English 5363

Research Methods in Composition

Spring 2000

(Home Page URL: http://english.ttu.edu/rickly/5363/sp00.html)

Policy Statement ••••••• Syllabus ••••••• Assignments ••••••• Bibliography

Instructor: Dr. Rebecca J. Rickly

Office: English 309

E-mail: r.rickly@ttu.edu

Phone: 742-2500, extension 268

Office Hours: T/TH 1-4 and by appointment

Class Times: T/TH 9:30-10:50, English 208

 

Course Description

English 5363, Research Methods in Composition, will introduce you to a variety of research methods and methodologies used in Composition and Technical Communication and Rhetoric research. While this course does serve as an overview, we will concentrate primarily on work that has influenced our broad field for the past ten years. The work you do in this course will give you an orientation which will prove to be valuable as you select further research courses for your dissertation research. In subsequent, more focused research courses, you'll build upon the knowledge base you'll get in 5363.

The course builds on the assumption that research is intimately related to theory and practice and that all research—quantitative, qualitative, or mixed—is an act of selecting and interpreting information. Throughout the course, we will explore the implications of these assumptions, test their applicability to specific research methodologies, and look for common ways in which they shape the work of researchers using different research methods and approaches. Our central questions for this course will be "what constitutes a good, workable research question?" and "how do I select the best method to answer that question?". As a participant in this class, you will read critically texts on conducting research as well as evaluate existing research, and this experience will enable you to address the central questions from an informed perspective.

Required Texts

• Coursepack, available at Joe's Copy Outlet by second week of class.
• MacNealy, Mary Sue. Strategies for Empirical Research in Writing. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1999.
• Mortensen, Peter, and Gesa Kirsch, eds. Ethics and Responsibility in Qualitative Studies of Literacy. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1996. [NOTE: I just discovered that this book is out of print. I'll work with you to get a copy]
• Sullivan, Patricia, and James E. Porter. Opening Spaces: Writing Technologies and Critical Research Practices. Greenwich, CN: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1997.

Suggested Texts

• Kirsch, Gesa, and Patricia A. Sullivan, eds. Methods and Methodology in Composition Research. Carbondale, IL:Southern Illinois UP, 1992.
• Lauer, Janice M., & Asher, J. William. Composition Research: Empirical Designs. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
• Miles, Matthew B., & Huberman, A. Michael. Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1994.
• North, Stephen M. The Making of Knowledge in Composition: Portrait of an Emerging Field. Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton-Cook, 1987.
• Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods (rev. ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1994.
• For an extended bibliography taken from similar courses, click here.

Course Requirements

You are expected to participate as a professional in the intellectual community of the seminar. To do so, you'll need to come to class, keep up with the readings, turn in work on time, and demonstrate your familiarity with the readings via your questions, comments, and writing. The ultimate goal for this course is the evolution of your own critical awareness and your own emerging skills as a researcher, a process that depends entirely on your active commitment to the class. To aid in this process, you will be required to participate responsibly in:

• two "micro-studies," one quantitative, one qualitative (20%)
• reading response logs to our readings, posted on TOPIC (15%)
• information management on TOPIC and in class (5%)
• homework and quizzes, class participation (20%)
• a major written project (30%)
• a final exam (10%)

Disability

Any student who, because of a disability, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact me by the end of the second week of classes to make necessary accommodations.