tentative syllabus ENGL406
Research in Writing & Writing Studies: Qualitative Research
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com Fall 2020 Open Hours for students (office hours): M 12:30-2:00 W 10:00-11:00, 3:00-4:00 Th 10:00-11:00 and by appointment. |
NOTE: All classes, student meetings, and open hours (office hours) this Fall 2020 will be held virtually.
Links to Open Hour for Students Zoom sessions: For Monday Open Hours, click here. For Wednesday Open Hours @ 10:00, click here. For Wednesday Open Hours @3:00, click here. For Thursday Open Hours, click here. Need to make an during a time that is not an office hour? appointment? Let me know you want to meet by adding yourself to my google.doc appointment calendar here: https://goo.gl/3CqLf and I will send you a zoom link for the time you sign up for. |
Course Description
This is the catalog description for this course: In this course, students learn and practice research methods used to produce written critical arguments in the field of Writing Studies. Students explore in more detail the critical theories and methods of research used by scholars in the field and begin to use them in their own work. We read and engage with a variety of secondary sources to contextualize and better understand research methods in Writing Studies, such as rhetorical analysis, ethnography and case study, quantitative analysis, linguistic analysis, and/or archival research. Students engage in multiple research projects to begin to learn the ethics and practices central to the creation of knowledge in the field.
That description isn't wrong. That is what this course is designed to do. And, when you leave it, it's my hope that you will have a better sense of what the field of Writing & Writing Studies, better understood in colleges and universities as Rhetoric and Composition, is trying to do--which is, essentially, looking at the stories we tell about our world as way to understand our world, to take action in it, from the perspective of readers and writers.
So the goal of this class, then, is to connect the research methodologies used by academics to the kind of research and writing that the real world requires of all of us. And the particular focus of this semester's course is qualitative research methods. Qualitative research values the stories we tell and looks to them to answer questions we have about our world. We will use our time together to look at the value and ethics of of how collect story-as-data and we will attempt to ask and answer questions by taking stories seriously as sources.
Learning Outcomes
Texts (title is linked to the Amazon page with purchasing options; an order was also placed with the BSU bookstore)
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide by Kakali Bhattacharya
And other selected texts available as files or links embedded in the syllabus.
Requirements
Attendance & Participation. While I am loath to require attendance to a 400-level course—a course a student should be taking because they are far enough along in their academic career that they see the value of coming to class—experience tells me that I need to put in writing some manner of policy. This is particularly true when we are meeting in zoom only once a week and when there are only five people in our class. Class is a delicate operation this semester.
If you miss more than four classes (or two weeks of class) your final grade will be lowered. If you miss six classes (three weeks of class, or a full quarter of the semester), you will fail the course. I know that we are in the middle of a pandemic and nothing is normal. If life circumstances require you to miss enough class that it will affect your grade, see me.
To attend our Wednesday Class, click here.
Deadlines. Work is due the day it is due as listed on the syllabus. Absence is not an excuse for late work. If you know you will not be able to be in class on a certain day that work is due, turn the work in before, not after, the deadline. And, again, I know we are learning together in a pandemic.
There is an additional expectation that you will come to class prepared to do the thinking, writing, and discussion work that a 400-level class requires. If it becomes clear to me that you are not doing the required work, I will bring it to your attention. If your participation does not improve, it will seriously and adversely affect your final grade.
Finally, excessive late arrivals will accumulate to equal at least one absence.
How to be present online: for the sake of our learning community, when you enter the class in zoom, please have your camera on and your mic on mute. Use the chat to signal if you want to talk and/or you would prefer to use the chat rather than talk--that works for me too. As we get to know each other better, I think we will feel more comfortable in the odd, flat space of zoom. One of the ways you'll indicate your participation is by frequent in-class writing opportunities you will have in the class, sometimes in a shared google.doc. Sometimes in the chat function.
Reading Journals and Class Discussion Board. You have spent the better part of your student lifetime reading literature and, to a lesser extent, literary criticism. You have not, on the other hand, spent hardly any time reading about the field of Writing Studies. The readings are pivotal to any class I teach, but they are even more vital to this course. If you don’t do the reading we will have nothing to do in class, and, more than that, you will need this reading to better understand what qualitative research is, how it fits into the field, and how it applies to the world beyond the university. For our asynchronous Monday meetings, you need to post 250 word posts to our Class Discussion Board. Each discussion board will have specific instructions for those posts and they will need to be posted by midnight on Mondays. For our synchronous Wednesday meetings, you will need to complete your post 10 minutes before class starts. And you should expect that, in both instances, that your colleagues will read your posts as often as I do.
