important that you NOT just tell a story of your research process ("First I searched this database using these keywords; then I found this article, which said X) or organize your paper by discussing one source at a time. That’s more what your plan of inquiry is, and that’s an ok place to start. But, what I want to see here is you making a claim based on/in the context of an analysis and synthesis of the conversation surrounding this question. That means including the major ideas/perspectives you came across in your research. I also want you to write about what you made (your “thing”) and why. What choices did you make about audience, purpose, claim, and genre, and why did you make those choices?
I've put up a link to a handout on meaningful incorporation of source material (click the link here or on the right side of our blog or directly through our 1302SII Google Docs folder); it has a lot of helpful hints about the technicalities of quoting and paraphrasing source ideas, but also addresses the philosophy behind when and why you do it. Think of this as an add-on to what you've learned from our course reading this semester, particularly from Kantz. Remember that you don't have any arbitrary guidelines about how many sources to use or how many times to quote people. That is all completely dependent on your own project. But know that I expect you to have done a pretty thorough search of the databases on your subject, so if you're only quoting from internet sources or only referencing 1-2 sources, you can expect me to ask you to justify those choices:). Failing to acknowledge sources would result in a failing grade for your portfolio, but that's something we can address in revision, so it should never get to that point. If you have questions, that's part of what I'll be happy to address.
If you have any questions about the writing of this part of your project, post them here so others can benefit from the responses, ok? Good luck to you!
A Reflective Essay: This is the part that will look like a more traditional “research paper” in that this is where you’ll write about your sources. It’s designed so that you can take much of your plan of inquiry (minus the part about how you actually located your sources since this isn't a research narrative where you tell the story of your "discovery" of your sources) and revise it into your reflective essay (the revision is significant, yes, but it’s better than starting from scratch). So, the audience for the reflective essay is ME. It’s where you can show me what you know about your question and the context of it. This is where you’ll be citing your sources in traditional academic fashion (parenthetical documentation and works cited pages will be required), but more important than that, you’ll be showing me how you’ve synthesized your research, analyzed the information, and come to your own claim in response to all you’ve learned. Please re-read Kantz as you’re writing this final essay as it’s important that you NOT just tell a story of your research process ("First I searched this database using these keywords; then I found this article, which said X) or organize your paper by discussing one source at a time. That’s more what your plan of inquiry is, and that’s an ok place to start. But, what I want to see here is you making a claim based on/in the context of an analysis and synthesis of the conversation surrounding this question. That means including the major ideas/perspectives you came across in your research. I also want you to write about what you made (your “thing”) and why. What choices did you make about audience, purpose, claim, and genre, and why did you make those choices?
I've put up a link to a handout on meaningful incorporation of source material (click the link here or on the right side of our blog or directly through our 1302SII Google Docs folder); it has a lot of helpful hints about the technicalities of quoting and paraphrasing source ideas, but also addresses the philosophy behind when and why you do it. Think of this as an add-on to what you've learned from our course reading this semester, particularly from Kantz. Remember that you don't have any arbitrary guidelines about how many sources to use or how many times to quote people. That is all completely dependent on your own project. But know that I expect you to have done a pretty thorough search of the databases on your subject, so if you're only quoting from internet sources or only referencing 1-2 sources, you can expect me to ask you to justify those choices:). Failing to acknowledge sources would result in a failing grade for your portfolio, but that's something we can address in revision, so it should never get to that point. If you have questions, that's part of what I'll be happy to address.
If you have any questions about the writing of this part of your project, post them here so others can benefit from the responses, ok? Good luck to you!
Wednesday's Work (8/10/11) & Homework for Thursday
By Wednesday morning, you should have already uploaded your drafts of your "thing" to the Researched Projects Drafts folder in Google Docs (you all now have editing access, so there shouldn't be any problem there). Please name your file Your First Name_Thing_Draft 1 so we can keep track of them. So, Part I of Wednesday's work will be for you to give each other feedback on your "thing." Here are the questions I want you to answer as you read:
1. What do you think this writer is trying to claim in his/her "thing"? In other words, what's the claim s/he is making? If there's any confusion, explain what exactly is leading you to be confused. What suggestions do you have to help the writer make his/her claim more clear and/or persuasive?
