Well, I have finished my four interviews and have begun the day of transcribing. I don't believe one day will not be enough and tomorrow I will probably be making round trips to the library between classes to finish all the transcribing that needs to be done before Tuesday.
Today's blog will be rather short as there is only one thing on my mind right now: transcribe, transcribe, transcribe!
On a side note, I have an observation draft due as well on Thursday, but I don't know if on a subconscious level I am hoping to ignore it look enough and perhaps it will go away. So far that hasn't worked, so I really need to do that as well.
Coldplay is playing through my headphones right now, but they are not having the soothing effects that I had hoped they would've had. This was not the time for my school to cancel its yoga classes!
November 7, 2010
November 2, 2010
The Bermuda Triangle
In the spirit of elections, today's class focused on the rhetoric that can be employed throughout our multimodal writings. Our professor equated the "triangle of communication" as vital to creating multimodal works that will translate well into our research project.
For example, the elections as portrayed through the context created by the media determines the three points of the triangle. News broadcast by two different networks will create two different news segments. These examples made me analyze my own multimodals.
The first, a brochure, is pretty much complete. We analyzed the first multimodal for audience, text and writer. Below is a copy of the workshop that we did in class that day. The black text is my writing and the read is a fellow classmate's.
For example, the elections as portrayed through the context created by the media determines the three points of the triangle. News broadcast by two different networks will create two different news segments. These examples made me analyze my own multimodals.
The first, a brochure, is pretty much complete. We analyzed the first multimodal for audience, text and writer. Below is a copy of the workshop that we did in class that day. The black text is my writing and the read is a fellow classmate's.
The loftiest goal I have for this project is to create a 30-second spot for the SWCA. I have a rudimentary knowledge of video production, but coupled with my OCD tendencies, I hope to have a final product that will pass the SWCA's approval. The next step is to create a theme for the segment, ideas for the text and possible music. I think I will make this my multimodal #3 so that I will have the most possible time.
Interestingly enough, I was recently speaking with my professor about possible multimodals and he had mentioned our previous conversations about creating an article for the Southern Discourse. The next day, in the middle of interviewing, my interviewee spoke on the future of the SWCA, and made a little light bulb turn on in my head. Although I will continue with the article, I will be creating themed posters for the SWCA. The writing center at my school has such posters for other programs so I will attempt to draw inspiration from them.
Our next class period is cancelled because our professor is presenting at a conference; I will attempt to utilize the time to transcribe my interviews. At the moment I don't have a computer at home (unfortunately MacBooks don't survive hitting a wall in a car accident), so I have fallen behind in my transcribing. As this assignment is due next Tuesday, I will have to dedicate a day before then to the library. My goal is to finish the checklist I began last week and then begin to focus on the last multimodals and the ARP.
In one of the posters I mentioned previously, there are "Writing Rocks" to inspire students. One recently caught my eye and made me chuckle at how closely it relates to my academic standing. So, in the words of Thomas Carlyle:
"No pressure, no diamonds."
October 28, 2010
PDA - Public Display of Affection Anxiety
This week has been interesting to say the least. At Tuesday's class, we received the upcoming due dates for our Multimodal Project # 1, interview transcripts, survey results and observation draft. If one ever wished to see a live public meltdown of a complete class, KEN 209B was the place to be, as our professor made all four assignments due in two weeks.
The realization then came that I although I have been (fairly) good at staying on top of my research, I am really going to have to kick it into high gear if I am going to have any chance of completing all my work before the due dates. So in the spirit of "git-r-done", this blog will be a checklist of what I need to do before the due dates.
- Multimodal Project # 1: This MM will be a brochure for the SWCA. I have a draft and I will need to edit it to make it final for printing and distribution. Excitingly, this brochure will be used for the SWCA, and I am debating whether or not to put my name on it for credit.
- Interview transcripts: I am (still) working on transcribing my first interview! I never knew the process would take this long, and I definitely underestimated the amount of effort it takes into transcribing interviews. I don't know if I am just over analyzing how I transcribe, but this task will be the hardest (and probably take the longest) time completing - especially because I will be doing four interviews next week! Looking on the bright side, four individuals that I have asked to interview have said yes. This weekend will be spent researching a brief biography on each and contextualizing my interview questions to fit within their experience.
- Survey results: My survey is complete and I now need to receive approval to begin distributing it. We had an interesting class last week where we debated the ethics of whom should be asked to take a survey. Applying the debate to my research, I will be emailing the survey to those at the writing center at my school, (possibly) emailing it to members of the SWCA and posting a link on the SWCA website. I need to complete this ASAP; if the results are due in two weeks, I need to get the survey out so people can actually take the darn thing.
- Observation draft: This is where my to do checklist comes to a screeching halt as I have yet to 100% decide what I will be observing. I am leaning towards observing the writing center at my institution and examining how I can apply that to the SWCA.
