English 5363:  Research Methods in Composition and Technical Communication

Spring Semester, 2002

Home

Schedule

Assignments

Bibliography

TOPIC

Class List

TTU Library

 

Instructor: Dr. Rebecca Rickly

Office: English 309

E-mail: rebecca.rickly@ttu.edu

Phone: 742-2500, extension 268

Office Hours: T, TH  9-12, W 1-4, and by appointment

Class Times: T/TH 12:30-1:50, 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. In addition, we will concentrate on how to read critically research which incorporates the methods/methodologies we discuss early on.  The work you do in this course will either give you a general orientation which will prove to be valuable as you select further research courses for your dissertation research, or it will give you an opportunity to synthesize the more focused research courses you've taken as you prepare to write a dissertation prospectus.

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 well as "what constitutes good, disciplinary representation of research?". 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 central questions from an informed perspective.

Required Texts

• Hayes, John R., Michele Matchett, Cindy Cochran, Richard Young, and Maggie McCaffrey, eds.  Reading Empirical Research Studies: The Rhetoric of Research.  Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 1992.
• Johanek, Cindy.  Composing Research:  A Contextualist Paradigm for Rhetoric and Composition.  Utah State UP, 2000
• Coursepack available online via e-reserve.  NOTE:  when using e-reserve, you can search via dept (English), course number (5363) or my last name (Rickly).  The password you'll need is the course number:  5363.  To see the contents of the course pack, click here.

Suggested Texts

• 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.
• 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 (10%)
• information management on TOPIC and in class (5%)
• a presentation of the micro-studies in the form of a "micro-conference presentation"  (15%)
• a major written project (30%)
• a final exam (20%)

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.