Drafting your Autoethnography

What’s your argument?

Look at your autoethnography worksheet. What stands out to you? How can you make that into an argument?

Draft a tentative thesis statement.

IMRD

Introduction– Use the scholars to set up your argument. Then

describe your experiment (the 1-2 sentence version) and what you found.

Methodology– Describe your research methods in detail.

Results– Include the charts from your think-aloud and write a

couple of paragraphs pointing out the important numbers.

Discussion– Prove your argument by analyzing quotes from your

transcript, and working with the numbers in more detail.

Introduction

Remember Swales?

Establish your territory Establish your niche Occupy your niche

Join the conversation

Jot down the names of each of the scholars we’ve read this unit. – Perl– Berkenkotter and Murray– Rose– Lamott

Next to each name, write down what is useful to your argument from that source.

Remember: be like Alice, not Shirley.

Establish your territory

Topic generalization

Claim centrality Review previous

items of research

Example: “Understanding your writing

process and what works best for you to achieve that final draft helps students to become more skilled writers. Using the knowledge of your writing process is more beneficial than many people believe. One aspect to understanding your writing process that many are unaware of is rhetorical situation and the ability to apply it.”

Establish your territory, cont’d

Review previous items of research– Show the

connections between the scholars

Example: “Keith Grant-Davie explains how

rhetorical situation is seen as a set of ‘influential factors within the broader contexts that help explain why decisions were made and why things turned out the way they did’ (127). In simpler terms, rhetorical situation is comprised of four factors that shape how and why an author uses a specific style of language. These four factors are: exigence (purpose for writing the paper); rhetors (speakers/writers); audience; and constraints. In Carol Berkenkotter’s study of Donald Murray, she discovered that one of these four constituents affected his process much more dramatically than the rest: audience. However, Sondra Perl’s research subject Tony seemed to be more influenced by the constraints of his situation.”

Establish your niche

Raise a question Identify a gap Continue a

tradition Counter-claim

Example: “Much research has been

conducted on writing processes, and although scholars like Berkenkotter and Perl have indirectly examined the effects of rhetorical situation on one’s writing process, few have explicitly studied the way that students’ writing differs based on their audience and exigence.”

Occupy your niche

Outline present research

Announce principal findings

Indicate research-report structure

Example: “In order to address this question,

I conducted a study in which I wrote two very different types of papers and analyzed the writing process I used for each. I discovered that different types of writing require a unique writing processes, as well as why this process differs between mediums of writing. I also had a goal to determine how rhetorical situation, particularly exigence and audience, helped me develop each of these papers; in addition, I was interested to discover how the personal significance of the subject influences the way I write.”

Methodology

Methodology: what to include

What data you collected– What assignment was it?– What was your environment while writing?– How long was the session? Were there multiple

sessions?– Explain why you made the choices you did.

How you collected it– Think-aloud protocol– Recording device– Transcribing the recording

How you analyzed it– Coding

Optional: shortcomings/limitations

Methodology: example

In this experiment, I documented and analyzed how my writing process fluctuated between writing two different papers. The first was a homework assignment for composition, in which I only had to write about a one-page summary of an article; the other was a “senior letter” for my girlfriend, Natalie, whom I had been dating for over a year and a half. A senior letter is written to a senior in high school at the beginning of the year, and then the student receives the same letter at the end of the year. The letters typically have many memories and fun times between the author and the audience. One of the main points behind the letters is to discover how the student has changed from the beginning of the year to the end. The students all open their letters in class on one day, and have a little party to celebrate how they made it through all four years of high school. The senior letter was a much more complex and meaningful paper; therefore, I wanted to understand the difference in my writing process between something that was simple and not as important to me, and a paper that had personal significance to me. I realized how my writing process is different between these two very different types of writing, and how rhetorical situation played a key role in the outcome of the papers.

