ENGL6364

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Research Design in Rhetoric and Writing

Blacksburg | W 4-6:50 | Spring 2022 | Derek Mueller

Expanded course description: At multiple points between utter mess and rationally ordered empiricism, research methods and methodologies in Rhetoric and Writing have, since Lauer and Asher’s 1988 volume, Composition Research, bloomed spectacularly. Accepting as a given the discipline’s continuously learning from other research traditions in the social sciences and humanities, as well as beyond the academy, ENGL6364 orients researchers to possible research designs selected and adapted from this expansive constellation. Our inquiring together into research designs will include analysis and application of methods and methodologies; that is, we will notice what others have done, puzzle over choices, and try it out ourselves. The course will key especially on terminologies, disciplinary taxonomies, ethics, and occluded research genres, while extending to its participants experience crafting and revising researchable questions. Such questions—and the provisional rationale accompanying them—will be informed by well-established scholarly accounts, contemporary debates, recent award-winning dissertations, and our own emerging interests and curiosities. Insofar as digital environments to bookmark for continuing returns, the course extends into the following three locations:


  • This website: Here you will find the syllabus, schedule, project descriptions, and a bibliography of readings and other resources.
  • Canvas: A minimalist shell in VT's Canvas LMS provides you with secure access to the gradebook and selected PDF readings.
  • Google Folder: You will be sent a link to a personalized Google Folder designated to store and share your work for the course.
2022 Derek N. Mueller. Creative Commons BY-NC-SA. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.