4.30 Presentations!

Yoleiny, Derrick, Mike, Allyson, and Chris gave presentations today. Thank you, Bri, for your good note taking!

Presentations for May 2: Paul, Sarah, Oriana, Bri & Amy

Blog 26: If you gave your presentation today, post your reflections on what you have to work on
if you gave your presentation last week, post your revisions,
if you are doing your presentation May 2, post the draft you will present on
if you are presenting May 7, post any writing you want feedback on

If you need more feedback than you got in class, schedule a conference!

Good work on these projects!

4.25 Presentations

We re-arranged the schedule for presentations so that you could make better use of the feedback from me and your classmates.  The new schedule is as follows.

April 30: Yoleiny, Derrick,   Mike, Allyson, ChrisMay 2 : Paul,  Sarah, Oriana, Bri, AmyMay 7:  Devon, Sharyn, Alison + using the rubric to evaluate your draft-so-far

Also, we went over the points you should hit in your presentation.  They are as follows:

1. explanation of issues surrounding/related to your research project

2. context + your assumptions = why you are dioing this project = importance to writing studies

3. present your evidence (talk about your data)

4.  what your data shows with respect to your research question

5. conclusion= implications for writing studies+what your research shows.

As pointed out in class, if you hit these points as best you can, and ask questions about points where you need input = you will get full credit for your presentation.  As you saw in class today, this presentation is an important opportunity for you to consider the focus/organization/development of your essay so far; how to set up your essay;  how well your data support (or not) your research question, how to develop a more powerful conclusion (where you state the importance of your findings), and so on.  

 A second important purpose for these presentations for program evaluation.  I will be rating the presenations (using a rubric) to assess whether and how well our work together for this course has prepared you to give this kind of a presentation.  I will revise my teaching next term in light of this information.

GREAT CLASS TODAY!   Thanks for the excellent presentations and for the excellent comments on what presenters can work on to make a stronger paper.  I was very impressed at the effectiveness of the language you used for the comments (you must have paid attention to that "rhetoric of teacher comments" paper!).  

For next class:

Blog 25: Today's presenters = write up any plans/notes you have for revising your essay in light of your presentation
Tuesday, April 29 presenters= post the essay-so-far that you will present on
Everyone else: post any writing that you want credit for as part of your drafting process, or any in-process analysis that you want credit for  as part of the data collection/analysis part of the project(see assignment sheet for research project)

For individuals who presented today = I will write written feedback to your "draft-so-far" and send it to your by next class (probably by Tuesday).

See you next week!

4.23 And another workshop

I began class by drawing your attention to the note in the email about due dates. To avoid losing points for lateness, be sure to turn in your work before the following dates.

Data (transcript, observations, screenshots, whatevery you uses) must be made available to me on your blog or as an attachment to an email, no later than April 25

Sections of analytic writing (lists of categories + examples, sections of data with discussions of what that data show, or other drafty representations of what you see going on in your data) must be made available to me on your blog or as an attachment to an email, no later than May 2,

Drafty writing for your essay = due the day of your presentation

Final essay = due May 9.

Meeting the deadlines will allow me and your classmates to give you feedback in time so that you can use that feedback to write a stronger final essay.


Revised plan for Thursday:  the original plan for Thursday was that we would go over the rubric and you would analyze your essays and make a plan for revision.  It is clear the most of you are not ready to do that, and that it would be more useful to begin the presentations.  This will allow us to talk through how to present data analysis in a paper in a way that provides feedback for the writer - and lets the rest of the class get some ideas for how to present their own data.

Rikki, Deanna, and maybe (but not necessarily) Mike - Alison would you be willing as well? -  have agreed to present their drafty writing on Thursday.  I am mostly interested in the analysis section. 

Blog 24:  Presenters will post their draft-so-far.  The rest of you should post sections of analysis or writing for your essay that you would like feedback on (I will have feedback for you by next Tuesday - or in a conference if you schedule one).

Good class today!  

4.18 Another workshop!

We started class by looking at the calendar and noticing what we were doing for the rest of the term.  Next Tuesday is another in-class workshop, hursday we will review the rubric for grading the essays and you will be evaluating how you are doing.  After that you will be giving presentations.

The sign up for presentations is as follows:

April 30: Derrick,   Mike, Allyson, Chris

May 2 : Paul,  Sarah, Oriana, bri, Amy

May 7:  devon, Sharyn, Alison (OK for you?)

Remember - these presentations are about getting feedback from your classmates and me on how to write the best research essay you can write.

Blog 23: post what you worked on in class today - or anything else you want me to look at.

I will be looking at blogs before class on Tuesday - and giving you feedback on "writing so far".

REMEMBER that the writing process and data parts of the grade for this projects are lots of points = so make sure to post your data and your "writing so far" so you can earn your credit.

Have a great weekend - and see you next week!

4.16 Workshop: data analysis

Reminder: Turn in informed consent forms.

Today we talked through the following protocol for analyzing data. The idea is to spend some time looking not just at the content - but also at the language (look back to the questions in Gee, and to the handout you used for the short analysis essay). By starting with 3 sections, you can get an idea of what is going on in your data without getting overwhelmed (trying to look at everything at once). After you analyze each story/section, you can go back to your data to look for more of what you have found in terms of the 3 "important" pieces. It's only a suggestion - and can be a good place to start.

1. Look for 3 sections/stories within your data that seem important to your focus.

2. Cut and paste them into a document and analyze them in some detial: ask what this section/story shows with respect to your focus? Look at:

3. Analyze each section of data in terms of:· Content (what it says)· Form ( how the way language is used presents a feeling/information/other keys to what is going on)

4. After you have made a list of what is going on in the chosen section(like we did in class) do the following· State what the data shows · Identify quotes from the data that illustrate the points you want to make

5. Look back at your data for other sections/stories that show or illustrate similar or related informtaion=> analyze them in terms of what you found in the third step (above). Add any new names/points to your list of what that section "shows".

