English - Rhetoric and Composition

A new perspective on the ideological conflict between qualitative and quantitative research approaches, and the theories of knowledge that inform them.

An essential reference for students and scholars exploring the methods and methodologies of writing research.

Investigates feminist rhetorical research methods in both contemporary and historical contexts.

Like the conference from which it originated, this book will bring new perspectives to the rich dialogue of contemporary research on writing and advance understanding of this complex and important human activity.

The primary goal of Ethnographic Writing Research is to help you conduct your day-to-day research - whether it means developing an informal classroom report, writing a dissertation prospectus and study, or participating in local, civic literacy research. Discussions are provided to help you read ethnographic work - your own and that of others - with more critical sensitivity and with more insight.

These provocative new essays redefine the goals, methods, and assumptions of qualitative and ethnographic research in composition studies, making evident not only the crucial importance of ethnographic research, but also its resilience. As Ethnography Unbound makes evident, critical ethnographers are retheorizing their methodologies in ways that both redefine ethnographic practices and values and, at the same time, have begun to liberate ethnographic practices from the often-disabling stronghold of postmodern critique. Showing how ethnography works through dialogic processes and moves toward political ends, this collection opens the doors to rethinking ethnographic research in composition studies.

This text offers a brief but comprehensive overview of qualitative research that balances the practicalities of conducting research and the theory and debates that keep qualitative inquiry vibrant.

In this seminal book on the construction of case studies in the field of language and literacy, the authors consider in detail what it means to be on the case. They evaluate the basic assumptions that ground a qualitative approach to case study methodology, the decisions entailed in designing a case study, and the possibilities and challenges of data collection and analysis.

Two experienced and esteemed ethnographers examine how to use ethnographic methods to conduct research in language and literacy.

In this work, the authors provide the first systematic exploration of the philosophical foundations and the historical development of qualitative inquiry for language and literacy researchers - novices and experts alike.

This volume aims to synthesize and situate the systematic study of discourse explicitly in the field of composition. Each chapter follows a common tri-partite structure: a description of an approach to discourse analysis; a case study using that approach; and a discussion of its value.

In original essays, fourteen nationally known scholars examine the practical, philosophical, and epistemological implications of a variety of research traditions. Included are discussions of historical, theoretical, and feminist scholarship; case-study and ethnographic research; text and conversation analysis; and cognitive, experimental, and descriptive research.

Introducing textual analysis as it applies to composition research, this volume is divided into two parts - Part 1 focuses on the various approaches to analyzing texts and Part 2 turns more explicitly to considering the processes of writing, exploring textual practices and their contexts, and examining what writing does.

A guide to the world of rhetoric and composition archives, from locating an archival source and its materials to establishing one's own collection of archival materials. This practical volume provides insightful information on a variety of helpful topics, such as basic archival theory, processes, and principles; the use of hidden or digital archives; the intricacies of searching for and using letters and photographs; strategies for addressing the dilemmas of archival organization without damaging the provenance of materials; the benefits of seeking sources outside academia; and the difficult (yet often rewarding) aspects of research on the Internet.

The purpose of this book is to serve as a disciplinary resource, and as a teaching and learning aid. Accessibility across areas of expertise and experience is stressed in this book.

The Internet is a medium with great consequences for social and economic life. This book is written to help people discern in what ways it has commanded the public imagination, and the methodological issues that arise when one tries to study and understand the social processes occurring within it. The contributors offer original responses in the search for, and critique of, methods with which to study the Internet and the social, political, economic, artistic, and communicative phenomena occurring within and around it.

Drawing from interviews with Internet researchers from across the globe who work in diverse disciplines and in a wide array of online venues, this book examines ethical issues and questions that Internet researchers may encounter throughout the research process.

Kelly Ritter and Paul Kei Matsuda have created an essential introduction to the field of composition studies for graduate students and instructors new to the study of writing. The book offers a careful exploration of this diverse field, focusing specifically on scholarship of writing and composing. Within this territory, the authors draw the boundaries broadly, to include allied sites of research such as professional and technical writing, writing across the curriculum programs, writing centers, and writing program administration. Importantly, they represent composition as a dynamic, eclectic field, influenced by factors both within the academy and without. The editors and their sixteen seasoned contributors have created a comprehensive and thoughtful exploration of composition studies as it stands in the early twenty-first century.

Reflecting the rich complexity of contemporary college composition pedagogy, this unique collection presents twelve original essays on several of the most important approaches to the teaching of writing. Each essay is written by an experienced teacher/scholar and describes one of the major pedagogies employed today: process, expressive, rhetorical, collaborative, feminist, critical, cultural studies, community service, and basic writing.

Responding to a widespread belief that the field of composition studies is less unified than it was in the late twentieth century, editors Deborah Coxwell-Teague and Ronald F. Lunsford ask twelve well-known composition theorists to create detailed syllabi for a first-year composition course and then to explain their theoretical foundations.

An indispensable resource for every scholar in the field--both as textbook and as professional reference.