Research Design in Rhetoric and Writing

January

Mo.20 No classes - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Mo.27 Introductions and Overview
Questions, Problems, Dispositions in Research Design
Glossing terms: research, design, qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, method, methodology, theory, mess, ethnography
Generative Questions for Research Projects (handout, in class), adapted from Louise Phelps’ “Outcomes Questions for CCR Students,” May 2002
Dylan Dryer, "Writing Studies 2016: A Table of Research Methods" (handout, in class)
Derek Mueller, "Methods in Rhetoric and Composition, Technical and Professional Writing – A Tentative List with Groupings" (handout, in class)
Read, Kathleen Stewart, "Weak Theory in an Unfinished World" (PDF, emailed and Canvas) [60]
 

February

Mo.3       Read: Rebecca Rickly, "After Words: Postmethodological Musings," 261-268 in WSRIP [30]
Read: John Law, "After Method: An Introduction," and "Scientific practices," 1-44 in After Method: Mess in Social Science Research (Canvas, PDF, [75])
Read: Joseph Williams, "Introduction" and "Part I. The Structure of Problems and PROBLEMS," 1-38, in Problems into PROBLEMS: A Rhetoric of Motivation (Canvas, PDF and WAC Clearinghouse, [75])
Mo.10       Read: Richard Haswell, "NCTE/CCCC's Recent War on Scholarship," 198-223 in Written Communication (2005) (Canvas, PDF, [60])
Read selections from Writing Studies Research in Practice [120]
Gesa Kirsch, "Foreword," xi-xvi
Mary P. Sheridan and Lee Nickoson, "Introduction," 1-9
Debra Journet, "1. Narrative Turns in Writing Studies Research," 13-24
Cynthia Selfe and Gail Hawisher, "3. Exceeding the Bounds of the Interview," 36-50
Christina Haas, Pamela Takayoshi, and Brandon Carr, "4. Analytic Strategies, Competent Inquiries," 51-62
Mary P. Sheridan, "6. Making Ethnography Our Own," 73-85
Lee Nickoson, "8. Revisiting Teacher Research," 101-112
Asao Inoue, "10. Racial Methodologies," 125-139
First annotation snapshot in Google Folder
Mo.17       DUE: Connect Four 1/4 in Google Folder, 4 p.m.
Read selections from Writing Studies Research in Practice [120]
Part Three. Reconceptualizing Methodologies and Sites of Inquiry
Richard Haswell, "14. Quantitative Methods," 185-196
Bob Broad, "15. Strategies and Passions," 197-209
Jeffery Grabill," 16. Community-Based Research," 210-219
Karen Lunsford, "17. Conducting Writing Research Internationally," 220-230
Mike Palmquist, Joan Mullin, and Glenn Blalock, "18. The Role of Activity Analysis," 231-244
Heidi McKee and James Porter, "The Ethics of Research on the Internet," 245-260
Mo.24       Read: Cindy Johanek, Introduction and Chapter 1 from Composing Research: A Contextualist Paradigm for Rhetoric and Composition (Canvas, PDF*, [60])
Read: Janice Lauer and William Asher, Chs. 1-4 from Composition Research: Empirical Designs (Canvas, PDF*, [120])
Read: Davida Charney, "Empiricism Is Not a Four-Letter Word," from CCC (Canvas, PDF, [50])
Second annotation snapshot in Google Folder
 

