Monday, September 12, 2011

September 12: Generic Research Essays in Writing Studies and Literature

Great class today!   Thanks for your good participation.  I am getting better at estimating the length of class - I realized that last semester all my classes were combined two-periods - so I think I am having some time getting used to having less time.  Today was better and I will keep working on it.

What we did in class:
We reviewed Moreno and Fetterley in terms of focus, supporting points, essay organization (what each section of the essay did or accomplished), methodology, methods.  I didn't spend much time talking about audience and how readers "use" these essays - but I should have.  Fortunately - we will be talking about these same ideas all term - so there is time.

We wrapped up by pointing out that these were "generic" essays - in that they made predictable moves and can be used as models for essays written for similar audiences/purposes.

Moreno: Moreno's essay was a typical writing research essay, focused on an idea-centered discussion about how one particular approach to teaching writing can improve composition pedagogy.

  • Introduction: The essay began with an introduction that identified the problem the essay would "solve"; reported what other researchers have written about the problem, and identified/connected to the audiences essay (who could use/benefit from the essay's information). 
  • Context: The second section described the course Moreno was studying = focus of course; writing assignments, class dynamics.  This second section also generally contains a description of the methods researchers use to gather and analyze data.
  • Presentation of data:  Data for this essay were Raymundo's writings.  Moreno presented + discussed the data using the "sandwich" method - where she set up what the data would show, presented the data, and then discussed findings.  Some researchers divide the presentation of data, and the analysis of data into two sections. 
  • Conclusions: States the larger implications of the data = what they show for the discipline with respect to the paper's thesis (the usefulness of writing classes as places for multicultural students to explore identity and writing).  Concluding sections also often propose additional research that should be done to solve the problem or explore the ideas central to the essay.


Fetterley.  Fetterley's essay is a feminist, textual analysis of Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily."  Fetterley used her analysis of the words on the page to appropriate (takes over, re-interprets for her own purposes) Faulkner's story so that it became a feminist message about how violence oppresses both the victims and the victimizers.

Introduction: sets up the focus of the essay - to demonstrate how "it is impossible to oppress without in turn being oppressed," in particular and with respect to the structures of the patriarchy.

Textual analysis (she analyzed moves in the text, in terms of specific references to the text in more or less the following order):

  • characterization of the narrative voice
  • plot analysis
  • characters/narrator's response to events of the story
  • identification of metaphoric significance of story elements
  • connections to cultural assumptions of patriarchy
  • syntax (word order) + language
  • draw parallels between different elements in the story (the tableau + the discovery of the murder)

Conclusion - re-states + develops focus set up in the introduction.

We discussed the methodology, methods, and skills (sort of) associated with each text.  In terms of identifying methodologies - think about the author's assumptions.  And as you are thinking about their assumptions - think about how & where you agree and disagree with those assumptions.  We will work on learning the names for groups of assumptions as we work our way through the course.  For today, Moreno is a fit with critical pedagogy, and Fetterley fits with feminism.  Both of these approaches are concerned with social justice and are about changing (transforming) the world into a "better" place.

Our general approach for studying research methods in writing studies and literature.
We will read two essaysabout each of the different methods used to study langauge and literature (except discourse analysis - for which we will read more).  We will begin by reading a sample essay that illustrates the method - and then we will read an essay from Griffin that discusses & critiques the method from the sample essay.  I will model this approach for the auto/biography, creative writing methods - and then you will do presentations for the rest of the term (I will be on your team - but we will follow your lead).  Tonight's assignment is to give you a chance to familiarize yourself with the different methods/sample essays.  You are NOT committed to give a presentation on the method you blog about - this is just exploratory.  See what you think.

For Thursday, Ilook through your calendar and do a quick read of the sample methods essays.  Skip Auto/biography and Creative writing (I am going to "model" the presentations using those), and browse through  sample essays for discourse analysis (in your book in Chapter 3 of On Discourse), visual analysis (in the Writing Center, in the blue notebook at the receptionist's desk = just ask for it - and don't take it out of the Center); ethnography, interviews, oral history, and quantitative (links to the right).  You may need to go through the Kean Data base to access the articles for oral history and quantitative methods.

Think about which methods interest you and what you might like to use them for.  Jot down  idea, questions - anything you might like to know and bring them to class - and I will see if I can come up with the answers for you.  You might be interested in more than one method = and that's great!.

Blog 2:  Do some writing about the research essay you found most relevant to your interests and career goals.    Identify (as best you can) the genre expectations within the piece.  Who is it written for?   How will it be used?  What kinds of information does it include and how is it organized?  (in some sense you will be doing the same kind of analysis we did of Fetterley & Moreno in class).  This does not need to be polished writing - but it does need to  be real.

I will be reading  blogs and giving feedback for Blogs 1 & 2 over the weekend.  I would like to give you some tips/pointers on your first blog before asking you to write your second - but my teaching schedule is too tight - so I will go with what I can do.  From the quick read I did last night and this morning - you look like you are on the right track.  The most important things to remember are to write to the prompt + to provide evidence for your ideas/claims.  These are not mini-essays.  They are supposed to be places for you to explore - put ideas out there and see what you think of them.

Big words:  As you read the essays, keep track of "big words" and at the beginning of class we can define them =  start our own glossary.

See you Thursday!

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