Introduction To Academic Research PDF

Humanities 102
Introduction to Academic Research

2019-2020
First Year Writing Program

Department of Humanities
New Jersey Institute of Technology
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iii
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Research and Writing as a Process 1
Overview of the Research and Writing Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The writing process is dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The writing process is recursive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The writing process is social. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The writing process is context-dependent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The writing process is individualized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Research across Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Qualitative research methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Quantitative research methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Mixed-methods research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Prewriting Strategies across Disciplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Outlining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Journaling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Note-taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Directed talking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Walking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Freewriting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Directed quickwriting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Looping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Brainstorming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Concept mapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Data analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Posing questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Formulating hypotheses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Drafting across Disciplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Begin drafting early. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Establish a writing ritual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Start anywhere and jump around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Quiet your “inner critic” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Don’t get stuck with details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
“Park on the downhill slope” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Revising across Disciplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Read aloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
iv | Introduction to Academic Writing
Create a reverse outline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Paragraph unity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Overall cohesion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Be open to change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Editing across Disciplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Feedback across Disciplines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Integrate feedback throughout the writing process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Choose readers purposefully . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Acknowledge that sharing can be uncomfortable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Offer your readers feedback guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Be open and flexible, even with challenging feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Take an active role in making feedback meaningful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Take time reviewing feedback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Explain unclear feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Revise overly harsh feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Remember your own authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Provide feedback to yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Feedback is always valuable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Provide feedback to others as a way of becoming a stronger writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Transfer and The Final Product. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Transferring the Research and Writing Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Chapter 2
Posing Meaninful Questions 43
Disciplinarity and Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Writers Posing Questions: Examples from across Disciplines . . . . . . . . 48
Characteristics of Effective Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Originate from a disciplinary context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Maintain significance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Keep a pointed scope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Spur further research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Strategies for Posing Meaningful Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Examine other writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Consider publication medium and platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Use a question heuristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Question heuristic #1: Journalists’ “big six” questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Question heuristic #2: Interpretive questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
v
Question heuristic #3: Fundamental disciplinary questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Question heuristic #4: Quantitative questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Transferring Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter 3
Reading 79
Choosing What to Read: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Reading
Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Primary Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Secondary Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Tertiary materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Deciding How to Locate Reading Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Data collection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Libraries and archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Internet search engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Research databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Discipline-specific research databases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
#followthebreadcrumbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Deciding How to Read: Shallow and In-Depth Reading Strategies . . . 91
Shallow reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
In-depth reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Featured in-depth reading strategy: Read like a writer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Featured in-depth reading strategy: Reading rhetorically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Exigence-audience-constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Rhetorical triangle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Reading through the lens of Aristotle’s argumentative appeals Aristotle developed a
scheme for the ways that rhetoricians can persuade their audiences.. . . . . . 98
Invoking Discipline-Specific Reading Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Discipline-specific reader questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Visual literacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Mathematical literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Technical vocabulary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Transferring Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
vi | Introduction to Academic Writing
Chapter 4
Choosing and Integrating Evidence 131
What is Evidence?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Quotations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Paraphrase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Visual evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Personal evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Purposes for Integrating Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Substantiate and advance arguments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Build on, challenge, critique, or respond to others’ evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Infuse credibility and authority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Add variety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Questions that Shape Integration of Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Criteria for Effectively Integrating Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Use evidence accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Select evidence appropriately. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Analyze evidence sufficiently. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Distinguish evidence from opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Contextualize evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Relate evidence to writing purpose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Attend to discipline and context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Vary evidence appropriately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Manage ratio between evidence, explication, and argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Ensure credibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Featured Strategy for Integrating Evidence: the MEAL Plan . . . . . . . . 149
M: Main idea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
E: Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
A: Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
L: Link. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Examples of Integrating Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Transferring Evidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Chapter 5
Synthesis 183
What is Synthesis?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
vii
Purposes of Synthesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Questions that Shape Synthesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Criteria for Effective Synthesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Demonstrates relationships between ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Reflects disciplinary context and writing occasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Represents each component text, idea, or concept accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Emerges in an organized, integrated manner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Remains focused . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Advances knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Modes of Synthesis across Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Synthesis as literature review. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Synthesis as interdisciplinarity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Synthesis as curation of collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Synthesis of sources as evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Synthesis as comparison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Synthesis as definition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Synthesis in bibliographic essays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Transferring Synthesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Chapter 6
Citing Resources 233
What is Citation?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Purposes for Citation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Create a road map for other scholars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Provide consistency for readers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Acknowledge others’ work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Avoid plagiarism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Differentiate others’ ideas from your own. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Document format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Bibliographic citations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
In-text citations and signal phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Citation Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Citation style guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Library and writing center websites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Research and library databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Citation management software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Questions that Shape Citation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Criteria for Effective Citation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
viii | Introduction to Academic Writing
Accurate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Appropriate for the writing occasion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Examples of Citation across Disciplinary Perspectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Citation Practices in the Twenty-First Century: Digital and Visual Formats
and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Digital materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Publishing online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Citing Your Own Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Crafting Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Transferring Citation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
ix
Chapter 1: What Is First Year Writing at NJIT?

Welcome to First Year Writing at NJIT! This program is the first step in your General Education
requirements for your undergraduate degree. It will also provide you with the foundation you need to
be a successful writer in your other courses, including those in your own major. This textbook will
introduce you to the expectations of college-level writing. To understand these expectations, it’s help-
ful to know the guiding principles behind the first-year writing program.
First, FYW focuses on rhetorical knowledge. Rhetorical knowledge is the ability to analyze contexts
and audiences and then to act on that analysis when comprehending and creating texts. Rhetorical
knowledge is the basis of composing. Writers develop rhetorical knowledge by negotiating purpose,
audience, context, and conventions as they compose a variety of texts for different situations. In your
FYW class, you will develop your rhetorical knowledge by reading and composing different types of
writing to understand how different types of writing are shaped by their context, their audience, and
their purpose or goals.
Second, FYW emphasizes critical thinking. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, synthesize, inter-
pret, and evaluate ideas, information, situations, and texts. When writers think critically about the
materials they use—whether print texts, photographs, data sets, videos, or other materials—they
evaluate sources and evidence, recognize and evaluate underlying assumptions. Critical thinking in
First Year Writing also means reading texts for connections and patterns, and then composing your
own claims or theses. These practices are foundational for academic writing. You will also use strate-
gies—such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique, and design/redesign—to compose texts
that integrate your ideas with those from other sources and authors.
Third, FYW is all about the writing process. Writers use multiple strategies to conceptualize, develop,
and finalize projects. Composing processes are seldom linear: a writer may research a topic before
drafting, then conduct additional research while revising or after consulting a colleague. Composing
processes are also flexible: successful writers can adapt their composing processes to different contexts
and occasions. You will practice your writing process by developing strategies for reading, drafting,
reviewing, collaborating, revising, rewriting, rereading, and editing. You will also learn to give and to
act on productive feedback to works in progress and to reflect on how your writing practices help you
discover and reconsider ideas, both intellectually and socially.
Fourth, FYW focuses on the conventions of writing. Conventions are the formal rules and informal
guidelines that define genres, and in so doing, shape readers’ and writers’ perceptions of correctness or
appropriateness. Most obviously, conventions govern such things as mechanics, usage, spelling, and
citation practices. But they also influence content, style, organization, graphics, and document design.
Conventions arise from a history of use and facilitate reading by invoking common expectations be-
tween writers and readers. These expectations are not universal; they vary by genre (conventions for
research papers and online discussion board exchanges differ), by discipline (conventional writing in
x | Introduction to Academic Writing
engineering differs from writing in business), and by occasion (lab reports and history papers use dif-
ferent types of language). A writer’s grasp of conventions in one context does not mean a firm grasp
in another. To develop your knowledge of conventions, you will learn about writing structures, includ-
ing grammar, punctuation, and spelling, through practice in composing and revising. You will also
discuss how conventions change over time as genres and new composing technologies are developed.
Fifth, your FYW class will emphasize information literacy. Information literacy is the ability to know
when information is needed; to locate it efficiently; to evaluate its relevance, authoritativeness, and
validity; and to use it to build and communicate new knowledge. In First Year Writing, this means we
will work on identifying the types of information or sources you will need to answer your research
questions and evaluate that information and its sources critically. We will also focus on accessing and
using information ethically and legally, which means correctly using citations and references; choosing
paraphrasing, summary, or quoting; and distinguishing between common knowledge and ideas that
require attribution.
What Is Humanities 102?

