Writing & Research Methodology

English 8125 CRN 17939

Assignments

Reading Responses & Class Participation: 

Reading Responses are due each class day by 10 am. In these responses, compose a ~500 word reaction to the day’s assigned readings. These responses are your commentary to the reading and in these you should discuss anything you find significant about the reading, particularly in terms of the topic for that particular class period. These responses are not summaries of the reading, you need to go further than a simple summary and should synthesize, critique, associate, situate, etc. and include your own questions and observations. The reading response might also include comparisons among different readings so that we can see how the readings compare or contrast with each other. You may also respond to your classmate’s reading responses or topics discussed in class. The reading responses (both those you write and those you read) should inform our class discussions. Occasionally I may give you a particular topic or focus for the reading responses.
Responses should be posted to the class forum. Please take some time to skim over what your classmates have written before class as well. These responses are an important part of class participation and are expected each class day reading is due. However, you may miss three before your Reading Responses & Class Participation grade is negatively impacted.

Class participation is vital due to the discussion-based nature of the course. You are expected to participate in the discussion and class activities. I expect you to ask questions, connect ideas from various readings, and connect ideas from the readings to electronic writing and publishing practice and theory. Lack of participation will impact your Reading Responses & Class Participation grade.

Annotated Bibliography:

For this project you will compose an annotated bibliography of 15-25 texts (books count as 5 and this cannot be all books) on the topic of your final project. This should include a mix of research studies on the topic or using your project method(s) (at least 8) and other types of text. The research studies will include a critique of the research along with regular annotated biography information. You may submit this on paper or some electronic form (I recommend a website or blog).

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Mini-Research Projects:

The purpose of these two projects is two-fold:

1. to become familiar with two of the various methods covered in this class
2. to practice conducting research

For these projects you will choose one of the covered research methods and create a small study using this method. You will conduct the study and write a short report (2-6 pages) on your study.  I recommend you use one or both of these as pilot tests for your final project. You may replace one of these with an IRB human subjects research protocol submission.

Final Project:

• A short project proposal for approval.
• A conference length presentation (15-20 minutes) on your project.
• An article length paper (15-25 pages double spaced) or the equivalent on the study including lit review, methodology, findings, and analysis sections. Ideally this will be a draft of a paper you plan to submit for publication. You can submit this in print form, web, podcast, or something else, with my approval.

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