"Materiality and Writing Studies: Aligning Labor, Scholarship, and Teaching" takes an expansive look at the discipline of writing studies, arguing for the centering of the field's research and service on first-year writing, particularly the "new majority" of college students (who are more diverse than ever before) and those who…

This book demonstrates how researchers and practitioners in writing and rhetoric studies can engage in story work across differences in culture, language, locations, and experience. Based on an ethnographic study in Nepal spanning a decade, Katie Silvester speaks with and to the stories of Bhutanese women in diaspora learning English later in life…

Discusses the process of writing usable instructions, relying on organization, formatting, and visual displays to aid comprehension. (JAD)

Contrasts ideas of culture in social constructionist and cultural study research designs, addressing how each type of design impacts issues that can be analyzed in research studies. Explores implications for objectivity and validity in speculative cultural study research. Suggests how technical writing can be constituted as an object of study…

Discusses ethical issues involved with person-based research. Discusses the ethical discourse embodied in the "Nuremberg Code," federal regulations, and the "Belmont Report." Discusses several specific issues in research ethics to illustrate how this discourse provides new ways of thinking about what must be done to treat…

Argues for a cognitive-based curriculum which ensures that students participate fully in using writing as a mode of learning. Discusses Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive skills: (1) knowledge; (2) comprehension; (3) application; (4) synthesis; and (5) evaluation. (RAE)

Scrutinizes the Conference on College Composition and Communication ethics committee's adoption of the rhetoric of ethics to discuss a research situation comparable to one formerly standard in anthropology and psychology, which professional committees in both fields now consider unethical. Suggests that the use of students as the object of…

Asserts that qualitative research is undervalued and cites evidence of its value, presents a definition of it, discusses how to evaluate the quality of a study, and suggests when and how qualitative findings can be applied to actual situations. Concludes with examples of two actual qualitative studies and two hypothetical situations where the…

Introduces the process of survey research, focusing specifically on the questionnaire method. Lists and discusses eight essential steps in the process, reviews the relevant literature, and ends with the hope that readers will become better consumers of research and possibly researchers themselves. (SR)

Reviews the research literature to show that academics and practicing editors do not share the same view of the editing process: academics emphasize "intentional diagnoses," and practitioners perform "rule-based" editing. Discusses editing in the workplace, and notes that the editor can be of most service to the writer through involvement in the…

Rather than prescribe activities, teachers should approach the development of literacy programs from a functional point of view, allowing students to achieve purposes relevant to their situation. Research leading to this view is summarized. (MT)

Considers how to represent students and their writings in composition research, specifically how to represent the students themselves. Suggests that when contemplating the "Guidelines for the Ethical Treatment of Students and Student Writing in Composition Studies," educators need to consider their epistemological stance, their choices in…

Discusses the way in which letters sent to Thomas Edison following the report that he had solved the problem of incandescent lighting reveal the many discursive worlds that Edison's work touched. Claims these letters indicate how a technological accomplishment is also a multiple, complex social, and communicative accomplishment, creating place and…

Analyzes research on the behavior of writers and applies it to the development of writing curriculum. Includes an outline of an example of goals and objectives for teaching writing based on such an analysis. (MD)

Outlines a set of terms which can be used (in sequencing writing assignments from simple to complex) to make distinctions between kinds of sequences and notions of complexity. Shows how these terms allow teachers to understand the logic of various sequences, compare and contrast related sequences, and evaluate the concept of assignment sequence.…