Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing Example Assignment

The World of Research Writing | Jan Roser

Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing Example Assignment

Unit 1: The World of Research Writing

This time in college is a wonderful opportunity to challenge and stretch your thinking about research, knowledge, and how the experience and expertise of others opens the mind to new perspectives. One of the ways I’m going to challenge you during this first unit is by exposing you to many kinds of research writing (academic, creative nonfiction, student research). Over the course of the next five weeks, we’ll read and analyze several research essays and identify the qualities (conventions) that make them solid research articles that are interesting to read, structurally sound, and credible.

At the end of the unit, you will be expected to write an essay articulating your new knowledge and awareness of research writing practices in the academy. Recent research in composition (Beaufort 2007, Wardle 2007) and educational research (Perkins & Soloman 1987, 1988, 1992) claim that meta-awareness (thinking about thinking) is essential for learning and transferring knowledge to new contexts. The Unit 1 readings/writings will stretch your thinking about the situational aspects of writing: what writers write and how writers write in a variety of contexts.

By evaluating and learning the conventions of research writing within and beyond the walls of the university, you will start to understand how to approach different writing assignments in English, History, Philosophy, Business, and many other classes. As you move from English 102 into your discipline, the research writing you do will have similarities and differences. The ability to identify these similarities/differences will enable you to navigate the world of research writing beyond our 102 classroom more effectively.

Writing Strategies we’ll be working on throughout this unit

·  The writer can articulate her/his understanding of several research writing genres and is able to identify particular conventions—using examples/evidence (citations).

·  The writer explains the use of sources and the importance of incorporating sources from a broad range (several disciplines).

·  The writer demonstrates competence with MLA in-text citations, a Works Cited pages, and understands the rationale for providing this information.

·  The writer explains her/his understanding of critical reading—both reading a text for subject content (what a writer communicates) and reading a text to analyze a piece of writing (how a writer communicates).

·  The writer articulates her/his understanding of research writing as a genre and projects potential applications for their inquiry research essay for Unit 2.

·  The writer understands and articulates the use of claims, evidence, ethos, pathos, and logos, and how s/he might incorporate these writing strategies in an essay.

·  The writer is able to articulate her/his knowledge of research writing expectations in her/his major.

·  The writer articulates her/his understanding (an introductory overview) of our library system and can provide an overview of a few of its resources.

Unit 1 Essay Goal

At the end of Unit 1, you will write a 6-8 page essay answering the question: What is Research Writing? You will use evidence from the readings to back up the claims you make about research writing, and provide a Works Cited page (which does not count as part of the essay). While you explore and extend your thinking about research writing, you’ll also put this knowledge into practice and write using the following: the conventions of argument, ethos, pathos, and logos, developing ideas/claims, supporting these claims with evidence, and synthesizing your ideas with the scholarship. At times, it will seem like you have stepped into a rhetorical house of mirrors—writing about the conventions of argument, while practicing these conventions as a writer—relax; the classroom conversations and the drafts in progress will help move you towards a new understanding of research writing.

Week One: What is research writing? What drives research writing? What are the conventions of different research genres?

For all the class readings, you will be required to write either an extended annotation (EA) or a critical reading (CR) analysis. The details for both the EA and CR are listed at the end of this document

CR analysis of the following:
David Rakoff, “Off We’re Gonna Shuffle” from his book Don’t Get Too Comfortable. / EA of the following:
Edlund, John R., PhD. “Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Three Ways to Persuade.” Web 5 Jan 2011. Note: 200+ word EA of Edlund’s
Read and annotate Lennie L Irvine’s “What is Academic Writing?”
http://writingspaces.org/essays/what-is-academic-writing

Week Two: What is inquiry? Why is inquiry important for research writing? What is a discourse community? Why are Bartholomae’s ideas important for you as a student writer?

CR analysis of the following:
BSU Student research essay, “This Space For Sale.”
Ann Hodgman’s, “No Wonder They Call Me a Bit##” / EA of the following:
David Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University.”

Week Three: What is your role in the university? What do you need to understand about the type of writing you will do in your discipline? What is genre? Why is understanding genre important for writing in this class and my other course?

Find an academic article in your disciplinary major (6+ pages) and write a CR of the expectations of you as a writer. / EA of the following:
Robert Davis and Mark Shadle’s, “Building a Mystery: Alternative Research Writing and the Academic Act of Seeking.”

Week Four: Start drafting: What do I understand about research writing?

Use the questions below to help stimulate your thinking and draft a 3+ page essay for an in class peer workshop. This is a draft-in-progress. I expect you to wrestle with ideas and complicate your thinking.

How has your conception of research writing changed in the past few weeks? What similarities and differences are important when evaluating research writing? Why are ethos, pathos, and logos important for writing? As a writer, what have you learned about structure and organization of information? What is the purpose of providing source citations and why do you need to include these citations? How has your conception of critical reading changed? How has your conception of analyzing the conventions of arguments changed? Discuss how our readings have changed your conception of research writing. What is your understanding for the expectations of academic research writing? Discourse communities? Your role as a student? What were you surprised to learn from your classmates (about writing? about perspectives? )?

Week 5: Your unit 1 packet is due and includes the following in this order: Research essay (6-8 pages), works cited, all EA’s and CR’s compiled (alphabetical by author’s last name). This should be submitted as one Word document.

Extended Annotations: These are smaller writing assignments that allow you to capture the main ideas of a piece of writing and incorporate quotes/paraphrases that you will utilize in your research essay. Your annotation should contain all of the following elements.

·  Provide the full bibliographic citation at the top of your page

·  Introduce the author(s) and provide a 1-3 sentence overview of the entire article

·  Outline the main argument (claim)

·  Outline all the supporting claims for the main argument

·  Identify any conclusions made by the author/s

·  Include specific quotes/paraphrases with citations (page numbers or paragraph numbers)

·  The annotation must be over 450 words

Critical Reading Analysis: This is an extensive analysis of a piece of writing and I want you to read it rhetorically—analyzing how the writer writes. You should be able to answer the following questions:

·  What is the author’s thesis? How do you know this?

·  How does the author structure the essay?

·  Where does the author make claims and support them with evidence (ethos)?

·  Where does the author play on emotion (pathos)?

·  What writerly moves are effective for this essay/article?

·  Where does the author need to clarify, elaborate, delete?

·  The analysis must be over 400 words

Works Cited

Beaufort, Anne. College Writing and Beyond: A New Framework for University Writing

Instruction. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2007.

Perkins, David, and Gavriel Salomon. “Transfer of Learning.” International Encyclopedia of Education. 2nd ed. Oxford: Pergamon, 1992. Web.11 Mar. 2009. Print.

---.“Skill May Not Be Enough: The Role of Mindfulness In Learning And Transfer.”International Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford: Pergamon, 11.6 (1987): 623-637. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. Print.

Wardle, Elizabeth. "Understanding 'Transfer' from FYC: Preliminary Results of a Longitudinal Study." WPA: Writing Program Administration - Journal of the Council of Writing Program Administrators 31.1/2 (2007): 65-85. Education Research Complete. Web. 11 Mar. 2009. Print.