2. Who do you think the audience for this thing is? How can you tell? Be as specific as you can be with this.
3. How appropriate is this genre for the audience and/or claim? In other words, has this writer written a brochure when a T-shirt might have been more appropriate? What suggestions might you have for choosing a more apt genre?
Once you've given your feedback, read through the feedback your partners and I have left for you and make notes about what you'd like to revise. Were you trying to communicate one thing, but your partners thought you were saying something different? Is your choice of genre working out or not? How might you make productive changes (even completely re-thinking, if necessary, what you're doing)?
Then, Part II of Wednesday's work is to get started on your reflective essay (see the assignment sheet again for details--this is the part that looks most like a research paper, though with significant additions where you write about your rhetorical choices in designing your "thing"). You need to have a draft of that ready for feedback on Thursday afternoon (Save it as Your First Name_ReflectiveEssay_Draft1 and put it in the Researched Project Drafts folder in Google Docs). We're moving quickly, but think of this as one step at a time, and you won't be overwhelmed:). Only a few days left, and Summer II will be done! Again, email if you have any questions (jcharlton@utpa.edu).
1. What do you think this writer is trying to claim in his/her "thing"? In other words, what's the claim s/he is making? If there's any confusion, explain what exactly is leading you to be confused. What suggestions do you have to help the writer make his/her claim more clear and/or persuasive?
2. Who do you think the audience for this thing is? How can you tell? Be as specific as you can be with this.
3. How appropriate is this genre for the audience and/or claim? In other words, has this writer written a brochure when a T-shirt might have been more appropriate? What suggestions might you have for choosing a more apt genre?
Once you've given your feedback, read through the feedback your partners and I have left for you and make notes about what you'd like to revise. Were you trying to communicate one thing, but your partners thought you were saying something different? Is your choice of genre working out or not? How might you make productive changes (even completely re-thinking, if necessary, what you're doing)?
Then, Part II of Wednesday's work is to get started on your reflective essay (see the assignment sheet again for details--this is the part that looks most like a research paper, though with significant additions where you write about your rhetorical choices in designing your "thing"). You need to have a draft of that ready for feedback on Thursday afternoon (Save it as Your First Name_ReflectiveEssay_Draft1 and put it in the Researched Project Drafts folder in Google Docs). We're moving quickly, but think of this as one step at a time, and you won't be overwhelmed:). Only a few days left, and Summer II will be done! Again, email if you have any questions (jcharlton@utpa.edu).
Tuesday's Work (8/9/11)
Today, I want you to draft your "thing," whatever that might be. If you haven't gotten an okay from me about your audience, purpose, genre, and claim, please make sure you do yesterday's work first (and ASAP). You need to have a completed draft of your thing put in the "Researched Project drafts" folder in Google Docs by this evening. If your thing is not something you can cut and paste, take a picture of it and upload that or upload the link to the YouTube video, etc. If you have any questions, just let me know, and I'll try to help you. I'll leave notes later on today about how I'd like you to give one another feedback. You'll be in the same groups as before.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Friday's Work (8/5/11)
Today, I want you to read the feedback on your plan of inquiry and write up a brief plan for what you need to do before you're ready to start making some choices about what you're going to make for your 'thing" on Monday (you can write this at the bottom of your plan of inquiry, and I'll go back in and check it later today for a grade). You should have comments from me since I've looked at all the plans that were turned in as of last night, and you may have feedback from your peers as well. I've taken grades for 1) the plan of inquiry itself (counted twice as a daily grade) and 2) for the feedback you're giving one another (one daily grade), though I'm not going to put the grades directly on those docs since others can access them.
Homework for Monday: You need to work on finishing up your research. That means finding all your sources, but also reading and analyzing them. Several of you had found sources for your plan of inquiry, but I assume you hadn't had time to read them since you didn't have annotations for each. So, read, read, read this weekend and use your reading matrix to help you keep track of what you're reading (I'll check those Monday morning to see if you've made progress and give you a daily grade for that work). As you read, think about the following questions as a way to help you navigate your sources: What’s the rhetorical situation for the larger context of the debate about your question? What are the major ideas that come up as you look at your research? What are the rhetorical situations for each of your sources? What are your source writers’ values, motivations, and constraints? How do your sources of information compare on these fronts? On Monday, we'll do some brainstorming about your purpose, audience, and genre for your "thing." Remember that the "thing" will likely not be an essay, certainly not your typical "research paper" as most people never read such things:).
