4.17 Overall form for your essay + workshop!

We spent the first part of class talking through the moves you want to make (and how much space you want to devote to making them) in writing up your research project.  This is not a formula, and different projects will devote slightly different amounts of space/writing to the different moves, so don't get too regimented about this.  At the same time, this is a reasonable overall description of how writing studies research essays are organized


Introduction = some version of Swales CARS moves
In class, you talked through some of the specific language you would move to Establish a territory (provide context, background, identify your area).
See Swales handout for the particulars.  And I hope you wrote down what you said in class - all of it was great!

At this point we mentioned that in establishing your niche you could either mention the research you are connecting to briefly - or in detail.  And that in occupying your niche, you could either describe your methods in brief or in detail.

If you choose the "in detail" approach, you have rolled the intro-lit review-methods" sections into one.  If you choose the in brief approach, you will probably have separate headings for the Literature Review & the Methods sections, and develop your detailed discussions there.

In the literature review=> you do not summarize/provide an overview of the entire article.  Refer to points from the context, findings and methods that are relevant to your study.  They may be relevant because:
your research reproduces the context/findings/methods in the study you are discussing
your research differs from the context/findings/methods in the study you are discussing

This section of your essay should account for about two to two and a half pages for a 7-10 page paper.

Presentation/discussion of data.  We have been practicing how to write this section all term.  From the puzzle, through the jokes, through analyzing transcripts => to all those analytic memos where you pulled sections out of your transcript and  named what you saw, and wrote about what it meant.
I asked many of you to talk about some of your data in class today - and it sounds like you have the idea how to do this. Look back at your short analysis essay=> there should be some pointers on how to go deeper/what to develop in the comments.

You probably want to make 3 or more solid, in-depth points about what your data shows.

• Set up your data by saying what it shows.
• Present the data (an excerpt from your transcript)
• Point back to your data by naming and identifing and discussing the sections that are important to your point.  Describe how the data shows/means what you say it shows/means. 
• Relate this finding (what your data shows) back to your focus

For this essay, the presentation, analysis, and discussion of data should be the longest section by far (about 60%+)

Conclusion.  In this section (about 10% of the total length) you sum up your findings and develop a little more discussion about what - when taken all together - they show about your focus (what your research "shows" => the answer to your research question); note any drawbacks or limitations to your study, and discuss where future researchers might go in light of your findings=> what questions are still out there? how can researchers build on your study?

Blog 22: What you worked on in class

As we agreed in class - I will look through what you posted to your blog this week (Blogs 21 & 22) on Monday and Tuesday = so you will have my comments to work with in class.  That means your post should be up by Sunday night or early Monday AM.

Good class today - see you next week.  You will be working on writing your conclusions.