Presentations. You'll informally present frequently during the semester when you are talking about your various projects. On days that proposals are due and final versions of projects are due, you'll give your classmate colleagues an brief overview, on your project, your methodology, and your results (preliminary or otherwise). Those will be very informal and only about 5 to 10 minutes. You'll have the chance to get feedback at the the project proposal stage as well. You will have a more formal presentation close to midterm about a theory of your choosing that we will be discussing. You'll select the lens, or theory, that interest you most. You will identify several articles that rely on that school of theory, and you will produce and present on one of those scholarly article by explaining how this theories inform the research question and methodology.
Formal Projects
Partner Profile. To begin, we will practice the skills that we will learn more about in depth during the semester by writing short partner profiles of our classmates. You'll develop questions and interview your classmates and then produce a brief 250-300 word profile of your colleague. We will assemble the finished products and they will be featured on a "class profile" page. As part of this assignment, we will dissect the process and consider what the difference is between a "student" version of this project and a "researcher" version might look like.
Telling the Stories of Others. The main project of the first half of the semester will require you to select a story to tell about a person or group of people. We will study various methodologies for how to collect data on people and how to tell their stories. You will produce a narrative analysis of your work, get feedback on it, and then revise it.
Archival Project. For the first part of the second half of the semester, we will conduct archival research using the BSU archives. We will use the magnificent collection of archival material about normal schools and normal school pedagogy housed right here at our very own Maxwell library. You will identify research questions about the relationship between the development of normal schools and the field of writing studies (which happened at roughly the same historical time period). Students will learn about how to develop and use a finding guide, how to organize data using taxonomic charts, and we will discuss the ethics of representing the other in archival work. You will produce an analysis of one or two pieces from the archive and how it answers your research question on normal schools and writing studies.
Final Project. Once we’ve worked through these two introductory projects, you and I will meet for a conference to discuss what your final research project will be. You should come to the meeting ready to talk through your projects so far. You should talk about what is interesting to you about the method as well as the area of research. You may elect to research one of the topics we’ve covered in class or one that is of interest of you. During our meeting we will talk about ways to shape your research question—which will, in turn, shape your methods and the secondary reading you will need to engage in. The conferences will take place around the 10th and 11th week of class and (will also serve as your midterm grade letter conference) so we can talk about your research proposal. We will workshop drafts of your pieces in the last few weeks of class.
Final Portfolio/Research Notebook.There are multiple parts to your final project, and all of those parts will be collected and will make up your final portfolio/research notebook. These components include:
Evaluation and Grading
For each formal assignment you will receive extensive written feedback in the form of a letter when you turn the draft in to me. I will discuss samples of these letters with you before the first major writing assignment is due so you have a sense of what this feedback looks like and how it is connected to your final letter grade for each assignment and the class as a whole. You can read actual sample draft letters for actual students from previous semesters--names changed--here.
Comments on reading journals shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I'm not writing anything, I'm bored. Your only cause for alarm should be if you see this: "you aren't taking this work seriously," or some version of that. Included on the Reading Journal assignment page are specific details about what you need to do in a journal for it to be acceptable and how many acceptable journals will result in a strong grade in this class for that assignment. You can read about that here.
Comments on Formal Assignments are typically meant to guide your revision process and/or prepare you for the next assignment. For each of those assignments, there are several components that you must complete in order to earn full credit. They are specific to the assignment, but, generally, you are required to turn in drafts and revisions and participate in whatever workshop and/or conference required for that assignment. Read the specific assignment pages for the requirements for each assignment.
At midterm and at the end of the semester you will receive a “grade-so-far” and a “final grade” letter respectively that reflects your cumulative grades on assignments and your portfolio grade as well. They will be attached to your midterm and final portfolio returns. In these letters you will receive a letter grade and an overview of your performance in the class up to that point. That will include a review of your in-class preparedness, your reading journals, your work on formal assignments and/or presentations, and your reflection and revision completed as part of your portfolio. You can read sample midterm letters, names changed, here.
I have never encountered a student who didn’t have a clear sense of how they were doing in my class based on this system of evaluation, but if you should feel that you don’t know how you are doing, come see me. We’ll figure it out.
Different requirements require different kinds and amounts of effort; therefore, different assignments have different weight in terms of evaluation. Here is a rough breakdown of how things are weighted this semester:
Reading Responses/Class Discussion Board 20%
Partner Profile 10%
Telling the Stories of Other People/Midterm portfolio 20%
Archival Project 15%
Theory Presentation 15%
Final Project/Research Notebook Final Portfolio 20%
Ultimately, your success in this class depends on the following:
· Fulfilling all of the requirements listed above,
· The quality of your written and oral work,
· Your efforts to try new things and think in new ways.