If you have any questions this weekend, email me at jcharlton@utpa.edu. There are no bad questions; just make sure that you've re-read the assignment itself if you have questions about that part of it before you ask me a question, ok?
Homework for Monday: You need to work on finishing up your research. That means finding all your sources, but also reading and analyzing them. Several of you had found sources for your plan of inquiry, but I assume you hadn't had time to read them since you didn't have annotations for each. So, read, read, read this weekend and use your reading matrix to help you keep track of what you're reading (I'll check those Monday morning to see if you've made progress and give you a daily grade for that work). As you read, think about the following questions as a way to help you navigate your sources: What’s the rhetorical situation for the larger context of the debate about your question? What are the major ideas that come up as you look at your research? What are the rhetorical situations for each of your sources? What are your source writers’ values, motivations, and constraints? How do your sources of information compare on these fronts? On Monday, we'll do some brainstorming about your purpose, audience, and genre for your "thing." Remember that the "thing" will likely not be an essay, certainly not your typical "research paper" as most people never read such things:).
If you have any questions this weekend, email me at jcharlton@utpa.edu. There are no bad questions; just make sure that you've re-read the assignment itself if you have questions about that part of it before you ask me a question, ok?
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Thursday's Work (8.4.11)
Hopefully, everyone now has their plan of inquiry up in the "Plans of Inquiry" folder in Google Docs (remember that's in the "Collections shared with me" spot in google docs). If you haven't already, please read and make comments on at least one of your group member's plans of inquiry and read the comments your group member(s) left for you. I will be making my own comments throughout the day and evening; I hope to get to all of them today, but if not, I'll definitely get to whatever is left tomorrow morning. The instructions for the feedback work and your group assignments can be found in the blog post for yesterday. Please make sure you get your plan of inquiry in the correct place ASAP as others are waiting on you to do that so they can do their own work.
Once you've read the feedback given to you, I want you to write a note at the bottom of your plan of inquiry, letting me know what your plan is for moving forward with your project. What research do you have left to do? Which parts of your issue have you not fully explored yet? What questions do you have for me?
Then, I want you to move forward with your research. You'll need to make sure you've located all the sources you want to use by the weekend, and I'll give you some work to do to help you narrow your ideas about what to do with the research you've collected tomorrow and over the weekend. But you won't be able to do that work if you haven't found and read your sources, so that's what you should focus the next 24 hours on. If you have any questions, email me at jcharlton@utpa.edu
Once you've read the feedback given to you, I want you to write a note at the bottom of your plan of inquiry, letting me know what your plan is for moving forward with your project. What research do you have left to do? Which parts of your issue have you not fully explored yet? What questions do you have for me?
Then, I want you to move forward with your research. You'll need to make sure you've located all the sources you want to use by the weekend, and I'll give you some work to do to help you narrow your ideas about what to do with the research you've collected tomorrow and over the weekend. But you won't be able to do that work if you haven't found and read your sources, so that's what you should focus the next 24 hours on. If you have any questions, email me at jcharlton@utpa.edu
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Wednesday's Work (8/3/11)
Today, I want you to finish your plan of inquiry and upload it to the "Plans of Inquiry" folder (titled "PlanofInquiry_YOURNAME"). I created this folder this morning and shared it with you so you'd have a single place for everyone to upload their plans of inquiry and everyone would be able to access everyone else's plans for peer feedback. You can access this folder via the link that will come through in your email or by looking under "Collections shared with me." A couple of people have had trouble locating the 1302SII folder because they were looking at "My Collections" instead of those in "Collections shared with me."
Once you've finished your plan of inquiry and uploaded it to the "Plans of Inquiry" folder, I'll ask you to read the plans of inquiry your group members have written and respond to them directly in the documents themselves (groups are assigned below). Here are the questions I'd like you to address as you read each others' work:
1. Has this writer included all the parts the plans of inquiry were supposed to have? If not, which ones are missing? (You can remind yourself what was supposed to be in there by looking at the research project assignment).