March

Mo.2       Read selections from Re/Orienting Writing Studies [120]
Pamela Takayoshi, Foreword
William P. Banks, Matthew B. Cox, and Caroline Dadas, "Chapter 1: Re/Orienting Writing Studies: Some Thoughts on In(queer)y"
Hillery Glasby, "Chapter 2: Making It Queer, Not Clear: Embracing Ambivalence and Failure as Queer Methodologies"
Stacey Waite, "Chapter 3: How (and Why) to Write Queer: A Failing, Impossible, Contradictory Instruction Manual for Scholars of Writing Studies"
G Patterson, "Chapter 4: Queering & Transing Quantitative Research"
Chanon Adsanatham, "Chapter 5: REDRES[ing] Rhetorica: A Methodological Proposal for Queering Cross-Cultural Rhetorical Studies"
Software focus: Scrivener
Fr.6 DUE: Connect Four 2/4 in Google Folder, 4 p.m.
Mo.9 No classes - Virginia Tech Spring Break
Mo.16 No classes - Virginia Tech Spring Break extended (COVID-19)
Mo.23 Meet at 4 p.m. in Zoom (follow link sent via email)
Read selections from Re/Orienting Writing Studies [120]
Jean Bessette, "Chapter 6: “Love in a Hall of Mirrors”: Queer Historiography and the Unsettling In-Between"
Maria Novotny, "Chapter 7: In/Fertility: Assembling a Queer Counterstory Methodology for Bodies of Health & Sexuality"
Michael J. Faris, "Chapter 8: Queering Networked Writing: A Sensory Autoethnography of Desire and Sensation on Grindr"
Deborah Kuzawa, "Chapter 9: Queer/ing Composition, the Digital Archives of Literacy Narratives, and Ways of Knowing"
Nicole Caswell & Stephanie West-Puckett, "Chapter 10: Assessment Killjoys: Queering the Return for a Writing Studies World-Making Methodology"
Caroline Dadas & Matthew B. Cox, "Chapter 11: On Queering Professional Writing"
Third annotation snapshot in Google Folder
Mo.30 DUE: Connect Four 3/4 in Google Folder, 4 p.m.
Read: Shawn Wilson, Research Is Ceremony, 1-79 [75]
Read: Sharon Marcus, Heather Love & Stephen Best, "Building a Better Description" [45]
Read: Rachel Gramer, Selections from Stories at Work: Restorying Narratives of New Teachers' Identity Learning in Writing Studies 2017 dissertation from U of Louisville, (Canvas, PDF, [120])
Abstract, p. vii (10 in PDF)
Chapter Map, p. 33 (47 in PDF)
Chapter Two, pp. 38-79 (52-93 in PDF)
 

April

Mo.6 Read: Shawn Wilson, Research Is Ceremony, 80-139 [75]
Read: Ben Miller, Selections from The Making of Knowledge-Makers in Composition: A Distant Reading of Dissertations, 2015 dissertation from Graduate Center, CUNY, "(Canvas, PDF, [120])
Chapters 1, 2, and 3, pp. 1-39 (15-54 in PDF)
Mo.13 DUE: Connect Four 4/4 in Google Folder, 4 p.m.
Read: Kate Pantelides, Jen Clary-Lemon, and Derek Mueller, Research Methods for Writers, draft manuscript (Canvas, PDF, [120])
Fourth-final annotation snapshot in Google Folder
Mo.20 Read: Selections from Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority (Canvas, PDF in two sections, [75])
Preview IRB resources online at https://www.research.vt.edu/sirc/hrpp.html
Begin training (CITI) certification course at https://www.research.vt.edu/sirc/hrpp/training.html [60]
Mo.27 DUE: Conference proposal, 4 p.m.
Guest: Dr. Katie Carmichael, Associate Professor, Department of English, 4:30-5 p.m.
Read: Deborah Cameron, "What Is Discourse and Why Analyse It?" (Canvas, PDF, [45])
Read: Thomas Huckin, Jennifer Andrus, and Jen Clary-Lemon, "Critical Discourse Analysis and Rhetoric and Composition" (Canvas, PDF, [45])
Software focus: NVivo
 

May

Mo.4 Read: Stephanie Springgay and Sarah E. Truman, "On the Need for Methods Beyond Proceduralism: Speculative Middles, (In)Tensions, and Response-Ability in Research" (Canvas, PDF, [45])
Mo.11 Due: Reflection

Contact Information

Derek N. Mueller, PhD
Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing
Director of Composition
Department of English
Virginia Tech
Office: 315 Shanks Hall
Spring 2020 Office Hours: T, 12-3
Phone: +1-734-985-0485
dmueller@vt.edu
http://derekmueller.net/rc/