Short analysis projectI started class today by providing an overview of feedback to the short analysis project. The short version is = you are AWESOME!!!! As I said in class, almost everyone is analyzing language (using discourse anlaysis = the WAY people say things as opposed to just what they say), you have the right general idea about how to organize a research essay, you mostly posed very excellent or at least a pretty good research question, and you used particular pieces of language as "examples" for what you were showing with respect to your focus. This is a HUGE accomplishment on your part and I can't tell you how delighted I am with your hard work and your good writing.
Keep working on your set-ups/introductions. Some of you needed some additional information in there. Remember that you are writing to a reader (not me) who is not familiar with your project. There is a lot of info to set up. The exact order for what to introduce first will vary by the focus of your work, but in general => you will need to set up any general background so the reader will be able to understand your research question, why that question is important, and a clear well-developed statement of your question.
Think about your organization. Go back to the sample research papers. Remember what we said about what worked and what didn't.
Keep working on using bigger (but not too big) sections of data (so your reader can get the big picture of what you are analyzing). Set up what you will show, present the block quotation, = then analyze piece by piece (pointing back to the block quote).
Grades for short analysis project: I also pointed out that if any of you felt you could do better on your short anlaysis and wanted to revise - I will talk through your your essay and look over any revisions, but I am not going to re-grade the essay. Rather, if you get a higher grade on the reserach essay section of your Research project - I will raise the grade for the Short Analysis to match that grade.
What we will be doing for the rest of the term
We took a minute to review the syllabus and check out how you were getting your grades (and I explained that you could raise your grade for the short anlaysis project), and we spent some time looking at the calendar and noting the due dates for turning in permission forms and beginning data collection (by the end of this week), posting your data (April 16), and for working out draft writing for different sections of your research essay. As mapped out on the calendar, most of the rest of the term is about group work, conferences, and in-class writing on your projects. Come to class prepared so you can make the most of your time.
Research Project Assignment sheet.
We next talked through the draft assignment sheet for the research project, and talked about how you wanted to the work to be graded. We noted that there are three different parts to this project: the essay, the data, the writing process (successive drafts/work on different sections of text) that will be evaluated. The class spent some time decided how much credit we wanted to allocate for each task and agreed on the following scale (did I get this right?):
essay: 100 points
data + analysis: 300 points
writing process: 100 points
We will check in on this again as we get closer to the point where you are graded, but listening to you talk, I think you have made a fair/well thought-out decision in choosing these figures.
Presentations
We noticed on the calendar, that you would be making presentations on your research projects from April 30 - May 7. I let you know that these presentations are meant to be works-in-progress presentations, where we work as a group to help the presenter figure out how to write the best paper s/he can write.
Presenters will post their work on their blogs two days before their presentation along with requests for feedback, and we will all come to class prepared to give the kinds of comments that will allow that writer to succeed.
We will work out guidelines for the presentations as the date gets closer. In the past, these presentations have been importantin helping writers do there best.
Planning your research:
You spent the last 15 minutes of class reviewing your blog posts so far on your project to check your research plan, the references you plan to use in your literature review, your research tools (the interview/observation protocols) and so on. I suggested you made a list of what you needed to do to finish your project, and that you mapped out a rough timeline that corresponded to the due dates on your calendar.
For next class:
Class Thursday will be a workshop (with in-class conferences) on your research project. We will make sure you have your research question down - and I will go over how to do a literature review.
Read: Review the essays you will use for your literature review. Make sure they:
give you authority to write about what other research has been done in writing studies with respect to your research question;
provide background so you can say "where your project fits";
If you aren't sure whether your articles are the right ones - check with me.
Blog 17: Post the list you worked on at the end of class with any additions you thought of later
I will get back to you on your blogs as fast as I can (certainly by Friday). I know many of your are looking for feedback on your interview protocols. If you are panicked and want feedback earlier -send me an email and I will work in a conference somehow.
Thanks for the good class (and your great essays). See you Thursday
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