2. Where are the places you have questions? Where are the places where you were confused or wanted to know more?
3. Are there any places where you thought of something the writer hasn't yet addressed (like a perspective on the issue that the writer hasn't discussed yet or a potential audience or genre that might make good sense, etc.)? Think of this as an invitation to offer suggestions for sources the writer hasn't found yet, directions to take the research, keywords they might try, potential purposes they might pursue, etc.
4. What are you most excited about with this project?
You can answer these questions however you'd like--as a long comment at the end of the plan of inquiry (use a different colored font and sign your work so the writer and I can keep track of who's saying what) or as comments you insert along the side as you read (highlight whatever section of text you'd like to comment on and click "insert" and then "comment" to be able to write your comment about that portion of the text. I will be giving grades for your feedback that you give one another. We don't have time to read about how to give good comments, but here are a few tips:
-Know that everyone is in the same boat, and everyone wants and needs good feedback, so please don't get stressed out over trying to be too nice. You can be respectful and constructive and offer good, specific advice. Saying things like "I liked it!" or "Great idea" isn't particularly helpful. It makes us feel good, but we need to help each other further our projects, not our egos:).
-Every one of you is qualified to give each other feedback. You understand the assignment, and you have a great deal of experience reading--and that's what's required to give good feedback. Just read as a normal person and let the writer know when you're having difficulty or when you have an idea about something they've said.
-Be very specific with your comments. Refer to specific parts of the text (by highlighting the text your comment refers to or actually quoting from what the writer said in a particular place) when you're explaining something you think about what the writer has done.
Here are your groups you'll be working in for peer feedback:
-Oli (Aholivama), Laura, & Brenda
-Mariela & Zoe
-Noemi & Robert
-Alex (Alexandra), Karen, & Monica
-Anna, Merilyn, & Andrea
-Bee (Bernarda), Sandra, & Enique
-Kaylee & Raul
I tried to put you in groups according to similarities in your projects. That way, as you're reading what others are up to, you might find leads of your own and might be able to lend more issue-specific expertise to each other than others could.
TIMELINE: Your plan of inquiry is due by 2:00pm today. After that, you can go in and read your group members' plans and respond to them. If you're in a group of 3, just make sure that you've read at least one of your group member's plans and given feedback on it. You don't have to read and respond to both unless you're feeling generous and curious (and that would be cool:)). You have until 8:00am on Thursday to finish your feedback on your peers' work.
Once you've finished your plan of inquiry and uploaded it to the "Plans of Inquiry" folder, I'll ask you to read the plans of inquiry your group members have written and respond to them directly in the documents themselves (groups are assigned below). Here are the questions I'd like you to address as you read each others' work:
1. Has this writer included all the parts the plans of inquiry were supposed to have? If not, which ones are missing? (You can remind yourself what was supposed to be in there by looking at the research project assignment).
2. Where are the places you have questions? Where are the places where you were confused or wanted to know more?
3. Are there any places where you thought of something the writer hasn't yet addressed (like a perspective on the issue that the writer hasn't discussed yet or a potential audience or genre that might make good sense, etc.)? Think of this as an invitation to offer suggestions for sources the writer hasn't found yet, directions to take the research, keywords they might try, potential purposes they might pursue, etc.
4. What are you most excited about with this project?
You can answer these questions however you'd like--as a long comment at the end of the plan of inquiry (use a different colored font and sign your work so the writer and I can keep track of who's saying what) or as comments you insert along the side as you read (highlight whatever section of text you'd like to comment on and click "insert" and then "comment" to be able to write your comment about that portion of the text. I will be giving grades for your feedback that you give one another. We don't have time to read about how to give good comments, but here are a few tips:
-Know that everyone is in the same boat, and everyone wants and needs good feedback, so please don't get stressed out over trying to be too nice. You can be respectful and constructive and offer good, specific advice. Saying things like "I liked it!" or "Great idea" isn't particularly helpful. It makes us feel good, but we need to help each other further our projects, not our egos:).
-Every one of you is qualified to give each other feedback. You understand the assignment, and you have a great deal of experience reading--and that's what's required to give good feedback. Just read as a normal person and let the writer know when you're having difficulty or when you have an idea about something they've said.