Blog 22: Post your analysis so far

Class Thursday will be another workshop. Come prepared to work. I will be available for conferencing.

4.11 Transcribing interviews + intro & lit reviewTranscribing

Transcribing your interview file

Do:
create a "quick and dirty trancript from beginning to end
mark the time at random intervals
mark "good stories"  and significant patterns for talk*
get the flow of talk
write down as much detail as you can
use markers for sections of text that you are having trouble understanding  = ?? or IDK
use a "template" (like we did in class) so that you don't have to format as you type

Don't:
skip over large sections of text
obsess over getting every word

What counts as a good story + a significant pattern for talk?
Good stories = stories related to your content, stories that are long and fully developed, stories that the speaker introduces on his/her own, stories that are told or referred to more than once

Significant patterns for talk = when speaker: introduces the topic, shifts the way s/he is talking (from fast and fully developed to slow and hesitant, from easy-going to "careful", from loud to soft, ) shifts the emotion or tone of voice,  talk interruped by either individual or shared laughter, etc)

Workshop on introduction & literature review sections
Author
1. state your focus (what you are studying)
2. state your research questions (what you hope to find)
3. state why your project/questions are important to writing studies
4. tell/talk about the reference (research essay) you will include in your literature review
5. say what your reference(s) show about 1, 2, & 3

Coach
1. Take notes!   Write down as much as you can of what the author says
2. When the author is finished talking, say back what you heard and ask if you got it right
3. Ask any questions you would need answered to get a full understanding of what the author is writing about (add answers to your notes)

Author
ask your coach about anything you would like feedback on

POST YOUR WORK FROM THIS WORKSHOP ON YOUR BLOG = Blog 20 (class credit)

If you want feedback from me on your introduction + literature review = post it by the end of Friday and I will write back to you by next class with some comments

For next class:
Blog 21: Post sections of your transcript or other data that you want to analyze for your research project

I will be reading blogs over the weekend.

4.9 What to do in class for 4.11

We spent class developing a rubric to evaluate your research essay, and then applying that rubric to one of the sample research essays (posted to the right).  The rubric we came up with is available at the previous post.  

For next class:
Blog 19: In light of today's discussion, what are the strengths of your research project (do you have a strong research problem/question? the right research essay(s)? a solid plan for collecting data? will you have enough data? are you working with the right participants) Identify any place where you need to "catch up".

We will have an in-class workshop on the introduction and literature review.  Clearly, from our work in class today, you can not write the FINAL introduction + literature review - rather, you are going to map out the points you will need to make.  "Moves" you need to make in these introductory section include:

• setting up the overall focus of your project (providing any background),
• clearly stating your questions,
• identifying the importance of your project to writing studies
• pointing out what has been found (relevant to your focus) in the research
• stating what your project will add to this area of research

Even though this cannot be your "final" draft for the introduction - it is important to set it up because it can help you focus your data collection.  It can provide a kind of guide so that you need what kind and how much data you need to collect.

In class you should work on:

• making sure you understand + know how/what to refer to from your research article
• checking the  statement of focus+ what you will show against your plan for data collection (will your data actully show what you say it will show?  do you have the right questions? the rigth participants?)
• writing a DRAFT intro, literature review, methods section and workshopping it with classmates

Bring any materials you will need to work effectively on these tasks.

4.9 Rubric for evaluating research paper

Focus (45): state the research queston; relevance of focus to writing studies; relate references + points from lit review to focus; make connections between data/examples/findings & the focus; use conclusion to connect back to focus

Genre/audience (40): language use suited to a research paper; focus on findings discovered in data; research paper from + headings

Development (30): each pargraph/section needs to develop the focus in a different way; discussion of methods and of data
illustrations and examples to support claims about data/findings;; use references to make points

Organization (25): headings + paragraphs=research paper style
logical sequence of points/steps; set up and define language to talk about data BEFORE you use it
transitions/flow

Correctness (10): clarity and readability

4.4 Getting started on your research projects and literature review!

You should have received some feedback on your blogs (including the blog where you posted your research tools - the interview protocol, plan for observation, method for collecting data , etc. Some of you have handed in your informed consent forms - and hopefully the rest of you are making arrangements for your interview/observation and will have the informed consent materials in soon.

We spent the middle of class looking at the literature review sections in Martin, and in the first Sample Research Essay. We reviewed both the forms for citing literature in text, and "researcher discourse" for connecting to references that include information or methods relevant to your project. This page on the Purdue Owl gives you all the details.

During the last section of class, you worked on your projectgs. If you aren't sure about your interview protocol or the references you will be using for your project - send me an email or talk to me in class so we can get you started. The first workshop on your data will be April 16 = two weeks from last class. Don't underestimate how long it is going to take to transcribe your interview!

For Tuesday:
Read: Sample Essays 1 & 2 (posted top right of this blog)
Blog 18: Develop some writing for your project. Post the references you will use for your research project as you will list them in the works cited list, and write what you will say about them in your literature review. If you don't have a the right reference yet - write an introduction that sets up your research question.

In class we will look through the sample projects, look at the criteria on the assignment sheet, develop a rubric, and do some thinking about what these writers might have worked on.

Have a great weekend - it is supposed to be a beautiful day on Sunday.

4.2 Comments on Short analysis + Research projects!

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:
essay: 150 points
data + analysis: 200 points (with check point grades for data + analysis)
writing process: 150 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