This for m of evaluation is a combination of something called "spec grading" and portfolio assessment. Spec grading allows me to value sheer effort while still leaving room for particularly excellent effort that yields an excellent product. It is particularly helpful for low-stakes writing and for work that requires substantial process (like drafting and revising papers). Spec grading values the labor of education. Portfolio grading allows me to take a step back and consider the entire student over time.
I use this kind of evaluation because I want to be able to consider all the parts of your performance in our class, not just how good your final drafts of your papers are. I want to consider where you started and how much you improved. I want to consider how hard you tried (or didn’t try) in class. I want to consider how you contribute to class on a daily basis--not by being the one who always talks, but by paying attention, contributing when you have something thoughtful to say, helping to make your group work go smoothly, really giving your all to our reading journals and in-class writing. I have found that this kind of grading rewards hard-working students as well as students that are just naturally good at something. And, for that reason, I think it is the most fair way to run a writing classroom. I hope you’ll come to agree.
Accessibility Statement: In compliance with Bridgewater State University policy and equal access legislation, I am available to discuss appropriate accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. Students will need to register with the Disability Resources Office in the Academic Achievement Center (x2194) in Maxwell Library to provide documentation of the disability, to determine reasonable academic accommodations, and obtain a letter of notification to faculty of the accommodations.
Academic Integrity Policy: Students are expected to abide by the academic policy of Bridgewater State University. Plagiarism, the presentation of someone else’s words or ideas as one’s own, is a violation of the academic community and of Bridgewater State University. According to the BSU Student Handbook, “A violation may result in a reduced grade, suspension or dismissal from the university.” See the Student Handbook for more detailed information. Please ask me if you have any questions.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: the Center for Multicultural Affairs, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.
While this class will present you with many challenges, I believe it has its share of pleasures and rewards. What matters most to me is that you try to be the best student you are capable of being—that you try to improve as a writer and thinker. No good teacher wants to give a student a bad grade. Good standing in this class is yours to lose.
Need some help figuring out how to be successful in your online classes? Check out these successful learning strategies and support resources.
Looking forward to our semester together.
This is the catalog description for this course: In this course, students learn and practice research methods used to produce written critical arguments in the field of Writing Studies. Students explore in more detail the critical theories and methods of research used by scholars in the field and begin to use them in their own work. We read and engage with a variety of secondary sources to contextualize and better understand research methods in Writing Studies, such as rhetorical analysis, ethnography and case study, quantitative analysis, linguistic analysis, and/or archival research. Students engage in multiple research projects to begin to learn the ethics and practices central to the creation of knowledge in the field.
That description isn't wrong. That is what this course is designed to do. And, when you leave it, it's my hope that you will have a better sense of what the field of Writing & Writing Studies, better understood in colleges and universities as Rhetoric and Composition, is trying to do--which is, essentially, looking at the stories we tell about our world as way to understand our world, to take action in it, from the perspective of readers and writers.
So the goal of this class, then, is to connect the research methodologies used by academics to the kind of research and writing that the real world requires of all of us. And the particular focus of this semester's course is qualitative research methods. Qualitative research values the stories we tell and looks to them to answer questions we have about our world. We will use our time together to look at the value and ethics of of how collect story-as-data and we will attempt to ask and answer questions by taking stories seriously as sources.
Learning Outcomes
- Students will understand how to find and evaluate scholarly sources using library catalogues, library databases, online resources, reference materials, books and Commonwealth Catalog/Interlibrary Loan.
- Students will understand how to read, summarize, evaluate and engage with scholarly essays and books.
- Students will learn to create an original argument, acknowledging and responding to the scholarly conversation.
- Students will understand a variety of different research methodologies used in writing studies scholarship, specifically qualitative research methodologies.
- Students will engage with multiple theoretical lenses, possibly including formalist, cultural studies, psychoanalytic, Marxist, gender-based and feminist approaches.
Texts (title is linked to the Amazon page with purchasing options; an order was also placed with the BSU bookstore)
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide by Kakali Bhattacharya
And other selected texts available as files or links embedded in the syllabus.
Requirements
Attendance & Participation. While I am loath to require attendance to a 400-level course—a course a student should be taking because they are far enough along in their academic career that they see the value of coming to class—experience tells me that I need to put in writing some manner of policy. This is particularly true when we are meeting in zoom only once a week and when there are only five people in our class. Class is a delicate operation this semester.