-Be very specific with your comments. Refer to specific parts of the text (by highlighting the text your comment refers to or actually quoting from what the writer said in a particular place) when you're explaining something you think about what the writer has done.
Here are your groups you'll be working in for peer feedback:
-Oli (Aholivama), Laura, & Brenda
-Mariela & Zoe
-Noemi & Robert
-Alex (Alexandra), Karen, & Monica
-Anna, Merilyn, & Andrea
-Bee (Bernarda), Sandra, & Enique
-Kaylee & Raul
I tried to put you in groups according to similarities in your projects. That way, as you're reading what others are up to, you might find leads of your own and might be able to lend more issue-specific expertise to each other than others could.
TIMELINE: Your plan of inquiry is due by 2:00pm today. After that, you can go in and read your group members' plans and respond to them. If you're in a group of 3, just make sure that you've read at least one of your group member's plans and given feedback on it. You don't have to read and respond to both unless you're feeling generous and curious (and that would be cool:)). You have until 8:00am on Thursday to finish your feedback on your peers' work.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Tuesday's Work Part II--Drafting Plan of Inquiry
The second half of your work today is to start drafting your plan of inquiry (see the project assignment for full details about what should be in the plan of inquiry). Tomorrow you will complete your plan of inquiry, and we will begin group workshopping of your drafts (so, for those of you who can only work at night, you will need to think about how best you can manage this work--tomorrow we'll talk about identifying possible audiences, purposes, and genres, so if you have to write the whole thing tonight and you have questions about those parts, just send me an email at jcharlton@utpa.edu). Think of the plan of inquiry as just that--a plan or proposal--but to write it, you should have already done some research and reading on your question. And, remember, too, that when I ask you to identify possible claims/purposes, audiences, and genres, I'm just asking for what you're thinking right now. You might very well change your mind as you do more research and reading. We just have so little time in the summer to think through these choices that I want to get your mind rolling as quickly as possible.
Please save your plan of inquiry to your individual google docs folder. I will be creating workshop groups based on similar questions and will create new spaces for each group to share their work with one another to better facilitate the feedback process for the rest of the semester.
Please save your plan of inquiry to your individual google docs folder. I will be creating workshop groups based on similar questions and will create new spaces for each group to share their work with one another to better facilitate the feedback process for the rest of the semester.
Tuesday's Work Part I--Primary Research
Today, I want you to think about whether and how doing some primary research could help you get some valuable perspective on your research question. Primary research is research that you conduct yourself (as opposed to secondary research, which is when you read about research other people did). This might include conducting surveys and/or interviews or perhaps doing some first-hand document analysis. Not everyone in class will choose to do primary research for your project, and that's ok. For some, you won't have time or access to the people or documents you might need; for others, primary research might not give you anything significant enough to spend your time doing it. But, for others, it might make perfect sense; it might provide some local perspective on a larger problem, a way to ground your project for a real purpose and audience you have in mind for your final project. So, I'd like you to spend a few minutes today thinking about how primary research might add to your project. Read the handout on empirical research in writing (in the 1302 folder in Google Docs) and respond to the following questions by replying to this post:
--If you were to do primary research for your question, what type(s) do you think would be most appropriate?
--What specific questions would you like the primary research to help you answer?
For instance, if I was doing this version of Robert's question, "What effects does standardized writing assessment have on students' attitudes towards writing?", I might do several types of primary research (in addition to my secondary research which would give me a larger picture of the overall context of the discussion about how standardized writing assessment affects kids). I could survey high school kids in the 11th grade with the goal of finding out how those kids' ideas about writing have been affected by taking the TAKS test. What do they think the purpose of writing is? How does the school's emphasis on these tests make them feel? I could interview local high school English teachers, trying to find out what they think the effects are of spending so much time teaching to these tests. I could actually analyze a sample writing test from the TAKS 11th grade test, and I could do the same for the new end-of-course STAAR writing exam for 11th grade, trying to figure out what the differences might be and how that might affect students' ideas about writing.
The point here is to identify the possibilities that exist for doing primary research for your project, but I realize that, in summer, we have such a short time frame and your access to the people you need to talk to might be limited, so you'll have to make choices about what kind of primary research you can actually do (this week) and what might not be doable. If you do decide to do primary research, I'll talk with you individually because it'll be important to make sure you have a good plan for doing it (good interview questions, for instance) so you use your time optimally.