As Sod's Law predicts, according to my British counterpart, or on our side of the pond, Murphy does, "everything that can go wrong, will", as just this week the due dates for two oral presentations, another research paper and third journalism story have been announced and they are in two weeks as well! I just have to get it together and make sure I control my public meltdowns!
The realization then came that I although I have been (fairly) good at staying on top of my research, I am really going to have to kick it into high gear if I am going to have any chance of completing all my work before the due dates. So in the spirit of "git-r-done", this blog will be a checklist of what I need to do before the due dates.
- Multimodal Project # 1: This MM will be a brochure for the SWCA. I have a draft and I will need to edit it to make it final for printing and distribution. Excitingly, this brochure will be used for the SWCA, and I am debating whether or not to put my name on it for credit.
- Interview transcripts: I am (still) working on transcribing my first interview! I never knew the process would take this long, and I definitely underestimated the amount of effort it takes into transcribing interviews. I don't know if I am just over analyzing how I transcribe, but this task will be the hardest (and probably take the longest) time completing - especially because I will be doing four interviews next week! Looking on the bright side, four individuals that I have asked to interview have said yes. This weekend will be spent researching a brief biography on each and contextualizing my interview questions to fit within their experience.
- Survey results: My survey is complete and I now need to receive approval to begin distributing it. We had an interesting class last week where we debated the ethics of whom should be asked to take a survey. Applying the debate to my research, I will be emailing the survey to those at the writing center at my school, (possibly) emailing it to members of the SWCA and posting a link on the SWCA website. I need to complete this ASAP; if the results are due in two weeks, I need to get the survey out so people can actually take the darn thing.
- Observation draft: This is where my to do checklist comes to a screeching halt as I have yet to 100% decide what I will be observing. I am leaning towards observing the writing center at my institution and examining how I can apply that to the SWCA.
As Sod's Law predicts, according to my British counterpart, or on our side of the pond, Murphy does, "everything that can go wrong, will", as just this week the due dates for two oral presentations, another research paper and third journalism story have been announced and they are in two weeks as well! I just have to get it together and make sure I control my public meltdowns!
October 24, 2010
The ARP Approaches
Like the seconding coming, the Academic Research Paper (ARP) is upon me and I have had to buckle down to start putting together a substantial draft to bring in to class. The process of writing the ARP was oddly enough hard and easy at the same time.
Starting with the easy part, the problem statement, research questions and review of literature were based on previous work that I had done - the Research Proposal and the Annotated Bib. The hard part came in when I had to change the language of both documents to fit the context of the ARP. I accomplished this by putting the writing in past tense, removing the first person narrative and organizing/structuring the sections to flow into one another.
After that, the task definitely became harder, as I had to draft the Abstract and Methodology sections. The Abstract section was difficult because it can only be about 120 - 150 words. I've included the draft below:
This research project is intended to present the 30-year history of the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA). Since its founding in 1981, there exists no substantial historical writing on the SWCA. Utilizing the tools of historicism, this project will attempt to contextualize the history of the SWCA throughout a specific time period through text-based research, observations, surveys and interviews. The intent is to then bring together an evolutionary history of the SWCA; discovering its past, establishing its present and looking towards its future. By connecting the three standpoints, this research project will attempt to provide the SWCA with a historical foundation capable of propelling the organization into a vivid future.
Starting with the easy part, the problem statement, research questions and review of literature were based on previous work that I had done - the Research Proposal and the Annotated Bib. The hard part came in when I had to change the language of both documents to fit the context of the ARP. I accomplished this by putting the writing in past tense, removing the first person narrative and organizing/structuring the sections to flow into one another.
After that, the task definitely became harder, as I had to draft the Abstract and Methodology sections. The Abstract section was difficult because it can only be about 120 - 150 words. I've included the draft below:
This research project is intended to present the 30-year history of the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA). Since its founding in 1981, there exists no substantial historical writing on the SWCA. Utilizing the tools of historicism, this project will attempt to contextualize the history of the SWCA throughout a specific time period through text-based research, observations, surveys and interviews. The intent is to then bring together an evolutionary history of the SWCA; discovering its past, establishing its present and looking towards its future. By connecting the three standpoints, this research project will attempt to provide the SWCA with a historical foundation capable of propelling the organization into a vivid future.
With the Abstract section (fairly) done, I began to tackle the Methodology section. I must admit I have had a hard time with this section, and I can't really place my finger on why that is so. The methodology should be a section in which I discuss my text-based research, interviews, survey and observations. One problem that I realize I have is how concisely I am writing. Sometimes I write one sentence that I think adequately describes one of the four categories and I want to leave it that way. I will have to work on expanding the text so that it is both descriptive and concise.
