Research as Inquiry

Both Greene and Kleine write about research as "inquiry." Greene specifically asks us to think about how we can see research and argument as "conversational inquiry," and Kleine's article asks us to think about how we go about doing research and what we do with it once we've done it. I think it's important that we begin our class thinking about these ideas because WHY we do research is an important pre-question to HOW. Today, I'd like to get a sense of your answers to both of these questions. So, read the next paragraph and write your own response.

Certainly, we all probably vacillate between being "hunters" and "gatherers" depending on our task, but for the purposes of thinking about the work you'll do in our class, I'd like to get your ideas about how these two articles might apply to your life as a student. What's the difference between "hunting" and "gathering"? Which one are you, and does it depend on what you're being asked to do? If you're mostly a hunter for school purposes, why is that? What do you think encourages this kind of approach to research, and how might it change your life as a student if you were more of a gatherer than a hunter? What have your past experiences with research for school been like? How did you find sources for your work, and how did you use them in your writing? Try to refer to a specific experience or two and analyze these experiences in light of your reading for today. When possible, refer to Greene's and Kleine's articles, quoting or paraphrasing bits and documenting what you take with parenthetical documentation so we can go back to the articles if we want to find what you're referring to. And, once you've written your initial post, come back in later this afternoon or over the weekend and read what others have written. Respond to an idea brought up in at least one other person's post. DUE DATES: 1st post: 5:00pm Friday; 2nd post: by at least 10:00pm on Sunday.

Hello

Just trying to get familiarized.

Questions about the Class

This is your space to ask any questions about the class after you've read through the syllabus and wandered through our class sites. I'll be in meetings most of the day, but I'll be checking in periodically when I can to see what you're up to today. If you can answer one another's questions, please do, but if it's something only I can address, hang tight and I'll get back to you.

Student Introductions

Because we won't get to see each other face to face, it is incredibly important that we take a little time to get to know one another. I'd like you to respond to this post (by clicking on the comment button) and tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm purposely being vague here because I want to see what you share (though remember we do have a public blog:)). I'm also interested in why you decided to take your ENG 1302 course online, so if you don't mind, add a bit about that as well.

As for me, I'm Jonikka, though you should feel free to call me Dr. Jonikka if that makes you more comfortable. I've been teaching for over 15 years, the last 6 here at UTPA. I direct the First-Year Writing Program, and this is my first time teaching an online class. We haven't done too many classes online because writing classes are so interactive, but I'm looking forward to seeing how we can make it work. I have two sons--Duncan, who just turned 6 two days ago, and Ian, who is 12. I'm married to Colin, who also teaches in the program, and I'll probably reference all of them at some point this semester:). I love to cook and am sad I won't be able to bring you guys cookies like I usually do in face to face classes. And I can't wait to get to know you and see what really cool work you're able to do. If you have questions about me, don't hesitate to ask. I can always decline to answer, but probably won't:)!

"Good Writing": Online Discussion

As a way to begin our class inquiry into writing, I'd like to start simply. We all have our own ideas about what "good writing" is, often influenced by "school" authorities (our past teachers' expectations, standards associated with tests we've been forced to take), but also influenced by larger cultural ideas about good writing which might come from assumed workplace expectations, as well as our own expectations as readers/consumers of texts. Today, I'd like you to start thinking about where your ideas about "good writing" come from and how those ideas have influenced the choices you've made and your assumptions about what writing can be/do. Respond to this post by clicking on the comment button and address the following questions:

-What is your idea of good writing?
-Where do your preconceptions of good writing come from?
-Can you think of a time when your conception of good writing didn't work or seem "right" in the context?
-Is your conception of good writing limiting in any way?
-Would you behave differently as a writer, or understand yourself differently as a writer, if you conceived of "good writing" in a different way?

Once you've responded to these questions (you don't have to write the questions out or respond to them in some lockstep way--you have the freedom to pursue them as you wish), I want you to read through what your classmates have said and respond to at least one of their ideas. This is an opportunity to practice your referencing skills by explaining who you're responding to and by paraphrasing or quoting from that person's post.

Try to get your initial response posted by 2:00pm so that you can go back in and read your classmates' responses and write one additional post by 10:00pm this evening.

Homework for Friday

I'm alerting you here to your homework for Friday, but you should get in the habit of looking at the calendar at the end of the day to see what's due the next. I've also added a Full Class Calendar link to the right side of the page so you can go back and look at an older calendar posting if you need to. I also added a "Labels" link on the right which might be helpful to you. You'll see one, "jonikka-class info;" I'm putting that label on all my posts which give important class info (instructions, reminders, etc.). That way, if you click on it, it'll show all the posts I ever write which are relevant to that label. It's just an easy way of searching. You can also add labels to your own posts.

So, here's the homework for tomorrow (Friday): Read the "Introduction" to your textbook (pp.1-33). This will include an intro from the textbook authors as well as a handout they adapted from John Swales' work and two articles, one by Greene and one by Kleine. Please let me know today if you haven't been able to access Google Docs since you'll need to be able to work with your individual folders tomorrow.

Welcome

Hello All,
I'm trying to get familiar with this site, so sorry for the random posts. I wish everyone well in this online class!! Good luck!
Brenda J.