First-year wring at NJIT is a two-course sequence: Humanities 101 and Humanities 102. You have
already taken HUM 101, either here or at another institution. This course, Humanities 102, builds
off of the major ideas and practices you learned in HUM 101, but it also adds a new dimension:
writing independent academic research. In this class, you will focus on asking and answering a specific
research question, often related to your future field or discipline.
To do so, you will engage in a multi-stage inquiry project that leads you through the practices of uni-
versity-level research that will be central to your success at NJIT and beyond. In addition to practic-
ing research skills by searching for and collecting primary and secondary sources, you will practice
synthesizing elements of research into coherent wholes. Successful synthesis of research will require
you to understand and interpret other outside sources and put them in conversation with each other.
You will also focus on correctly documenting and attributing your sources.
More specifically, in this course you will:
• explore and refine research questions;

• demonstrate the ability to do problem-based research;
• find, evaluate, and choose sources effectively;
• practice writing from primary and secondary research, developing different types of research
projects that use fieldwork, library, and online research methods;
• demonstrate knowledge of the conventions of bibliographic citation;
• demonstrate an understanding intellectual property, plagiarism, and the importance of distin-
guishing between source material and one’s own work; and
• draft, review, and revise multiple versions of a single writing project.
xi
Why Take HUM 102?

This course is important because problem-based research is the focus of much of the undergraduate
experience at NJIT. Not only will you be asked to do research-based writing in other classes, but
NJIT has multiple opportunities to develop your own research projects through the Undergraduate
Research and Innovation Program (URI). This course will provide you with the foundational skills
you will need to actively participate in these active and experiential learning environments.
What Will I Find in this Textbook?

In this textbook, you will find chapters that will walk you through the research process from vague
idea to a fully written and correctly attributed research project. We will cover discovering a research
topic, turning that topic into a research question, and finding and evaluating sources to answer that
question. We will also cover how to put those sources in conversation with one another in a way that
helps you answer your research question.
What you won’t find in this textbook is a research topic or theme. In consultation with your instruc-
tor, it will be up to you come up with a topic and question that interests you. As many successful re-
searchers will tell you, the best projects are developed when you are interested and motivated by your
topic.
Throughout the semester, as you read this textbook and create your own research project, consider
how the ideas and skills you are learning will help you at NJIT and beyond. What do you want to
learn more about while at NJIT? What are your own undergraduate research goals? How do you see
yourself engaging in research in your future career?
xii | Introduction to Academic Writing
Plagiarism
Types of Plagiarism
1. Direct Plagiarism: This is copying a source word for word without indicating that it is a quo-
tation and crediting the author.
2. Borrowing work from other students: There is nothing wrong with students helping each
other or sharing information, but you must write your own essays. This includes having anoth-
er student dictate to you as you write his or her words down. Turning in a paper that someone
else has written is an especially severe case of direct plagiarism.
3. Vague or Incorrect Citation: A writer should clearly indicate where borrowing begins and
ends because not to do so, though it seems innocent, is plagiarism. This is why it is so important
to learn a citation style such as MLA style. (See MLA Style section for more information.)
Sometimes, a writer cites a source once, and the reader assumes that the previous sentence or
paragraph has been paraphrased, when most of the essay is a paraphrase of this one source.
The writer has failed to indicate his borrowings clearly. Paraphrases and summaries should be
indicated as such by surrounding them with citation—at the beginning with the author’s
name, at the end with a parenthetical reference. The writer must always clearly indicate when
a paraphrase, summary, or quotation begins, ends, or is interrupted.
4. Auto-plagiarism: This happens when an author plagiarizes his or her own writing. Students’
best work usually occurs through revisions of previous drafts. But auto-plagiarism takes place
when a students presents any prior writing, usually from another course or school, as entirely
fresh work for course credit. A previous assignment, whether in whole or part, may not be of-
fered as if it were a fresh submission to a course instructor.
5. Mosaic Plagiarism: This is the most common type of plagiarism. The writer does not copy the
source directly, but changes a few words in each sentence or slightly reworks a paragraph,
without giving credit to the original author. Those sentences or paragraphs are not quotations,
but they are so close to quotations that they should be quoted directly or, if they have been
changed enough to qualify as paraphrase, the source should be cited.
A Case of Plagiarism
Richard Marius, in his statement on plagiarism for Harvard University, cites a case of mosaic plagia-
rism. G. R. V Barratt, in the introduction to The Decembrist Memoirs, plagiarized from several works,
including The Decembrists by Marc Raeff. In one passage, Raeff had written:
December 14, 1825, was the day set for taking the oath of allegiance to the new Emperor,
Nicholas I. Only a few days earlier, on November 27, when news of the death of Alexander I
xiii
had reached the capital, an oath of allegiance had been taken to Nicholas’s older brother,
Grand Duke Constantine, Viceroy of Poland. But in accordance with the act of renunciation
he had made in 1819, Constantine had refused the crown. The virtual interregnum stirred
society and produced uneasiness among the troops, adn the government was apprehensive of
disorders and disturbances. Police agents reported the existence of secret societies and rumors
of a coup to be staged by regiments of the Guards. The new Emperor was anxious to have the
oath taken as quickly and quietly as possible. The members of the central government institu-
tions-Council of State, Senate, Ministries-took the oath without incident, early in the morn-
ing. In most regiments of the garrison the oath was also taken peacably.
Barratt presented the same paragraph wtih only a few words and details changed:
December 14, 1825, was the day on which the Guards’ regiments in Petersburg were to swear
solemn allegiance to Nicholas I, the new Emperor. Less than three weeks before, when news of
the death of Alexander I had reached the capital from Tapanrog on the sea of Azov, an oath,
no less solemn and binding, had been taken to Nicholas’s elder brother, the Grand Duke
Constantine, viceroy of Poland. Constantine, however, had declined to be emporer, in accor-
dance with two separate acts of renunciation made in 1819 and, secretly, in 1822. The effective
interregnum caused uneasiness both in society and in the army. The government feared unde-
fined disorders-with some reason, since police agents reported the existence of various clan-
destine groups and rumors of a coup to be effected by guardsmen. Nicholas was anxious that
the oath be sworn to him promptly and quietly. At first it would seem that he would have his
way; senators, ministers, and members of the Council of State took the aoth by 9 A. M. In
most regiments of the garrison the oath was also taken peacably.
To see why this is mosaic plagiarism, compare these two versions line by line. What changes ahs
Barratt made? Place brackets around the text that was not changed. Why do you think he made these
changes? Why is this a case of plagiarism even though Barratt has made changes?
Guidelines for Proper Use of Sources

1. Enclose direct quotations in quotation marks. If the quotation is longer than four lines, indent
it in block format. In both cases, cite the source by using MLA in-text parenthetical style and
by entering the source in the Works Cited page.
2. Use in-text parenthetical citation to cite paraphrases or summaries. Any key phrases that you
borrow word-for-word should go in quotation marks.
3. Cite opinions, interpretations, and results of original research.
4. In general, do not cite statemetns of widely accepted fact; but when following a source closely,
cite it even if the material is widely accepted fact. If you are unsure if something is a “widely
xiv | Introduction to Academic Writing
accepted fact,” then you should probably cite it. See your instroctor if you have any questions
about facts.
Ways to Avoid Plagiarism

1. When in doubt, CITE! It can never hurt to over-cite or cite when you do not need to.
2. Give yourself plenty of time to research and write your essays, so that you do not feel pressured
because a topic proves unworkable at the last minute. When writing a paper that uses sources,
give yourself time to digest the research and synthesize your findings.
3. Take careful research notes that include full bibliographic citations. If you forget to write
down the bibliographic data, you may be tempted not to bother with the citation.
4. Make it a habit to put parenthetical citations for all the sources you borrow from in each draft
you write.
5. Keep a good documentation guide handy (i.e., your handbook) when you are doing your re-
search and writing your paper.
6. Have confidence in yourself. Even the best writers are often unaware of their good ideas and
think they have nothing to say when their writing says a lot. Original ideas come from working
closely with the ideas of others, not from flashes of inspiration.
7. Know where to get help. Start with your instructor and ask questions about citations about
which you are not sure. Besides your instructor, you can consult a tutor in the Writing Center
for help with your writing. The reference librarians can help you with your research.
Why Students Plagiarize

Some students are tempted to plagiarize because they find writing college-level essays difficult or in-
timidating. Such students sometimes become frustrated when an essay on which they ahve worked
long and hard is returned with many corrections and a low grade. Frustrated and afriad of failure, they
may resort to copying an essay word for word or making only a few slight changes in wording.
Rather than plagiarizing, these students should seek assistance from their instructor, from the
Writing Center, from a special tutor, or from the Counseling Center, which can provide assistance in
dealing not only with a learning disability, but also with frustration, fear, and stress. The Writing
Center offers intensive tutorial courses in writing.
Other students write well enough but find plagiarism tempting because they fear earning a grade
lower than they or their parents expect, have fallen behind in their coursework and feel that they lack
the time to write a competent essay, or feel that they cannot handle the assigned task or generate good
ideas on the subject.
xv
Start writing, even if the writing begins as a summary of some other piece of writing, and you will
usually discover that you have something to say. If you fall behind, talk with your instructor. He or she
may penalize you for submitting work late, but late work is preferable to plagiarized work. If you feel
overwhelmed by your course work and unable to keep up, arrange to visit a counselor at the Counseling
Center. He or she can help you learn to manage your time and the stress of university life better.
Plagiarizing an esay is never an acceptable solution.
Conclusion
Learning how to use sources is one of the most important things you will learn in college. By using
sources well and by clearly indictating your debts to these sources, your writing gains authority, clari-
ty, and precision. Writers who plagiarize lose the advantages of belonging to an intellectual discourse
community. If plagiarizers are professionals, they may be barred from practicing their profession, or
their work may not be taken seriously. If they are students, they will carry the stigman of having pla-
giarized. Instructors will be suspicious of their work and will be unwilling ot support any of their
future efforts, write recommendations for them, or even work with them at all. Plagiarism is one of
the worst mistakes anyone can make. The best way to avoid it is to be scrupulous about indicating
quotation, paraphrase, and summary.
xvi | Introduction to Academic Writing
Plagiarism Contract
I have read and understand the University’s plagiarism information statement. I know that intention-
al plagiarism is a punishable offense with penalties ranging from a zero on the assignment to expul-
sion from the university. I also know that unintended plagiarism can occur through improper citation
and/or borrowing but is still punishable. To avoid unintentional plagiarism, I will consult with my
instructor when I have questions.
Student’s Name: (Print)
Course: Section: Instructor:
Semester and Year:
Student’s Signature:
Date:
Chapter 1
Research and Writing