So far, our assignment has been to get the first three sections done, as we are not yet to the point where we could complete the entire paper. We will be having a workshop in class this week on all the ARPs and that should be, pardon my scotch, a helluva session!
October 19, 2010
Survey Workshop Part Deux
As the last blog started my journey with surveys, this one will continue into the foray as well. We've all signed up to SurveyMonkey and my hunch that seeing the questions on the site would help proved right. SurveyMonkey has so many different options and it was extremely helpful to just go into the site and explore the possibilities.
We continued the workshop format for class and had a rotating setup so that we all worked on each other's survey. The comments were varied and random, to be honest, but at the same time made me realize how every individual is different, so I have to create a survey that can be applicable to all them. A surmountable task, but one that must be done to create a survey that will actually produce results.
Below are some of the questions that have made it into my survey:
Each will have options (duh!), but I'll leave that to be seen by those that take my survey. The next step is to have the survey approved, and sent out into the writing center world!
We continued the workshop format for class and had a rotating setup so that we all worked on each other's survey. The comments were varied and random, to be honest, but at the same time made me realize how every individual is different, so I have to create a survey that can be applicable to all them. A surmountable task, but one that must be done to create a survey that will actually produce results.
Below are some of the questions that have made it into my survey:
- Which category describes your position?
- How many hours per week do you spend at your school's writing center?
- How informed are you and your writing center coworkers about the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA)?
- How well utilized (read, discussed, used for training, etc.) is the SWCA's publication, Southern Discourse, at your writing center?
- The SWCA hosts annual conferences that are designed to bring the entire region together. What two cities located within the region are most convenient for you to attend?
- Which of the following local events would you most like to see the SWCA host in the future?
- What feature would you most like to see added to the SWCA website?
Each will have options (duh!), but I'll leave that to be seen by those that take my survey. The next step is to have the survey approved, and sent out into the writing center world!
October 15, 2010
Survey Workshop
This week we started to work on surveys, and I have a few ideas running through my mind. Below was my original draft and a print screen of the notes I took on it when I had a workshop in class with fellow classmates and my professor. I also sat down the director of the writing center at my school and worked on it with him to discover the possibilities of this survey.
The screen shot showcases my original ideas on how to draft a (possible) survey. The next step will be to log on to SurveyMonkey and find out the question types and formats available. I think that my seeing how the survey can be setup on SurveyMonkey will help move my survey to the next level as well.
Looks like my "pet project" has just transformed from a 500 lb tiger needing taming to a spry little monkey that needs training.
October 12, 2010
Research Wrap
Going along the last blog’s theme, below will be a research wrap for the articles I have been reading. Two were some pretty heavy theorizing material that I had to wrap my head around and the others were documents from the International Writing Center Association's website.
Theorizing the Writing Center: An Uneasy Task (Peter Carino)
Really, with this article, Carino wasn't kidding when he said it would be an uneasy task. The amount of information was overwhelming. The article starts with Carino’s assertion that the writing center field (at the time) was moving away from only practice, to theory as well. Writing center theorists have two agendas: bringing practice through theory and using theory politically to define the writing center not only to composition studies, but to identify it within the academic world, thus establishing a center's disciplinary status and its role within the institution. Carino brings in theory from several authors (North, Warnocks, Knoblauch & Brannon, Bruffee, Ede, Lunsford, Gillam, Murphy, Hobson) and analyzes each one for how they really contextualize into the writing center realm. To be honest, I have no idea how any/all of this information will be applicable to the SWCA. If anything, I learned more than I ever thought I would about writing center theory. Having 3+ pages of notes will have to do, as it would be especially easy to get lost within Carino's article.
The National Writing Centers Association as Mooring: A Personal History of the First Decade (Joyce Kinkead)
The manner in which Kinkead approached the history of the NWCA is very similar to how I am approaching the SWCA. In her notes section, Kinkead writes that this was a keynote address at the first NWCA conference in 1994. One of my (possible) goals for this project is a presentation at the SWCA conference. It is important to note that the National WCA is now the International WCA. I will use Kinkead's article to compare and contrast how the SWCA has evolved. It is my intention that with such an approach I will be able to investigate the SWCA more deeply. I had spoken to my professor how to find primary research, and Kinkead's utilization of minutes, conference programs, etc. will be an amazing addition if I could find them.
The other articles I read were from the IWCA website and they included such topics as what a writing center is, how it operates, how to start one and branching out of such ideas. They will be used more for my own background knowledge, as I am approaching this research project intended with an audience that is familiar about the writing center field.
Looking ahead, the next "pet projects" will starting my surveys and getting into gear with my interviews. Now, although I joke about it being my pet project, it is only joking made out of terror, as I know my pet is really a 500 lb tiger that I really need to start taming.
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