Looking at the Research
Looking at a large amount of subject matter for my lit review caused this project to suddenly change direction! I had quite a few sources for Writing Across the Curriculum, but I found that they seemed to be leading me off track since I am focused on certain academic majors instead of all majors. So, I dropped that theme altogether! This did indicate, though, that some further research on Writing in the Disciplines might be beneficial.
Also, I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of books, articles and research on learning styles/preferences. But it provided a good foundation for my knowledge of how my studies should should be set up. Wading through all those articles, I discovered a couple research projects somewhat similar to my own, which were intriguing (including one on engineering students at a university in Israel). Also, I noted a consistent theme in many of the learning styles articles: a call for more empirical research. There also was variation of authors' opinions on whether teachers should try to employ methods in the classroom directed to particular learning styles - or whether students are so "all over the place" that it's not worth it. Interesting...
Following Kris' advice, I ventured into the journals for Scientific and Technical Communication, but so far I only have found very dated studies and materials. There were a number of articles on teaching communication to engineers, but they are from the 1970s and 80s. (Maybe the popularity of the subject wore off?) But I'm still searching.
In their helpful comments on my lit review, Florence and Drea shared my concerns about the other studies having conflicting conclusions on the merits. Does that mean more research is necessary - or the research isn't really valid enough to be determining anything of value? They also suggested that I remember to focus on both pedagogical and theoretical slants in my project.
I feel like I only touched the tip of the iceberg with my research. Just today, I found a fascinating article on setting up a writing center just for engineering students at the University of South Carolina. It definitely seems that should be included!
posted by Beth @ 4:35 PM
2 Comments:
hi Beth,
this saga of finding appropriate sources in our lit review seems to bring in endless/unexpected twists in our study, doesn't it? yours seems to unfold nicely and i personally felt that there's promise whenever there's dearth of materials in our chosen topic (well, more like i want to convince myself there is ... unless it's an erroneous topic to begin with!... which is highly improbable). case in point, if there's very few (outdated at that) articles from STC journals, that must be a sign for you to pursue this study (?) and get it published once you implement your research design ... WOW!
do you envision your proposal to have a theoretical or pedagogical slant? or both?
ok, more to come as i await the saga of learning styles/preferences of engineering students :)
see ya later,
florence
researcher05
I know what you mean about the sheer volume and variety of articles. Seems like the devil is not in the details, but in the articles!! Moving to writing within the disciplines sounds like a great way to narrow your search. WAC can be a bear of a subject.
Have you looked at department/program requirements to locate some writing course requirements? I'm not sure what your research focus is right now, but you may find some trends that are particular to engineering program requirements, or you may see some "disturbing" elements that contradict what we feel writers should know but that work well within the discipline. Anyway, good luck with your research!
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