--If you were to do primary research for your question, what type(s) do you think would be most appropriate?
--What specific questions would you like the primary research to help you answer?
For instance, if I was doing this version of Robert's question, "What effects does standardized writing assessment have on students' attitudes towards writing?", I might do several types of primary research (in addition to my secondary research which would give me a larger picture of the overall context of the discussion about how standardized writing assessment affects kids). I could survey high school kids in the 11th grade with the goal of finding out how those kids' ideas about writing have been affected by taking the TAKS test. What do they think the purpose of writing is? How does the school's emphasis on these tests make them feel? I could interview local high school English teachers, trying to find out what they think the effects are of spending so much time teaching to these tests. I could actually analyze a sample writing test from the TAKS 11th grade test, and I could do the same for the new end-of-course STAAR writing exam for 11th grade, trying to figure out what the differences might be and how that might affect students' ideas about writing.
The point here is to identify the possibilities that exist for doing primary research for your project, but I realize that, in summer, we have such a short time frame and your access to the people you need to talk to might be limited, so you'll have to make choices about what kind of primary research you can actually do (this week) and what might not be doable. If you do decide to do primary research, I'll talk with you individually because it'll be important to make sure you have a good plan for doing it (good interview questions, for instance) so you use your time optimally.
Friday, July 29, 2011
First Sources--8/1/11
Once you get some feedback on your keywords, start trying to do some of your research through the databases available to you (most through UTPA's library, but also CompPile, available through the web). Try to locate at least three sources which look promising. Post the information for each here (at least author and title of work) (along with your research question). Read through others' sources to see if any of them might look promising to you as well. (And don't forget our book is an excellent collection of potential sources for you).
Research Questions & Keywords (HW for Monday)
I want everyone to write your research question here and which keywords you're going to try for your first attempt at using databases for your research. You must use a database at first (no google, yahoo, ask.com, etc.). Read through everyone's posts and offer advice about keywords when you see some you think might not work or some that have worked for you if you've already started doing your research. Ask questions if you have them, too, of course:).
Homework for Monday, August 1
Here's your homework for Monday:
1. I've put the researched project assignment in the 1302sII folder in Google Docs, and I'd like you to read it. Post here and write a summary of it. What is it asking you to do? What questions do you have about it? It's not your typical research project assignment, so it may take reading a couple of times:).
2. I'd like you to generate some keywords to use in your database research for your research question. If you haven't revised your research question to really reflect what your interest is yet, you might find choosing appropriate keywords difficult. For instance, some of you have questions that are still pretty general (How can I become a better writer?) and using "writing" as a keyword will get you millions of hits, so it's not useful as a sole keyword. You'd need to combine it with other things:). Hopefully, you'll learn about this from "Research 101," but we'll all be available to help you when and if you hit roadblocks. I want you to write about what your research question is and what keywords you're using here on the blog (in the "Research Questions & Keywords" post) so you can help one another, learn from what's working or not for others, and I can help more than one of you at a time who might have similar questions/problems.
3. Start your database research and try to locate at least 3 articles/books/book chapters that look promising for your question. Post those on the blog under "First Sources--8/1/11."
1. I've put the researched project assignment in the 1302sII folder in Google Docs, and I'd like you to read it. Post here and write a summary of it. What is it asking you to do? What questions do you have about it? It's not your typical research project assignment, so it may take reading a couple of times:).
2. I'd like you to generate some keywords to use in your database research for your research question. If you haven't revised your research question to really reflect what your interest is yet, you might find choosing appropriate keywords difficult. For instance, some of you have questions that are still pretty general (How can I become a better writer?) and using "writing" as a keyword will get you millions of hits, so it's not useful as a sole keyword. You'd need to combine it with other things:). Hopefully, you'll learn about this from "Research 101," but we'll all be available to help you when and if you hit roadblocks. I want you to write about what your research question is and what keywords you're using here on the blog (in the "Research Questions & Keywords" post) so you can help one another, learn from what's working or not for others, and I can help more than one of you at a time who might have similar questions/problems.
3. Start your database research and try to locate at least 3 articles/books/book chapters that look promising for your question. Post those on the blog under "First Sources--8/1/11."
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