as a Process
Pinpointing Chapter
Chapter begins our exploration into the key aspects of academic writing that transverses disciplin-
ary context by addressing an especially central and important writing-related concept: research and
writing as a process. Writers throughout all disciplines engage in research and writing processes. These
processes may look quite different from one another, but they all share certain core features and phases.
To provide you with strategies for research and writing in transit, this chapter addresses the following
concepts:
■■ Overview of the Research and Writing Process: Phases and Features

■■ Research across Disciplines
■■ Prewriting Strategies across Disciplines
■■ Drafting across Disciplines
■■ Revising across Disciplines
■■ Editing across Disciplines
■■ Feedback Mechanisms within and across Disciplines
■■ Transfer and the Final Product
Subsequent chapters build on this knowledge by introducing you to more specific aspects of writing that
occur within and across various disciplines, and that permeate many phases of the research and writing
process.
B uilding J, located at Monte Albán, in Oaxaca, Mexico, has been described as “one of
ancient Mesoamerica’s most enigmatic structures” (Aveni 26). Shaped like an arrow,
Building J holds 40 stone slabs decorated with upside down heads and place names, believed to
signify Zapotec conquests of different cities and regions. Building J has long puzzled scholars
because of its northeast orientation, which is an anomaly in Zapotec architecture (Marcus).
Archaeologists refer to Building J as the observatory since it is aligned with Capella, the
sixth-brightest star in the sky (Aveni; Ching, Jarzombek & Prakash; Marcus).
2 | Introduction to Academic Writing
Monte Albán has earned status as a World Heritage Site in part because its buildings and
structures were “literally carved out of the mountain.” Architectural historians maintain that the
“Zapotec elite constructed [Monte Albán as] a new administrative center” around 500 BCE.
This date, however, marks only the beginning of an extended, phased process of construction
and development across approximately 1500 years. Throughout these centuries, Monte Albán
became, by turns, home to several different groups of people, at one point housing as many as
30,000 residents. In 850 CE, for reasons that are still unknown, people began to abandon the area
(Ching, Jarzombek & Prakash; “Historic”; Urcid & Joyce).
This lengthy trajectory wherein people built, expanded, and rebuilt Monte Albán
foregrounds the cyclical nature of progress and knowledge, the impact of context, and the
complexity of process.
Changes in context and knowledge across time, for example, influenced site construc-
tion regarding agriculture. To contend with seasonal variations and slope erosion in the
land surrounding Monte Albán, farmers “buil[t] terraces [that] retained sufficient soil and
moisture to assure adequate and predictable production” (Garcia). To better forecast these
seasonal shifts, farmers may have relied on astronomical indicators, perhaps explaining in
part Building J’s compelling architecture.
Likewise demonstrating the impact of a long-term process and the importance of adapt-
ing approaches, be it with farming practices or knowledge itself, one Monte Albán scholar
Chapter 1 Research and Writing as a Process | 3
revised his research claims about Building J after recognizing the centuries-long, phased con-
struction of the site. In 1972, Anthony Aveni argued that Building J was aligned with the five
brightest stars and also worked in concert with Building P to track the sixth-brightest star,
Capella. Subsequently realizing that different stars gained or lost visibility across the centuries
of development, Aveni had to modify his claim to argue instead that Building J only tracked
Capella and did so alone rather than with Building P (“Mound J”; “Zapotec”).
The extended, iterative, adaptive, and recursive development process of Monte Albán
mirrors in important ways people’s research and writing processes. Rarely do writers produce
discrete writing projects in linear, uninterrupted moments. Instead, and much like Monte
Albán, research and writing processes often involve starts and stops, reflections, reconsidera-
tions, adaptations, and additions over long periods of time.
Similarly, the growth process for writers themselves involves long-term effort, reconsid-
eration, and adaptation. People are not generally born “good” writers. Even established writers
like Maya Angelou acknowledge that writing is a long-term process: “Some critics have said
I’m a natural writer. Well, that’s like being a natural open-heart surgeon.”
And here’s the really tough news: being an effective writer requires this level of effort
every time you write and even, retrospectively, after each writing occasion.
Of course, writers grow and improve over time, but writing remains challenging in part
because nearly every writing occasion carries different expectations and conventions. Although
the writing and research processes writers use have some stable components across contexts,
writers generally find it necessary to tailor their processes as they encounter different writing
projects. In so doing, writers build a repertoire of writing skills, experiences, and proficiencies
that they can then transfer, adapt, and build on for subsequent writing occasions.
Write Here
Monte Albán represents a centuries-long, cyclical developmental process. Brainstorm a
few other examples of a structure, concept, or place that has undergone a similarly long
and complex developmental process. Choose one of these to explore further by reflecting
in writing about the aspects of this structure, concept, or place that have been revised,
expanded, or otherwise adapted across time.
T
ransfer Hub: Contribute your ideas and see what others have written
at fountainheadpress.com/transferhub.
y y y
Overview of the Research and Writing Process

Generally speaking, the academic research and writing process involves four recursive
phases, all of which include research and feedback, and which, together, ultimately yield a
final product: prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing.
It is valuable to keep in mind several defining features of these phases of the writing
process—the ways by which writers arrive at that final product.
The writing process is dynamic

Writers vary writing processes across time and writing occasion. Writers experiment with dif-
ferent approaches and reflect on what works well and on what might need to be adjusted with
their processes. Writing occasion and disciplinary context significantly impact how writers
approach process. Collaborative writing projects, for instance, require different approaches
to the writing process than do more individual writing projects. With collaborative writing,
writers must be open to adapting their writing processes in ways that are most effective for
the project and for other team members. This might mean relying on different team mem-
bers for their unique expertise and contributions, or it might involve pacing the development
of a writing project in ways that fit best with everyone’s schedules. Similarly, some writing
projects involve more extensive focus on prewriting, while others require greater focus on
revision. Writing process also varies for writers themselves. Sometimes a writing process
that has worked well for a writer before stops being as effective as it once was. This might be
because a writer’s circumstances have changed. Maybe a favorite place or time to write is no
longer available, or maybe a writer’s schedule now works for shorter bursts of writing time as
opposed to longer pockets of writing time. Writing processes also change because individu-
als’ attitudes and preferences toward writing shift across time. Writers change because people
change; what we like and engage with at one point in our lives often shifts across time and
circumstance.
The writing process is recursive

Writers rarely proceed in a linear manner from one phase of the research and writing process
through to the next. Instead, they circle back or jump ahead, moving betwixt and between
the various phases. This continual movement makes the writing process recursive. Writers,
for instance, often revise and edit even as they are drafting. And, during revision or editing,
writers may return to prewriting to address an aspect of a writing project that needs further
development. Similarly, during prewriting, writers might draft portions of a project. Even after
writing projects are complete, the writing pro-
Writer Insights cess often again emerges recursively as writers
consider how to transfer ideas from one writing
Describe your research process.
project to others, or consider how to transfer
Whenever I am asked to translate an article or
a document, the same systematic process starts. one writing project to other formats, such as
First of all, I focus on gathering as much infor- moving from an oral format to a written one.
mation as possible. I read and analyze data from Disciplinary context and writing occasion also
related books, newspaper articles, and journals,
both in English and Spanish…. [W]e, translators
drive the recursiveness of the writing process.
have to understand the message properly and… Writing occasions that are longer term, for
have detailed knowledge of the subject area. instance, might facilitate greater recursiveness
~Lucía Inés Martinez, Translator and EFL Teacher, across all phases of the process, whereas shorter-
Tigre, Buenos Aires, Argentina term deadlines might move that primarily to
the drafting and revision stages. Thinking of the writing process as a cyclical endeavor helps
emphasize this recursivity (see Figure 2.1).
FIGURE 2.1 Phases of the writing process.
The writing process is social

