Class Discussion: Annotated Bibilography + Research Questions

Tonight we looked through the calendar to get the big picture for where we were going with this research project. As we saw from the calendar, the course is set up so that you do your project in parts - and through using the blogs - so that you share your thinking, data, writing and resources with classmates as you develop them. This practice will allow us to work together.

Overview of due dates for November (first approximation)

Annotated bibliography: November 2

Research plan: November 9

Rough draft - "problem " (your research question) + review of the literature: November 16

Rough draft - presentation of data: November 23

For the next several weeks we will be meeting as a class on Tuesdays, you will be observing (and then coaching) in the writing center, and I will be available in the Writing Center during class time on Thursday. On Thursdays we can work one-on-one or as a class on research/writing issues of your choice.

Annotated bibliography

A sample annotated bibliography is listed to the right. For this assignment, I am looking for a (tentative) list of references for your research paper. As in the sample - I am looking for a short, clear statement of the main focus of the work. In addition, I will be looking for a statement of how you plan to use this reference in your research.

For example, if you were going to do a study of power issues involved in setting the agenda for what writing issues students end up working on in their sessions - you might ask a research question such as: what "authorities" do coaches/students invoke to "persuade" one another with respect to what they will work on during a writing session? How does the choice of "authorities" correlate with the chosen focus, and with student satisfaction with respect to the session? (authorities might include: teacher's expectations stated in class; assignment sheet; genre characteristics; evidence from the paper itself (there may be several categories for this) ; student's feelings about what s/he needs help with; and so on).

To develop a annotated bibliography for this topic you might consider essays on agenda setting, power dynamics in sessions, discourse analysis of tutoring/conferencing/writing center sessions; and so on.

A sample entry might be:

Entry: Newkirk, Thomas. "The First Five Minutes: Setting the Agenda in a AWriting Conference." Writing and Response: Theory, Practice. and Research. Ed. Chris Anson. Urban, IL: NCTE P, 1989. 317-331.

Overview: A description of the dynamics of agenda setting in conferences for a freshman English course.

Use: I can use Newkirk's transcripts & analysis of the three sample "agenda settings' to identify key references to authority in the negotiation of the focus for the conference. This will show that these references are wide-spread moves - and not just in the sessions I observe.

Your annotated bibliography should have the minimum number of entries required for your research essay.

As I said in class - these bibliographies often become a communal source, and student frequently find that essays from classmates bibliographies will be important to their research. By the time projects are complete - students usually have "borrowed" reference from several classmates - and that is exactly the point of asking you to post your bibliography on your blog.

Finding sources.

We spend about half the class identifying and testing strategies for finding references. Suggestions included:

• using amazon to identify books (and some articles) - and reading the bibliographies for recent publications if possible
• using google scholar - noting how many times articles that come up have been cited, and checking out related references (and, of course, mining the bibliographies of all relevant articles)
• using Rebecca Moore Howard's bibliographies (& searching her lists using control F for dates + keywords)
• checking out writing center journals + the IWCA (NOT the international window cleaning association)
• searching by author for leading scholars in your field (using Kean databases + google.scholar &etc)

Sample essays:

There are two sample essays posted with the Annotated bibliography: one qualitative, and one hybrid qualitative-quantitative. I chose these two as samples since they both follow the more-or-less standard form for composition research essays. We discussed the (surprising) results for the study of correlations between WC satisfaction and grades as a way to think about both how you might design a study - and how you might explain your results. Either of these essays would serve as a satisfactory model for this assignment.

Observations in the center:

We spent the rest of class talking about what struck you about observations in the center - and then speculating about what kind of questions/explorations you might develop to follow-through on those observations. There were lots of solid ideas for projects in this discussion. I am very excited about reading through your findings!

If you will miss your time in the center - or if you want to re-schedule: send an email to wcenterkean7@gmail.com.

Blog 12: messy discussion of what you are reading and ideas for your project (to get some ideas out there for classmates)

Read: essays for your research (candidates for your annotated bibliography)

See you on Thursday (or not). The assignments for Thursday (due Tuesday, November 2) will be:

Blog 13: Draft annotated bibliography

Read: Sample research essays posted on blog

In class on Tuesday, November 2 we will discuss the form of the sample research essays, share references, and talk about developing a research plan.