12.20

You should have received a grade sheet with your grade for the term, and a copy of your final research project with a grade and feedback.  Look them over and let me know if you need something corrected.  I will be posting your grade to Keanwise on Saturday.

I have enjoyed our time together in class, and reading your work. Thanks to each of you for participating in our class.  Good luck in your studies - and stop back to let me know how you are doing!

12.18 Final presentations, grades and thanks for the great class!

You gave your final presentations and received feedback on how to finish your papers.  Final research papers are due no later than 12:15 Thursday, December 20.  Send your research paper as an email attachment sent to the course account.

Grades:  As soon as I finish grading the research papers, I will send you an email with your final score for the course.  I will also return the research essay with a score & some comments.

Grades will be calculated according to the point system listed in the syllabus. 

1.  Blog + comments (response to readings; practice analysis, drafts, reflections, etc)               300 points            

2.  Class presentations + group work + participation + quizzes                                                 150 points
3.  Best short analysis project                                                                                                  250 points                            

4.  Research project                                                                                                                300 points 

If you receive a higher grade on your final research essay than on your short analysis, you will receive a percentage score based on the research essay.  If your research essay grade is lower than the short anlaysis score, you will receive all the scores as listed.

After you receive your grade, look over the points.  If you are good with your score, we are all set.  If you feel I made a mistake or that your work has not been evaluated accurately or fairly, you have 24 hours to send me an email stating what you feel should be re-considered - and I will re-examine by assessment and get back to you.  

One day after sending your grades, I will post your final grade to Keanwise.  

Final comments on the course:  Thanks for your ideas on how to make the course work better.  And thanks for all your good work this term.  I really enjoyed working with you - and look forward to reading your work in the writing studies journal of your choice!

12.13 Presentations again

Shana, Kelsee, Kevin, and Tshandi gave their presentations today.  Good job.

If you want feedback on your draft, send your essay as an attachment.  In the email give me some information about the kind of feedback you are looking for.

Have a good weekend, and see you on Tuesday!

12.11 Presentations

Today Sara, Liana, Andrea and Generra gave an overview of their research projects.  Thanks for your input.

For those of you presenting on Thursday - these are the points to hit.

• identify your research question
• talk about what other researchers have written about your project
• point out what your project adds to this area of research and state why it is important
• describe your method for collecting and analyzing your data
• present your findings
• and state your conclusions (as they relate to your research question and the importance of your project to research in the field)

Be sure to post a copy of your latest draft on your blog so your classmates and I can follow along.  

Each of you should have received feedback to blogs 21-24, and blog 25 should be your draft research project.  Feedback to Blog 25 will take the form of in-class comments from me and your classmates.

Blog 26 will be your final research project, and it will be due on the last day of class.   

12.6 Workshop

Note: If you have not sent your raw data/transcript = send it to the course email as an attachment as soon as it is available.  I will need to look at your data in order to be able to respond to your presentation.  Your research essay must be based on an anlysis of your data.

You signed up for your presentation days, and the schedule is as follows.  For the points you need to cover during the presentation, see the previous post.
Tuesday, 12.11: Sara, Andrea, Genera, Liana
Thursday 12.13: Tshandi, Kelsee, Kevin, Shana
Tuesday, 12.18: Valerie, Rachel, Josh, Nahimot, Brigit



Course assessment:  As I explained in class, the rubric (below the presentation points) is to assess how well the course is doing in terms of preparing you to talk about your ideas in relationship to larger issues presented by other researchers or by the culture at large.

Workshop:  You spent the rest of class working on your research essay.  Discussion of the objectives and what you are having trouble with posted on your blogs suggested that focus and organization for the presentation of your data were the big issues, so our workshop focused on that.

To work on focus and organization, you did the following.
Develop a list of what you saw in your data (what it shows)
Rank the points in the list by their relative importance
Choose 3-5 points that are "the most" important, and that fit togehter
Go back to your data and choose strong examples (passages from your transcripts with codes/categories + patterns) that illustrate your points.

After you wrote up these general observations - you talked in groups to "test" your plan.

For next class:
Presentations!
Blog 25: Post your draft so far essay.

I will be responding to Blogs 21-24 by Tuesday so you will have some feedback to go on.

What to include in your presentation + presentation rubric

What to include in your presentation:

• identify your research question
• talk about what other researchers have written about your project
• point out what your project adds to this area of research and state why it is important
• describe your method for collecting and analyzing your data
• present your findings
• and state your conclusions (as they relate to your research question and the importance of your project to research in the field)

Criterion	4	3	2	1	0
Explanation of Issues
Evidence
Influence of context and assumptions
Student’s position (perspective thesis/hypothesis)
Conclusions and related outcomes (implications and consequences)

12.4 Overall form for research essay + what we are doing for the rest of the term

You started today's class by making a map of the sections in a research essay and mapping out what you would write in each section: introduction, review of the research literature, discussion of methods, presentation of data, analysis of data, conclusions.  We then talked through each section in some detail, describing what you will write with respect to your project in each section.

We also spent some time talking through how you are doing with your interviewing and transcribing.  Send me your transcript/or post it as soon as you are able so we (your classmates, you and I) can work on your data together.

Next week you will begin giving presentations on your projects.  I will go over the specific criteria for your projects in class Thursday.

For next class:
Continue working on your project and bring materials to class so you can workshop your writing so far.

Blog 24:  Post a set of objectives for what you need to do to finish your project, and a list of questions regarding any areas where you want help.