Transfer at Work
The idea of a writer sitting alone in a writer’s
den, toiling away at the craft in painstaking Patrick Bahls argues that a writer
generating the following mathematical proof goes
isolation, may seem familiar from some repre- through prewriting, organizing, outlining, draft-
sentations of writers in literature and film. And, ing, reviewing, and revising, much like writers in
there may be moments when writers are alone. other contexts:
However, more often than not, the research The sum of two even integers
is again an even integer.
and writing process is intensely social. Writers
Recall that we say an integer n is even if there is an
rarely engage in the writing process in complete integer s such that n = 2s. Suppose that m and n are
isolation. Many disciplinary contexts for writ- even. Thus there are integers s and t such that m = 2s
and n = 2t. Therefore m + n = 2s + 2t = 2(s + t), using
ing involve collaborative teams working on a the fact that multiplication distributes over addition.
writing and research project. Members of these Letting k be the integer s + t, we see that m + n = 2k,
so that it is indeed even, as desired. Since m and n
teams might conduct research together, analyze were arbitrary even integers, we are done.
data together, compose together, revise together,
or brainstorm together. Even in cases of indi- Detailing the prewriting stage for this proof, Bahls
writes, “If we could see them, earlier drafts of the
vidually authored writing projects, though, proof would show us errors, gaps, and indecision
writing still remains a social enterprise. In such as the prover tried to write his way past what-
cases, writers are often engaging with others’ ever mathematical obstacles he encountered.”
However, Bahls also notes that the writing pro-
texts, either overtly or more subtly through the cess varies based on the writer and the proof: “For
influence of others’ texts. Writers also routinely simple proofs, this [prewriting] stage may take
discuss writing ideas and drafts-in-progress only minutes; for difficult ones it may take years.”
Further emphasizing how context impacts the
with others. And, across the writing process
writing process, Grant Eckstein, Jessica Chariton,
they get feedback from others about their and Robb Mark McCollum argue that people
drafts. After a writing project is completed, writing in a second or third language may find an
readers will likely be reading and engaging with iterative multi-draft process more beneficial than
a sequential multi-draft process.
that project, bringing yet another element of
the social dimension to writing. All of these interactions together make writing an intensely
social endeavor.
The writing process is context-dependent

The writing process varies. Contexts that impact the writing process include the writing
occasion, disciplinary context, and variations that occur within writers’ own circumstances.
For instance, writers embarking on a semester-long writing project will approach the writing
process differently than those facing shorter deadlines. As another example, writing projects
involving humanities-based research and analysis might require more intense concentration
with drafting and revising. By contrast, writing in the natural sciences or social sciences might
involve writing processes that focus more energy on the prewriting phrase as writers design a
study and craft research methods. Writers themselves also adopt different processes at different
times. When facing many competing priorities, writers might abridge portions of the writing
process, or depend more heavily on revision. Similarly, writers’ levels of expertise with a given
project, as well as their purposes and goals, also impact how they approach various aspects of
the research and writing process. Acknowledging the ways in which context impacts the writ-
ing process enables writers to be nimble with how they approach writing projects.
The writing process is individualized

No one, universal writing process exists.
What works well for one writer or for one Writer Insights
set of writers does not necessarily work for
Describe your research process.
all writers in all contexts. While all writers
I find research a great tool to detect and solve
use the research and writing process, these teaching and learning difficulties. Research is
processes vary drastically. It is important a systematic inquiry to understand something
to be experimental and willing to try new and make sense of issues of contemporary sig-
nificance. So, to carry out a valid research proj-
approaches, whether writing individually or
ect, we must develop some stages for effective
collaboratively. But it is also important to be research. First of all, this journey starts with a
aware of one’s own preferences and strengths, research question that allows us to focus on the
even as they may change over time and across matter we want to undertake. Secondly, we must
carry out a literature review to support the topic
disciplinary context and writing occasion. To or subject areas we want to develop. Then, we
best understand how to craft an effective writ- design the appropriate methodology and instru-
ing process, writers should reflect often and ments to measure the study. Finally, it is relevant
to analyze the data and come up with relevant
deeply about their preferences, strengths, and conclusions. For developing these significant
attitudes. If writers recognize, for instance, conclusions and the whole stages of the research
that they have very little patience for editing, project, writing is crucial for the scholar to out-
line the project. By doing this, the researcher
they might decide to give themselves more
is able to be focused, objective, reflective, and
time for that phase of the process, or to seek above all to share his/her research work with a
feedback more deliberately during that phase. specific community.
By contrast, if a writer understands that pre- ~ Alexander Izquierdo Castillo,
writing seems most exciting, then that writer EFL Teacher and Researcher,
Bogotá, Colombia
can set a time limit on that process to be sure
that the overall project is able to move for-
ward without delay. In the context of collaborative writing endeavors, where a team works
to develop a writing project, individualized processes also must take on new dimensions in
response to the entire team’s dispositions and attitudes. Across all writing circumstances, it
is important to be aware of one’s own preferences and strengths with regard to writing and
research, even as these preferences may also change over time and across disciplinary context.
Research across Disciplines

Research is perhaps the most critical and ongoing component of academic writing and is
deeply nested in disciplinary context.
An ethnomusicologist, for instance, might conduct research by listening to music,
talking with people in musical groups, and then listening to the transcripts of those con-
versations. A literary scholar may instead conduct research by reading literature closely and
critically and by locating and reading what other scholars have already written about that
literature. A chemist, on the other hand, often conducts much of her research with a team
of people, conducting experiments in a lab.
Often, researchers invoke several different kinds of research for a project. In the
examples above, for instance, it is likely that all of those scholars, not only the literary scholar,
would spend time researching published relevant scholarship so they could build on, push
against, or otherwise advance what others have already written.
Research includes many different practices; some of the most common ones include:
■■ r eading, listening to, or viewing the work of others
■■ analyzing texts, sounds, textures, or images
■■ conducting fieldwork (i.e., observations, interviews, data collection)
■■ gathering data and performing quantitative analysis
■■ conducting experiments and measuring and analyzing the results
■■ visiting an archive of materials
■■ collaborating with others who bring different expertise to a writing project
Each of these research strategies asks that the writer follow accepted conventions for what
are known as research methodologies. Research methodologies are often rooted in disci-
plinary perspective. While they are highly complex (there are entire graduate-level courses
devoted to research methodology!), they can be generally grouped into one of three over-
lapping categories: qualitative research, quantitative research, and mixed-methods research.
Qualitative research methods

Qualitative research relies primarily on observation, interpretation, and analysis of non-
numerical data. Qualitative forms of research operate across the humanities, social sciences,
and natural sciences. However, qualitative research occurs with particular frequency by schol-
ars in such fields as literature, psychology, anthropology, and sociology (Saint-Germaine).
Non-numerical data for qualitative research might include written or verbal words, images,
sounds, body language, and interactions. Examples of disciplinary occasions that involve qual-
itative research are vast. Musicologists, for instance, analyze songs and music. Ethnographers
observe people and places, and conduct interviews. Sociologists conduct focus groups with
people and gather qualitative data in those ways. Literary scholars read, interpret, and ana-
lyze creative and non-fiction texts such as books, newspapers, websites, and advertisements.
Artists and art historians analyze visual texts. Historians explore artifacts as evidence for
understanding an event, person, organization, period, or place. These are but a few examples
of the many applications of qualitative research methods across disciplines.
Quantitative research methods

Quantitative research involves measurements, observations, and analyses of numerical and
quantifiable data. Quantitative research, as with qualitative research, occurs across disciplines.
However, quantitative research occurs with particular frequency in such fields as statistics,
computer science, engineering, biology, chemistry, and mathematics. Researchers often use
quantitative research to test, explore, and generate patterns and hypotheses, and to then
make generalizable conclusions. Statisticians, for instance, gather and analyze numerical
data about populations, trends, or places. Engineers use quantitative research to help develop
and test products and systems. Mathematicians analyze numerical theories and problems.
Environmental scientists collect and analyze numerical data related to climate, ocean acidifi-
cation, coral reef bleaching, and ice flow. And physicists use quantitative research to examine
models for motion and relationships between matter.
Mixed-methods research
Mixed-methods research relies on both qualitative and quantitative methods and data. Many
research occasions involve mixed-methods research. The disciplines most commonly associated
with mixed-methods, though, are such fields as sociology, psychology, health care, education,
and business. In a research study in the field of psychology, for instance, researchers might use
qualitative research methods by conducting focus groups and observations. Then they might
use that qualitative data to design a survey that can be sent to a larger sample size. Finally, they
might use quantitative research methods on the survey data in order to understand percent-
ages and trends, as well as statistical significance of the survey responses. This mixed-methods
design can be used across many disciplinary contexts from sociology and psychology to busi-
ness, education, and writing studies. Researchers tend to use mixed-methods research when
they realize that mixed methods are required in order to fully answer their research questions.
Another way research can be organized is through what are often overlapping catego-
ries between primary, secondary, or tertiary sources.
■■ Primary sources
These are direct, firsthand sources. Examples of primary sources are interviewees
for a survey in political science, art for an art history analysis course, or a novel in an
English literature course.
■■ Secondary sources
S
econdary sources include materials that address a primary source. These might
include scholarly or popular writing about a topic or subject, such as criticism about
a novel.
■■ Tertiary sources
T
ertiary sources include compilations of primary and secondary sources that survey
a particular area of research. These might include encyclopedias, almanacs, diction-
aries, indexes, or other types of reference materials.
Decisions about which methodology to employ or how to navigate between pri-

mary, secondary, and tertiary sources will be shaped largely by the disciplinary context
in which you are writing. Different disciplinary contexts use different approaches to
research as a means of forwarding knowledge. Disciplinary context and writing occasion
can also impact how a particular source might be categorized; for instance, in an analysis
of websites, a website would be primary, whereas in another writing occasion that same
website might be considered secondary or tertiary. Being effective at research not only
means that you can transfer specific research skills from one context to another, but also
that you can identify research methodologies and source distinctions within particular
disciplines.
Write Now
Read one of the excerpted examples of argument located in Chapter 9:
Constructing Arguments, and try to identify what kinds of research went into
generating that argument. What methodology or methodologies do you think the
author has employed? Where and when do you imagine the research was con-
ducted? Can you tell if the research involved primary, secondary, and/or tertiary
sources?
Prewriting Strategies across Disciplines

