| Thursday, 6-9 p.m. at CSTC 308 Bridget
O’Rourke, Ph.D.
630-617-3233
Chapel 031
I'm happy to arrange to meet you before class, or Tu/Th after 4:30.
bridgeto@elmhurst.edu
www.elmhurst.edu/~bridgeto
Writings from the Workplace: Documents, Models, Cases. Carolyn Boiarsky
and Margot K. Soven. Allan & Bacon: Needham Heights, MA, 1995.
Writing in the Workplace: New Research Perspectives. Ed. Rachel
Spilka. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1993.
Organizational Communication. Gary L. Kreps. Longman: White Plains, NY.
1990.
Elmhurst College copy card, for photocopying research articles
Two 3.5" computer disks
Weekly Assignments (10 total)
See Course Schedule
for weekly assignment descriptions.
Annotated Bibliography (NOV 7)
Prepare a 2-3 page annotated bibliography on your research topic. Include a short
introductory paragraph which establishes your focus: what topic or issue are you
investigating? Why is it significant? What is your angle on it?
The bibliography does not need to include every source on your topic, but should
include the important ones from within and outside course readings. Provide short (2-3
sentence) summaries for each entry, with longer entries for key sources. Each annotation
should indicate how the source contributes to the issue you are treating.
· Use either APA or MLA format for citations.
· Option: classify entries according to subtopics?
· Good annotations treat sources in terms of their relationship to the question or
issue you're investigating. That is, a good annotated bibliography doesn't just list a
bunch of vaguely related sources, but configures them as responses to a specific research
question.
Research Proposal (due date TBA)
Your final project for English 531 is a 10-12 page formal proposal to investigate some
topic or question(s) related to writing in the workplace. If successful, the
proposal will serve as a roadmap for your capstone project. Depending on the type of
research you propose, the research proposal may have several parts:
- research topic (states what you want to study and how you became interested in it)
- problem statement (presents the overall intent of the study and shows how it addresses
gaps in current understanding of the topic)
- literature review (shows that you have read relevant research and have thought about how
your study contributes to existing knowledge about the topic)
- use of theory (relates your study to theoretical perspectives on writing in
organizations)
- methodology (describes how you will conduct this research and the proposed time frame
for completing the study)
Oral Presentation (DEC 5)
Our last class session will be devoted to oral presentations of your research proposals to
M.A. program faculty. Prepare a 15-20 minute presentation (including Q
& A), with visual aids and handouts, that summarizes key points of your research
proposal and persuades faculty that it is a worthwhile and workable project to undertake
in the capstone seminar. |
Graduate