If you miss more than four classes (or two weeks of class) your final grade will be lowered. If you miss six classes (three weeks of class, or a full quarter of the semester), you will fail the course. I know that we are in the middle of a pandemic and nothing is normal. If life circumstances require you to miss enough class that it will affect your grade, see me.
To attend our Wednesday Class, click here.
Deadlines. Work is due the day it is due as listed on the syllabus. Absence is not an excuse for late work. If you know you will not be able to be in class on a certain day that work is due, turn the work in before, not after, the deadline. And, again, I know we are learning together in a pandemic.
There is an additional expectation that you will come to class prepared to do the thinking, writing, and discussion work that a 400-level class requires. If it becomes clear to me that you are not doing the required work, I will bring it to your attention. If your participation does not improve, it will seriously and adversely affect your final grade.
Finally, excessive late arrivals will accumulate to equal at least one absence.
How to be present online: for the sake of our learning community, when you enter the class in zoom, please have your camera on and your mic on mute. Use the chat to signal if you want to talk and/or you would prefer to use the chat rather than talk--that works for me too. As we get to know each other better, I think we will feel more comfortable in the odd, flat space of zoom. One of the ways you'll indicate your participation is by frequent in-class writing opportunities you will have in the class, sometimes in a shared google.doc. Sometimes in the chat function.
Reading Journals and Class Discussion Board. You have spent the better part of your student lifetime reading literature and, to a lesser extent, literary criticism. You have not, on the other hand, spent hardly any time reading about the field of Writing Studies. The readings are pivotal to any class I teach, but they are even more vital to this course. If you don’t do the reading we will have nothing to do in class, and, more than that, you will need this reading to better understand what qualitative research is, how it fits into the field, and how it applies to the world beyond the university. For our asynchronous Monday meetings, you need to post 250 word posts to our Class Discussion Board. Each discussion board will have specific instructions for those posts and they will need to be posted by midnight on Mondays. For our synchronous Wednesday meetings, you will need to complete your post 10 minutes before class starts. And you should expect that, in both instances, that your colleagues will read your posts as often as I do.
Presentations. You'll informally present frequently during the semester when you are talking about your various projects. On days that proposals are due and final versions of projects are due, you'll give your classmate colleagues an brief overview, on your project, your methodology, and your results (preliminary or otherwise). Those will be very informal and only about 5 to 10 minutes. You'll have the chance to get feedback at the the project proposal stage as well. You will have a more formal presentation close to midterm about a theory of your choosing that we will be discussing. You'll select the lens, or theory, that interest you most. You will identify several articles that rely on that school of theory, and you will produce and present on one of those scholarly article by explaining how this theories inform the research question and methodology.
Formal Projects
Partner Profile. To begin, we will practice the skills that we will learn more about in depth during the semester by writing short partner profiles of our classmates. You'll develop questions and interview your classmates and then produce a brief 250-300 word profile of your colleague. We will assemble the finished products and they will be featured on a "class profile" page. As part of this assignment, we will dissect the process and consider what the difference is between a "student" version of this project and a "researcher" version might look like.
Telling the Stories of Others. The main project of the first half of the semester will require you to select a story to tell about a person or group of people. We will study various methodologies for how to collect data on people and how to tell their stories. You will produce a narrative analysis of your work, get feedback on it, and then revise it.
Archival Project. For the first part of the second half of the semester, we will conduct archival research using the BSU archives. We will use the magnificent collection of archival material about normal schools and normal school pedagogy housed right here at our very own Maxwell library. You will identify research questions about the relationship between the development of normal schools and the field of writing studies (which happened at roughly the same historical time period). Students will learn about how to develop and use a finding guide, how to organize data using taxonomic charts, and we will discuss the ethics of representing the other in archival work. You will produce an analysis of one or two pieces from the archive and how it answers your research question on normal schools and writing studies.
Final Project. Once we’ve worked through these two introductory projects, you and I will meet for a conference to discuss what your final research project will be. You should come to the meeting ready to talk through your projects so far. You should talk about what is interesting to you about the method as well as the area of research. You may elect to research one of the topics we’ve covered in class or one that is of interest of you. During our meeting we will talk about ways to shape your research question—which will, in turn, shape your methods and the secondary reading you will need to engage in. The conferences will take place around the 10th and 11th week of class and (will also serve as your midterm grade letter conference) so we can talk about your research proposal. We will workshop drafts of your pieces in the last few weeks of class.
Final Portfolio/Research Notebook.There are multiple parts to your final project, and all of those parts will be collected and will make up your final portfolio/research notebook. These components include:
- Your revised project proposal (this work will come out of your midterm conference/midterm portfolio).