Prewriting involves everything the writer or team of writers thinks and writes before
actually drafting the writing project. It blends deeply with the drafting phase and also
overlaps with research. Prewriting may entail thinking about a writing project, posing
questions, reading, and conducting research. The purpose of prewriting is to gather
evidence, generate ideas, and explore topic ideas in order to move toward the drafting
phase. Prewriting also helps to “prime the pump” (Elbow), or get a writer in the mode
of writing, and help the writer overcome writing blocks or difficulties getting started.
There are many prewriting strategies, some of which lend themselves more fittingly
to particular disciplines. Review some of the more common prewriting strategies and
their guidelines, which present different approaches to accomplishing this critical
phase of the writing process.
Outlining
Outlining entails using a number and/or alphabetic system to briefly summarize, in
order, the major and minor aspects of a topic. Outlining enables writers to decide what
the main components are of an argument or issue and then to think through each of
these main components in more depth. Because outlining typically challenges writers
to develop at least two or three sub-elements for each main idea, writers can identify
which elements merit more or less consideration. Outlines also offer writers a way
of identifying the optimal organization for a text because the outline will help make
visible which ideas should go together and which organizational order makes the most
sense.
Journaling
Journaling involves a writer using paper or an electronic device to record thoughts about
a writing project, often in somewhat brief journal entries over an extended period of time.
Journals can (and should) include random observations and ideas, meaning that each entry
does not need to be firmly connected to the topic. Sometimes more loosely connected ideas
end up inspiring writers to move in new and productive directions. Writers who are more
visually oriented might choose to draw images or take photographs in their journals to help
further develop a concept. Those who prefer to talk might create audio journals using a
recording device. Journaling affords writers the opportunity to think about their projects
throughout a period of days or weeks. Some writers may emerge between their projects and
other experiences in their daily lives, thereby inspiring new questions or prompting additional
consideration. Journaling has the advantage of offering an archive of thought development
over time.
Reading
Reading can be one of the most effective prewriting strategies. As writers embark on a proj-
ect, they can read extensively across related texts, materials, or images. Writers can seek out
scholarly texts (academic journals and websites) as well as more popular texts (blogs, newspa-
per articles, other nonscholarly online sources) and related visual, aural, and tactile materials.
Reading provides one of the best antidotes to situations in which writers are unsure about
what to write. Through reading, writers can engage with what others have argued about a
particular topic. Often, the texts writers read will point to areas for further research or will
inspire writers with new ideas and questions.
Note-taking
Many disciplines ask writers to take notes as part of the research prewriting phase. These
can include interview/conversation notes in oral history, journalism, or sociology, or field
notes in cultural anthropology or biology. Writers in these and other fields also write
notes during their reading experiences, identifying ideas that seem significant, erroneous,
interesting, and/or curious. Notes can help writers forge connections between ideas and
identify gaps in the research. Writers can also be creative with notes, creating mnemonic
devices or visual materials to think through complex concepts. To be most effective, notes
should be as individualized as possible even as they also adhere to any discipline-specific
structures or methods.
Directed talking
Talking through ideas can facilitate idea generation for writers and help them break
through any difficulties they might be encountering during the writing process. One talk-
ing strategy entails a writer spending two to three minutes talking about his/her writing
project with another person or talking into a recording device. In this conversation, the
writer can address the project’s main ideas, his/her primary purposes or goals with the
project, any sticking points or areas of difficulty with the topic, and other main points of
the writing project.
This reflection back should not include the listener’s opinions about the ideas, but
simply a version of what he or she heard the writer say. Talking out loud in one’s own words
and then hearing those ideas repeated can help the writer both generate new ideas and
reconsider their current approaches. If both people are working on the same writing project,
or each has a separate writing project, they can take turns and then reverse roles so that both
people get a chance to be a talker and a listener.
Walking
Walking, as with many other forms of motion, can provide a valuable kinesthetic prewriting
strategy. Be it inside or outdoors, walking can stimulate the brain to generate new ideas and
make connections across ideas. Some writers go for walks while they are beginning to think
through a writing project, and others make use of walking or motion during other moments
of the research and writing process. Writers can ask themselves generative prompts during
the walk about such issues as overall argument, main purpose, implications, assumptions, etc.
Some writers will take a recording device with them on the walk to capture any ideas
that emerge, others will write notes in a notebook or on an electronic device during the walk,
and still others will write notes upon returning from the walk. When integrated into the
writing process, walking and other forms of motion can become an integral part of develop-
ing ideas and moving forward with a project.
Freewriting
Freewriting is a low-stakes, generative approach to prewriting that invites writers to write
about anything for five or ten minutes, not necessarily even their writing project. Writers rarely
need to share their freewriting, so they should not focus on grammar, consistency, or even
complete sentences. The goal is to maintain momentum and active writing for the entire time.
If a writer runs out of something to write during that five minutes, he or she should merely just
keep writing “I’m out of ideas” until the next idea comes along. The idea behind freewriting is
that the act of writing, even about random thoughts unrelated to a project, will get the brain
moving and energized and will either de-clutter the mind in order to make room for the writ-
ing project at hand or will eventually prompt idea generation about the topic in some capacity.
Directed quickwriting
Directed quickwriting, also sometimes termed directed freewriting or quickwriting, is a
modified version of freewriting in that a writer still aims to write nonstop for five or ten
minutes, but instead of writing about anything, the writer focuses on his or her writing
project, or on a particular part of that writing project. If the writer gets stuck during that
time of writing, he or she should not stop writing but should instead keep writing “I feel
stuck” until another idea emerges. Writers often find through quickwriting that they have
more ideas about a topic than they may have previously anticipated.
Transfer at Work
Outlines reflect and are shaped by

disciplinary context and writing
occasion. The following outline
for an epidemiology article reflects
an argument structure common in
scientific writing known as IMRAD
(Introduction, Methods, Results
and Discussion):
Outline
I. Introduction to gestural interfaces and pertinent vocabulary.
a. Define gestural interfaces and provide examples.
b. E xplain how they are different from traditional user interfaces.
c. D escribe why they were developed and the problem they solved
for users.
d. P rovide basic information about pros and cons and vocabulary of
gestural interface design.
II. Even though gestural interface technology has existed for a long
By contrast, the following draft out- time, explain the sudden increase in adoption rates.
a. Describe the representative demographics for early adoption of
line about late adopters of technology
gestural interfaces.
reflects the disciplinary context of eth-
b. I nvestigate the possible reasons behind those statistics.
nography: c. Describe the following stages of cultural adoption after early
adopters: medical devices, restrooms, kiosks, gaming.
d. D escribe the resistors, the novice tech users, and other late
adopters.
III. P
ossible reasons why certain people are resistors of technology in
general and more specifically gestural interfaces.
a. Explain habits, personality types, opportunities, etc. for novice
tech users and resistors of gestural interfaces.
b. B ased on research of existing papers on the subject and my own
ethnographic research, explain why I think that personality and
opportunities play a large part in the adoption and confidence of
using gestural interfaces.
Outlines also shift based on

writing format, as in the fol-
lowing outline for a digital
story, created as a storyboard
so the writer can plan video
and audio components:
Writers can also adapt outlin-

ing practices based on their
dispositions, as in the following
outline for a research paper on
social media and privacy that
demonstrates a more visual
approach to outlining:
Directed quickwriting allows space for one’s ideas to emerge, as well as a structure for
generating more ideas. As with freewriting, directed quickwriting is a low-stakes writing
strategy, not often shared with others, so writers should not focus on grammar or clarity so
much as idea generation.
Looping
Looping is an extended and iterative version of directed quickwriting. In looping, writers
complete a directed quickwrite for five or ten minutes, then re-read it and identify one key
term that then becomes the starting point for another iteration of directed quickwriting. By
re-reading each quickwrite iteration, searching for a new key term that can launch the next
quickwrite, writers can engage in a process of discovery to explore the various perspectives
and components of a topic, as well as their own interests within a topic.
Typically writers find that three to five iterative loops in one setting works sufficiently
to help them move to increasing levels of depth and breadth with a potential topic and to
avoid fatigue with too many loops at once. Looping provides writers the chance to explore
several aspects of a topic and identify which ones seem most interesting or promising to
pursue. After looping, writers can continue to re-read their quickwrites to reflect on which
loops seemed most generative, difficult, significant, etc. See Figure 2.2.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is one of the most widely used forms of prewriting. While many structures
exist for brainstorming, the premise is that writers choose a set amount of time (5 minutes, 10
minutes, 30 minutes, etc.) and then generate as many ideas as possible about a topic or concept
as quickly as possible, using short phrases or words so as not to get slowed down creating long
sentences. Brainstorming can occur on an individual basis or in a group format where everyone
works together to brainstorm.
With brainstorming, as with the other forms of prewriting, writers should not regulate or
restrict their ideas, but should aim to develop as many ideas as possible in the time permitted.
Writers can do this using paper, an electronic device, or a large writable wall, board, or screen.
As one of the paramount forms of ideation—or idea generation—brainstorming occurs across
numerous fields, not only with writing, but also for any other instance where people want to
explore possibilities and identify promising avenues for future exploration. See Figure 2.3.
Concept mapping
Concept mapping is a form of brainstorming that includes more of an explicit capacity for
building relationships and connections among ideas. Writers can create concept maps using
any of the forms of media described in brainstorming (paper, electronic device, large writable
screen, board, or wall) as well as through one of several online concept-map generators. To
FIGURE 2.2 Example of looping.

