English 6325: Studies in Composition Techniques
Researched Project | The End(s) of Teaching First-Year Writing
developed by j. charlton
For this project, I'd like you to engage in some research in order to answer a question you have related to teaching first-year composition. You'll do this by reading up on the issue in professional texts (journals, books, NCTE Position statements, etc.) and possibly interviewing relevant sources or doing first-hand research.
Once you have explored the conversation about the question(s) you have, you'll want to put what you've learned to work. At the end of project, I want to be able to see what you've learned and why it matters—to you, to your audience, and/or to other groups involved. However, it will be up to you to determine what form your project takes and who your audience will be. Here are some options that come easily to mind:
- Design a substantial professional development workshop for a particular group of teachers on the issue you've researched. This would involve developing the materials for the workshop (handouts, reading list, activities, list of discussion questions, etc.) based on what you've learned in your research. You would also want to write a cover letter for me describing what you're trying to do in the workshop and how what you've learned from your research has helped you develop these materials.
- Write a conference abstract and a conference paper (usually 7-8 pages) for a particular conference. You would also want to write me a reflective cover letter in which you discuss the following things: Which conference(s) are you thinking of writing this for and why? Who is your audience, and how have you shaped your presentation to meet their needs? What are you trying to accomplish in the presentation, and what specific feedback would you like from me about your draft?
- Write a significant (6+ pages) evaluative book review of a recent book related to your question. For this one, you would want to do extensive research on the question you have to serve as background in your book review (to prove you know something about the issue). Again, you'll want to write a reflective cover letter in which you write about the following things: Which journal(s) are you thinking of writing this for and why? Who is your audience, and how have you shaped your book review to meet their needs? What specific feedback would you like from me about your draft?
- Compose a significant (talk to me) annotated bibliography on a specific issue you want to explore. This one is interesting if you're completely new to the issue and think that a particular audience would benefit from having you compile a bibliography of some major sources with significant annotations for each. You will need to write a reflective cover letter (3-4 pages) for it in which you discuss the following things: Why is it necessary to compile a bibliography on this issue? Who is your audience for it and why? How will your audience have access to it? How and why did you choose to include the sources you did? Why did you choose to organize your bibliography the way you did? What feedback would you like from me on your project?
- Write a significant contribution to the CompFAQ wiki. This is an interesting idea because it's an increasingly useful resource for scholars and teachers in composition. I've never had anyone do this particular project before and CompFAQ is administered by someone else, so we'd need to negotiate with them about what appropriate material might be for your contribution and negotiate with me about what would be doable for this scale of project for our class.
These are not the only options, so if you think of an interesting project that you would like to propose, please feel free to do so. We'll have a draft of your project due before its "final" due date, so you can get feedback from your peers and from me.
Must-haves:
- A Works Cited page
- Incorporation of at least 5+ good sources with correct and appropriate documentation
- A "thing"––workshop materials, YouTube video, annotated bibliography, website, etc.
- A reflective cover letter of 3-4 pages (or more), written for me, in which you write in detail about how your research led to your project, who your audience is and why, and why the form you're composing in is appropriate for your audience and your message.