The first step in this experiment was to record myself while I wrote the papers so I could analyze how I developed my ideas for them. I used my laptop’s webcam to record a video of myself while I wrote each of the papers; in addition, I used the “think aloud protocol." This is in the simplest terms, is a process in which I spoke aloud everything that I was thinking while I wrote. This was valuable because I could review the recordings to observe myself from the third-person point of view while I wrote; therefore, this led me to my thoughts and ideas while writing the papers, and ultimately, my writing process. I looked for things like how often I got distracted, and the particular actions that took place. This allowed me to write down the steps I took to write the paper as a transcript. This transcript showed the entire thought process and actions I did while writing the papers. For example, it showed certain actions that took place, like texting or taking a break, as well as my thinking and writing process. It also showed me when and where I planned and edited the papers. For each situation, I wrote out these transcripts and then translated them into a code. This code was derived from the categories of planning, writing, editing, and distractions (and unrelated actions). By doing this, I was able analyze the amount of times I got distracted with each paper, the amount of time and effort put into them, as well as the amount of editing I did for each.

Results

Drafting results

Should include:– Charts, tables– Summary of the important findings

Start with a topic sentence that connects your findings to your argument

Point out the important details

Results: example

After analyzing the data I collected from the coded transcripts, I discovered a pretty significant difference in my writing style between writing the composition assignment and the senior letter, as I had assumed. While I wrote the composition assignment, 27.3% of the time I spent on it was due to distractions; while I was writing the senior letter, and only 6.9% of my time was due to distractions. I also noticed a huge increase in editing while writing the senior letter. I spent about 13.6% of my time editing the composition assignment, while 24.1% of my time was editing the senior letter. Time spent on writing and planning also increased on the letter as well. This is because the amount of times I got distracted while writing the letter decreased significantly, allowing more time to be spent writing, planning, or editing.

Assignment Composition

Senior Letter

Planning 38.6% 41.4%

Writing 20.5% 27.6%

Editing 13.6% 24.1%

Unrelated/Distractions

27.3% 6.9%

Discussion

Organize it

Create a quick outline with the main points you need to highlight to prove your argument.

Example: – Planning– Editing– Writing – DistractionsOR– Audience

awareness– Spelling correction– Incubation

Drafting a paragraph: discussion

Topic sentence/claim Context for evidence Evidence Analysis

Drafting a paragraph: discussion

Topic sentence(s)/claim– Summarizes what

will happen in that paragraph and connects back to your overall argument.

Example: “The change in the audience

between the two papers resulted in a change in my composing process. While I was writing the assignment for my composition class, I had no clear and distinct audience in my mind while I was writing. For the senior letter, Natalie was the clear and distinct audience that I was writing for. I believe that because I had no clear audience while writing the composition paper, I had less interest in it.”

Drafting a paragraph: discussion

Context– Sets the evidence

up for the reader; frames the evidence in terms of your argument

Example: “When analyzing the

composition transcript, I noticed the very first line almost directly summarizes how I felt about beginning the task of writing the reflection”

Drafting a paragraph: discussion

Evidence– Quotes from

transcript– Pieces of

composing style sheet

– Numbers

Example: “When analyzing the

composition transcript, I noticed the very first line almost directly summarizes how I felt about beginning the task of writing the reflection: “Ok, so I just woke up and I need to write this paper.”

Drafting a paragraph: discussion

Analysis– Connects the

evidence back to your argument

Example: “Before I even

started the paper, it is clear I was not excited to write it. Thus, my exigence for writing affecting my writing process.”

More evidence?

You can (and probably should) use more than one piece of evidence in a paragraph.

Repeat the pattern:– Context– Evidence– Analysis

Example:– “There was also a high level of

uncertainty about the meaning of the article: “’What was Murray’s writing process, and how do they compare to yours’” I have no idea. ‘What was your impression of Murray’s writing process’” Yeah, I am going to skip that one for now” (Appendix B). It is quite obvious that while analyzing the transcript I realized how confused I was about the article. Due to this level of uncertainty and lack of dedication to the paper, clearly I wrote the paper solely because it was assigned to me and I was just trying to get it over with.”

Conclusion

Point to the bigger picture Questions you may want to consider (you

don’t have to answer all):– What did you learn about your writing process

that you didn’t know before?– How can this knowledge help you as a writer

in the future? – How do your findings change the way we think

about writing processes?– How do your findings change the way we

should think about teaching writing?

Formatting

Use subject headings– Methodology, Results, Discussion– Can use sub-headings to further divide the

discussion section Include appendixes

– Appendix A: the code we created– Appendix B: your transcript– Appendix C: composing style sheet– Appendix D: actual piece of writing from the

think-aloud (reading response, etc.) Don’t forget a title and works cited