FIGURE 2.3 Example of a collaborative brainstorm by a group generating ideas for a

writing mashup project.
begin a concept map, writers should write down the main topic or issue in the center using a
key phrase or word as the starting point. The writer then begins branching out with subcatego-
ries and creating groups of concepts or ideas around the main idea.
In this way, writers create something like a geographic map, whereby similar ideas are
more closely related to or connected with one another and the more widely divergent ideas
can be positioned farther apart from one another. Writers can use any geometric form for
their concept map, perhaps using different forms to designate different levels of ideas, from
boxes and circles to squares and triangles. Writers can also use different colors to designate
different levels, categories, or groups of concepts. See Figure 2.4.
FIGURE 2.4 Example of a concept map about social media.

Data analysis
Data analysis can emerge as a stage in the research process or as a form of prewriting. When
used as a form of prewriting, writers examine their data in order to generate ideas and iden-
tify trends, patterns, divergences, and other significant findings. Data can be numerical, aural,
verbal, visual, or qualitative in nature, or it can be artifacts and materials.
When writers use data analysis as a form of prewriting, they will often choose a strat-
egy, a theoretical lens, or a methodology to apply to the analysis of their data. During early
stages of the writing process, this approach can help writers notice what the data are suggest-
ing about a particular topic or issue. This early form of data analysis can help writers identify
subsets or elements of data that they can then pursue in more depth for the remaining work
of the data analysis, research, and writing.
Posing questions
Posing and answering questions in an organized way as a form of prewriting provides a
generative approach for exploring various dimensions of a topic. Often, this form of pre-
writing involves a writer using a question heuristic, or guided template, to explore particular
questions about an area of inquiry. One useful and frequently used question heuristic is the
journalist’s 5 Ws and H: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? Asking—and then
attempting to answer—these questions can help writers determine what aspects of a topic
are significant, contentious, or interesting, and what areas might warrant additional research
or further exploration in the writing project. Another less structured version of posing ques-
tions, involves a writer generating numerous questions about an issue, and perhaps initial
responses to these questions, so as to identify what questions may be most important or
valuable to the researcher.
Formulating hypotheses
Writing and research across many disciplines emerges from researchers formulating
and exploring hypotheses. A hypothesis involves making an educated guess, based
on what you know or think about a given issue or topic, about a potential argument,
claim, or data result. Writers who formulate hypotheses will spend time writing down
what they anticipate will be the outcome of research, followed by a justification of that
projected outcome. Although hypotheses do emerge from prior knowledge and experi-
ences, writers must be cautious not to get too attached to a hypothesis. The purpose of
research is to either prove or disprove a hypothesis, and writers can learn a significant
amount in either case.
Write Now
Think about a writing project you will be completing this term. Choose two of the above
prewriting strategies that make sense given the context of the writing occasion (disci-
pline, project, timeline, aims, etc.) and spend five minutes trying out the technique.
Regardless of which prewriting strategy a writer chooses, there are several critical factors
that can help make prewriting strategies more effective. Depending on the context, different
writing occasions sometimes warrant different prewriting strategies. For instance, if you are
writing a personal narrative for a creative writing course about a difficult moment in your life,
you may decide to do some freewriting just to get yourself mentally prepared to tackle this sub-
ject. If you are writing about an electrical engineering research study for your Introduction to
Engineering course, you probably want to generate a hypothesis and pose questions. If you are
writing a historical analysis of the civil rights movement for an African and African-American
studies course, you might opt for a concept map so you can think through the many aspects of
this movement and decide where you want to focus your attention.
Think as creatively as possible so you can have lots of possible ideas to consider. Avoid
questioning or limiting your prewriting because you never know if an idea might be worth-
while. The point of prewriting is often to generate as many possibilities and gather as much
data as possible within a reasonable amount of time.
Context helps writers determine which prewriting strategies to adopt. Context includes
such elements as the following:
■■ Discipline: What is the disciplinary context for this writing project?
■■ Genre: What options do you have for the genre of writing with this proj-
ect? What genre makes the most sense?
■■ Aims/Purpose: To whom are you primarily writing? Why? What do you
hope to accomplish with this writing project?
■■ Timeline: When is this writing project due? When should the various
phases of the project be completed? When would you like to finish it?
■■ Other: Is this a collaborative or individual writing project?
Write Now
Think about a writing project you will be completing this term. Write for five minutes
about your aims and purpose: What do you hope to accomplish with this piece of
writing? Who do you hope reads it? Why? Where are you planning on sending/publish-
ing the final version? How will your awareness of purpose and aims help shape your
prewriting plans for the writing project?
T
Drafting across Disciplines

Drafting occurs when writers move from primarily prewriting activities such as researching or
brainstorming to composing the sentences and paragraphs of a piece of writing. This phase
overlaps significantly with research, pre-writ-

Writer Insights ing, and revision. As with all parts of the writ-
How do you use concept maps? ing process, there is no “right” or “wrong” way
[When] brainstorming for ideas, I use Mind to draft. Some writers choose to draft an entire
Maps, which use bubbled maps to generate and piece before revising; other writers will draft a
record ideas and thoughts. One uses bubbles to portion of a text, then start revising that sec-
jot down ideas and thoughts and connects them
to similar ideas branching out of it. This creates tion before the whole project is written. Others
a wide networked bubbled map and it makes might start in the middle of a piece of writing
the flow of ideas very easy and natural without and save the beginning or conclusion for the
the need to write long sentences that may cause
delay in the flow of thoughts. It makes it very easy
end of the process.
to select relevant ideas and plots and the rest is Disciplines and writing occasion also
easily discarded. impact drafting. In Archaeology, scholars may
~Sweta Lal, spend most of their time researching, and then
Creative Writer/Management Research Candidate, “write up,” or draft, their findings relatively
Bentleigh East, Melbourne Area, Australia
quickly. By contrast, American Literature
scholars may spend most of their time drafting
to discover insights and develop arguments. Those writing public-policy memos may need to
generate documents quickly, abridging the entire writing process, drafting included. Writing
collaboratively, in pairs or teams, also impacts drafting. These writers may draft together, or
they may distribute drafting, assigning different people to draft different sections, or taking
turns with different iterations of a draft. However much drafting time you may need for the
writing occasion, there are a few tips for success to keep in mind.
Begin drafting early

Even if a writer does not feel or believe that it is time to begin drafting, it still makes sense to
get an early start. For some writers, the drafting process seems to mark an important turning
point in the writing and research process—an indication that they have learned everything they
can about a topic and are therefore ready to simply and quickly write up an article. Since it is
difficult, if not impossible, to actually learn everything one can about any topic, writers often
delay the drafting phase because they feel like they need to spend more time doing research,
analyzing data, or thinking about the project.
In fact, drafting early can help solidify a writing project and provide direction. Starting
to draft sooner rather than later helps a writer get ideas down and nudges a writing project
forward. Drafting early can be an important component of writers figuring out what to write,
and how to write. Even if writers are still waiting for more research results or need more time
for research, they can still likely begin writing certain segments of a writing project. Beginning
to draft early in the process will help writers avoid feeling overwhelmed about a writing project
or delaying a writing project for long periods of time. It is often much easier to resume work on
a draft in progress than to perpetually be on the brink of beginning to draft a writing project.
Establish a writing ritual

Whether you know it or not, you likely have writing rituals you adopt when you write. Some
people prefer to write to music, others in silence. Perhaps you have a favorite place to write
or a favorite writing implement or equipment. Or maybe you have an activity you engage in
prior to writing that offers you a writing transition, such as going for a walk or preparing a
cup of tea or coffee.
These habits are not merely quirks but are important rituals writers use in order to
be ready to engage with their writing. Sometimes these habits are static for a writer; other
times they shift, depending on the kind of writing a writer engages in. They also make
writing fun.
Write Now
What are your writing habits or rituals? Do you engage in any activities that help
transition you into writing? Where do you prefer to write? When? Write for five
minutes on your writing rituals and habits. Share your ideas and see what others
have written.
T
Start anywhere and jump around