- Your detailed methodology report and, if necessary, your IRB (you don’t have to have the approval)
- Your research notes
- Your annotated bibliography
- Your workshop draft/conference draft
- Your revised draft, including your abstract
- Evidence you’ve submitted your research to the appropriate venue for presentation.
Evaluation and Grading
For each formal assignment you will receive extensive written feedback in the form of a letter when you turn the draft in to me. I will discuss samples of these letters with you before the first major writing assignment is due so you have a sense of what this feedback looks like and how it is connected to your final letter grade for each assignment and the class as a whole. You can read actual sample draft letters for actual students from previous semesters--names changed--here.
Comments on reading journals shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I'm not writing anything, I'm bored. Your only cause for alarm should be if you see this: "you aren't taking this work seriously," or some version of that. Included on the Reading Journal assignment page are specific details about what you need to do in a journal for it to be acceptable and how many acceptable journals will result in a strong grade in this class for that assignment. You can read about that here.
Comments on Formal Assignments are typically meant to guide your revision process and/or prepare you for the next assignment. For each of those assignments, there are several components that you must complete in order to earn full credit. They are specific to the assignment, but, generally, you are required to turn in drafts and revisions and participate in whatever workshop and/or conference required for that assignment. Read the specific assignment pages for the requirements for each assignment.
At midterm and at the end of the semester you will receive a “grade-so-far” and a “final grade” letter respectively that reflects your cumulative grades on assignments and your portfolio grade as well. They will be attached to your midterm and final portfolio returns. In these letters you will receive a letter grade and an overview of your performance in the class up to that point. That will include a review of your in-class preparedness, your reading journals, your work on formal assignments and/or presentations, and your reflection and revision completed as part of your portfolio. You can read sample midterm letters, names changed, here.
I have never encountered a student who didn’t have a clear sense of how they were doing in my class based on this system of evaluation, but if you should feel that you don’t know how you are doing, come see me. We’ll figure it out.
Different requirements require different kinds and amounts of effort; therefore, different assignments have different weight in terms of evaluation. Here is a rough breakdown of how things are weighted this semester:
Reading Responses/Class Discussion Board 20%
Partner Profile 10%
Telling the Stories of Other People/Midterm portfolio 20%
Archival Project 15%
Theory Presentation 15%
Final Project/Research Notebook Final Portfolio 20%
Ultimately, your success in this class depends on the following:
· Fulfilling all of the requirements listed above,
· The quality of your written and oral work,
· Your efforts to try new things and think in new ways.
This for m of evaluation is a combination of something called "spec grading" and portfolio assessment. Spec grading allows me to value sheer effort while still leaving room for particularly excellent effort that yields an excellent product. It is particularly helpful for low-stakes writing and for work that requires substantial process (like drafting and revising papers). Spec grading values the labor of education. Portfolio grading allows me to take a step back and consider the entire student over time.
I use this kind of evaluation because I want to be able to consider all the parts of your performance in our class, not just how good your final drafts of your papers are. I want to consider where you started and how much you improved. I want to consider how hard you tried (or didn’t try) in class. I want to consider how you contribute to class on a daily basis--not by being the one who always talks, but by paying attention, contributing when you have something thoughtful to say, helping to make your group work go smoothly, really giving your all to our reading journals and in-class writing. I have found that this kind of grading rewards hard-working students as well as students that are just naturally good at something. And, for that reason, I think it is the most fair way to run a writing classroom. I hope you’ll come to agree.
Accessibility Statement: In compliance with Bridgewater State University policy and equal access legislation, I am available to discuss appropriate accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. Students will need to register with the Disability Resources Office in the Academic Achievement Center (x2194) in Maxwell Library to provide documentation of the disability, to determine reasonable academic accommodations, and obtain a letter of notification to faculty of the accommodations.
Academic Integrity Policy: Students are expected to abide by the academic policy of Bridgewater State University. Plagiarism, the presentation of someone else’s words or ideas as one’s own, is a violation of the academic community and of Bridgewater State University. According to the BSU Student Handbook, “A violation may result in a reduced grade, suspension or dismissal from the university.” See the Student Handbook for more detailed information. Please ask me if you have any questions.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: the Center for Multicultural Affairs, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.
While this class will present you with many challenges, I believe it has its share of pleasures and rewards. What matters most to me is that you try to be the best student you are capable of being—that you try to improve as a writer and thinker. No good teacher wants to give a student a bad grade. Good standing in this class is yours to lose.
Need some help figuring out how to be successful in your online classes? Check out these successful learning strategies and support resources.
Looking forward to our semester together.