A common misconception about the drafting process is that drafting needs to be accomplished
in a linear manner, from the beginning of a writing project through to the final sentence. In fact,
writers do not need to start drafting at the beginning of a writing project (unless they want to).
Writers can instead feel free to dive in anywhere in the project and then move around as they
wish. When a writer is more enthusiastic about one particular section of a writing project than
others, he or she can begin drafting that section first. Writers might choose to draft a section
on background research first, or they can begin drafting a conclusion.
Allowing oneself the flexibility to start anywhere and jump around during the draft-
ing process will sidestep one of the most common difficulties involved with writing: how
to begin. Many writers indicate they have difficulty knowing how to start a writing project,
but that once they are in the middle of that project the writing becomes more productive
and fluid. Perhaps, though, this common difficulty in some cases is not really a matter
of how to begin drafting, but literally about how to create an effective introduction to a
writing project. If this is the case, then drafting the rest of the project first may solve the
problem because the writer can use the drafting process to develop an argument, integrate
evidence and research data, and synthesize research, all of which will make writing an
introduction easier. By first developing an argument, writers may find it easier to go back
and create the introduction because they will then know what it is they are trying to
accomplish or argue in the project.
Quiet your “inner critic”

Writing is already difficult, but it is often made more difficult by our own misgivings, inse-
curities, and ambivalences. Our “inner critic” is the negative voice inside our own heads that
challenges our ideas, questions our capabilities, and sometimes prevents us from making
progress on our writing. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, editor-in-chief of Praeclarus Press and
former acquisitions and development editor for Hale Publishing, describes the “inner critic”:
For most writers, getting started is the hardest part. You may be bursting with
good ideas. But somehow, what comes out on paper is…horrible. Because of
that disconnect, it’s easy to put writing off. A major reason writers procrastinate
is that little voice inside our heads. It’s the voice that tells you your writing is
awful and will never improve. Talk with other writers and you’ll find out what a
common experience this is.
Kendall-Tackett, like many others, relies on the advice of author Anne Lamott, who empha-
sizes in Bird by Bird, that all writing begins needing work: “Almost all good writing begins
with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—any-
thing—down on paper.”
Transfer at Work
Writing processes vary depending on disciplinary context and writing occasion. Sociologist
Hua-Fu Hsu conducted interviews in a Taiwanese prison over four weeks in July 2003, then
analyzed data, drafted, revised, and edited the article for approximately two years, until it was published
in 2005. Demonstrating a variation of the writing process, Aaron Carpenter—a prisoner taking a class
in prison—created an online op-ed, “Does racial injustice still exist? Look at our schools,” over several
months in the fall of 2014. Carpenter wrote a reflection piece based on a text he read in a class, then
re-shaped it into an op-ed through revising and editing, ultimately publishing it on December 1, 2014.
Meanwhile, Berit Johnsen, Granheim Per Kristian, and Janne Helgesen traveled to 32 different prisons over
four months in 2007, then analyzed data, drafted, revised, and edited the article for approximately four
years until it was published in 2011. They found that prisoners in smaller prisons had comparatively higher
satisfaction scores across a number of dimensions than prisoners in medium- or large-size prisons:
522 European Journal of Criminology 8(6)
Table 2. Results for first-line officers by prison size (small, medium and large)
Dimensions Prison size
Small Medium Large

(n = 169-96) (n = 139-45) (n = 407-26)
M SD M SD M SD F-ratio Probability
Treatment by senior 3.61* 0.83 3.44* 0.71 2.98 0.76 49.88 .000
management
Attitudes towards senior 3.39** 0.85 3.18* 0.76 2.72 0.71 58.20 .000
management
Perception of prison service 3.24 0.63 3.24 0.62 3.20 0.61 0.32 .728
Relationship with peers 4.07 0.43 4.05 0.36 4.07 0.42 0.15 .859
Relationship with line 3.81 0.77 3.83 0.54 3.91 0.55 2.14 .119
management
Treatment by SOs and POs 3.71 0.74 3.66 0.56 3.60 0.57 2.04 .130
Commitment 3.86 0.56 3.87 0.59 3.76 0.61 3.00 .050
Safety/control/security 3.54* 0.65 3.66* 0.56 3.35 0.58 16.88 .000
Recognition and personal 3.36* 0.64 3.27 0.56 3.22 0.60 3.50 .031
efficacy
Involvement in prison 3.25** 0.71 2.99* 0.73 2.78 0.68 29.83 .000
Involvement in work 3.74 0.61 3.79* 0.52 3.63 0.59 5.19 .006
Stress 3.32 0.89 3.25 0.81 3.22 0.87 0.80 .449
Relationships with prisoners 3.88* 0.41 3.79 0.40 3.78 0.47 3.39 .034
Social distance 3.34** 0.48 3.21 0.42 3.22 0.47 4.44 .012
*Significant mean difference from large prisons.
**Significant mean difference from both large and medium prisons.
prisons. Results on the dimension ‘Treatment by senior management’ show that both
small (M = 3.61) and medium-sized (M = 3.44) prisons had a significantly higher score
(p < .001) than large prisons (M = 2.98). ‘Attitudes towards senior management’ differed
among all three categories. Small prisons had a significantly higher mean score (M = 3.39)
than both medium-sized (M = 3.18, p = .031) and large prisons (M = 2.72, p < .001), and
medium-sized prisons had a significantly higher score than large prisons, p < .001. The
dimension ‘Recognition and personal efficacy’ is related to management relations, and
results show that the mean score of the small prisons (M = 3.36) was higher than the
mean score of large prisons (M = 3.22, p = .025). Large prisons had the lowest score on
Don’t get stuck with details

Writer Insights
The drafting phase of a writing project
should be considered an extension of the What is your writing process?
prewriting phase in that writers who are My writing process includes conversations with
drafting are often still in the process of dis- research providers, data analysis, and develop-
ment of business implications. I start by cre-
covering ideas and exploring possibilities. ating an outline of key points for the topic at
It is less important to get it “right” during hand. Then I compose a section for each point
the drafting process than to continue mak- that details the research findings, explains how
they would affect business decisions made by
ing progress on the draft itself. Writers can
my colleagues, and illustrates the data with
avoid focusing on details such as grammar graphs. When all topics are complete, I com-
or perfect word choice. Writers can work on pose a summary that introduces the general
these aspects later in the revision and edit- topic and touches the main points and their
business implications. The next step is editing
ing phases. Spending valuable time focus- the draft, removing extraneous details, rewriting
ing on the exact right phrase or word might sentences to be understandable to both junior
end up being a misuse of time if, during and senior colleagues, subtitling each section,
and making sure the ideas flow logically and are
revision, a writer decides to jettison an idea relevant. The summary is presented at the start
or section altogether. Getting bogged down of the final version. It is emphasized by enclos-
in the details during the drafting phase may ing it in a box with a bold border that separates
it from the rest of the text. Most of my colleagues
hamper a writer’s progress, preventing him
will only read the report if they think it affects
or her from continuing to generate ideas their own job, so it’s important to grab their
and develop the fuller writing project. attention with the summary box at the start or
Instead, when writers find themselves they won’t take the time to read beyond the first
few paragraphs.
stuck on a detail, they can just insert a bracket
~Liz N., Advertising Research Director,
with the phrase “return later” (or any other New York City, U.S.
phrase) to stand in for the absent content.
Creating this sort of placeholder for details
enables writers to easily pass over these small details and instead keep writing the rest of
the sentence, paragraph, page, or project. In so doing, writers can draft the overarching
organization and structure of a project, without having spent valuable time and energy on
small details and then finding themselves left with only part of a project completed.
“Park on the downhill slope”

We all need breaks when writing, sometimes just to stretch or move around, other times to
sleep, or most often because other aspects of our life need attending to. Busy college students
may not have time to work on one writing project at a time in sustained ways. Expert writing
advisor Joan Bolker urges writers to “park on the downhill slope” in order to make it easier to
return and pick up the writing project again:
[Y]ou’ll come to a point at which you start to tire and feel like there’s not much
left in your writing reservoir for the day. This is the time to begin to summarize
for yourself where you’ve been, to write down your puzzlements or unanswered
questions, to do what Kenneth Skier, who taught writing at M.I.T. many years
ago, calls “parking on the downhill slope”: sketching out in writing what your
next step is likely to be, what ideas you want to develop, or follow, or explore
when you pick up the writing again the next day. This step will help you get
started more easily each day, and it will save you an enormous amount of energy
and angst.
As Bolker’s suggestion illustrates, writers find it infinitely easier to return to a writing

project if they are returning to an easier part of the project. If writers stop writing
during a difficult spot, they might run the risk of avoiding or dreading a return to a
project. Parking on the downhill slope, at a moment when the writer’s ideas are devel-
oping easily and rapidly, enables a writer to take a break from writing but be enthusi-
astic about the prospect of returning to that project. If writers cannot forge through a
difficult part before taking a break, they can instead choose to create a downhill slope
by writing out notes for themselves about what they will do when they return to the
project. Breaks are important. Writers need them to regain energy, take a step back,
and think through the writing project. So, take breaks, but do so in conjunction with
planning the next writing steps so that it is easier, not harder, to return to the writing
project once your break is over.
Revising across Disciplines

Writing is, at its core, about rewriting. Revision involves writers rethinking their
texts. Revision generally involves global rethinking and restructuring, whereas edit-
ing involves smaller, more sentence-level changes and proofreading. Revision involves
making changes to the structure, organization, and content of a project. Take a look
at some strategies that can make your revising more effective in addition to receiving
feedback from other writers, and an extended section on feedback is provided on pp.
62-66. Revision generally requires that a writer have time to rethink a text; this might
involve stepping away from a text for a day, or several days, and returning to it with a
fresh perspective.
Read aloud
Find a quiet place to read your text aloud. Mark moments in the text where you notice an
aspect you would like to adjust. Read to make sure you have accomplished what you hope
to have accomplished, or that you have communicated the significance of your ideas. Think
about structure, organization, and evidence. Reading aloud can often reveal disconnected
thoughts or rough patches of writing. An effective follow up after discovering such areas for
revision is developing a reverse outline.
Create a reverse outline

You are likely familiar with what an outline is. This version is called a “reverse outline” because
it happens after a piece is written rather than before. A writer notes beside each paragraph a key
phrase that captures what that paragraph communicated.
These brief phrases enable the writer to reflect on and, as needed, reconsider several
aspects of a writing project. One such aspect that reverse outlines can highlight is organiza-
tion. Writers can look at the reverse outline and decide if the sequence of paragraphs makes
sense. Perhaps an idea is missing, or an idea seems out of place in its current location and
would work better in a different location within the project. A second aspect of writing that
reverse outlines can help make visible is overall cohesion. Perhaps, for instance, the reverse
outline reveals an idea that seems tangential or unconnected to the larger project. Writers
can then eliminate it to connect that concept more closely to the main idea. Finally, a third
element that reverse outlines can help writers address is paragraph unity. Paragraphs should,
ideally, focus on one main idea. If in creating a reverse outline, a writer has difficulty identify-
ing one word or phrase to capture that paragraph, then the writer might have discovered that
the paragraph is not unified. The writer can then decide to break the paragraph differently
or move some of that paragraph’s material to a different location in the project in order to
achieve more paragraph unity. In these ways, reverse outlines serve as indispensable tools for
writers.
Organization
Does the sequence of paragraphs make sense? Is there anything missing? Does any material seem
tangential or unnecessary? If so, that material might be deleted or connected more explicitly.
Should the piece be organized differently?
Paragraph unity
Was it possible to develop a word or phrase to capture a paragraph? If not, the paragraphs
might need to be divided differently.
Overall cohesion
Do all the parts of the paper work together to advance your main point and overarching
purpose?
Be open to change
Perhaps one of the biggest barriers to revision is the writer himself or herself. We get
attached to a turn of phrase or concept and may resist considering a new direction for
our writing project. Be willing to rethink your piece. Sometimes revision can be frustrat-
ing as well because it unravels some of what you have accomplished or makes you realize
you are not as far along as you may have hoped. This messiness and recursivity, though,
is part of the writing process, and rather than responding with denial or dismay, expect
and embrace it.
Perhaps you have other revision strategies. No matter what strategy you adopt, be sure
to engage in revision. Revising makes your writing stronger.
Figures 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7 show a writer, Katharine Krieger, moving through the drafting
and revision process of an introduction to an article.
Notice in Figure 2.7 how much material Krieger changes during the process of
revising. These changes include global-level revisions such as adding more research and
expanding ideas. Krieger’s revisions also address more local-level aspects of the writing
is actually longer than the original (426 words, up from 328), despite her revisions for conciseness!
One reason is the addition of topic sentences and transitions to guide her reader more explicitly
through the points from the beginning to the end. She also added a final sentence offering a
24 | roadmap
Introduction to Academic
of the article for readers.Writing
If you print this file, you can also read the two stages side-by-
side to see how she rearranged the material for her reader. As you read through the two stages, try to
identify the changes she made and the way they affect your reading experience.
Draft: Nov 23, 2010
Dating back almost a century, scientists have been interested in the behavior of animals.
Information such as their habitat, reaction to environmental changes and interactions with other
animals of the same and different species has been little understood until the past decade. The field
of biologging has increased and improved exponentially with the improvements in technology.
Tracking animals has gone from observing and taking notes on land mammals that could be seen, to
satellite and other tracking technologies on marine animals, providing us with, in some cases, real
time information of the temperature, salinity, depth and pressure of the water, along with their
location, heart rate, and consumption (Roupert-Coudert, Wilson, pp. 438, 2005).
Biologging is defined as the study of animals’ behavior, physiology, and ecology of free-
ranging animals, especially that which cannot easily be observed (Davis, pp.12, 2008). More
specifically, biologging is the study of animals, which are not easily observed, for example
nocturnal animals, marine animals or very small animals. Each of these groups cannot be observed
using conventional method’s as there are restrictions on human’s ability to see them for long
periods of time.
Google Earth is a virtual globe that brings the user a 3-D interactive view of the earth
containing endless information. The newest version, Google Earth 5, now allows users to explore
beneath the oceans surface, seeing things such as coral reefs, trenches, and the movements of GPS-
tracked marine life (Butler, para. 1, 2009). The importance of this science lies in the advancements
that can be made in protecting the animals that are studied. The more that is understood regarding
habitat and environments that endangered animals live, and how they react to stimuli such as global
warming and pollution will undoubtedly lead to better protection of the animals.
The purpose of this article is to highlight the advancements in biologging marine animals,
and show how Google Earth is helping this field to further develop and increase awareness of the
issues surrounding these animals.
FIGURE 2.5 Early draft of Katharine Krieger’s introduction to “Google Earth’s Role in Marine Conservation
through Biologging.”
FIGURE 2.6 Krieger’s revisions to the introduction to “Google Earth’s Role in Marine Conservation through
Biologging” (depicted through Microsoft Word’s Compare Document Feature).
Published: Oct 28, 2011
Scientists interested in animal populations and behavior often have difficulty observing
animals in environments that are not readily accessible or visible. For example, nocturnal animals,
marine animals, and very small animals cannot be observed using conventional methods due to
restrictions on human ability to witness these animals’ actions or activities for extended periods of
time. One practice that makes these animals more accessible is biologging, the study of the
behavior, physiology, and ecology of free-ranging animals (Davis, 2008, p.12). More specifically,
biologging is the study of animals that are not easily observed. The importance of this science lies
in the advancements that can be made to protect endangered animals through biologging. The more
that scientists understand regarding habitat and environments of endangered animals, as well as how
these species react to stimuli such as global warming and pollution, the better they will be able to
protect these animals.
Technological advancements have increased the number of species that scientists can
observe, improving the field of biologging significantly. Tracking animals has gone from observing
and taking notes on land mammals that could be seen to observing, via satellite and other tracking
technologies, marine and other difficult-to-monitor animals. This transition to satellite tracking
provides additional data on animal habitats. For example, data can be collected on a marine
animal’s home, including the temperature, salinity, depth, and pressure of the water, along with data
representing the animal’s specific location, heart rate, and consumption patterns (Roupert-Coudert
& Wilson, 2005, p. 438). Until recently, however, technology allowing the spatial representation of
this breadth of data has not kept up with advances in data collection technology.
One possible remedy to the disparity between data-collection and data-representation
FIGURE 2.7 Krieger’s
technologies final version
is through of the introduction
the incorporation to “Google
of biologging Earth’s Role
information intoin Google
Marine Conservation
Earth. Google
through Biologging.”
Earth is a virtual globe that brings the user a 3-D, interactive view of the Earth. The latest version,
Google Earth 5, allows users to explore beneath the ocean’s surface, observing things such as coral
reefs, trenches, and the movements of GPS-tracked marine life (Butler, 2009, para. 1). Google Earth
provides
project suchscientists with a medium
as transitions with which
and clarity. to share has
Krieger data through information much
also eliminated exchange.material, per-
The purpose of this literature review is to highlight the progress being made in biologging
haps marine
deleting portions of text that seemed less specific or less relevant to her
animals that are typically difficult to observe, and to show how Google Earth is helping argument.
to
And, one can also see in these revisions that Krieger has addressed several proofreading
advance this field with further technological applications and increased awareness of the negative
external factors impacting these endangered animals. This paper provides a history of biologging,
or editing dimensions; in the citations, for instance, Krieger has modified them to adhere
describes various methods of data collection, and ultimately examines biologging applications of
moreGoogle
closely to an established citation system.
Earth.
Write Now
What did Krieger change through the course of her revision? Can you identify the ways
in which she improved her introduction?
Editing across Disciplines

Editing, as opposed to revision, generally involves smaller, local changes to a piece of writing.
The editing phase occurs as a piece of writing is nearing the final version. Some depictions of
the writing process include a final phase, termed proofreading, but we have decided to include
proofreading in the editing phase. Commonly, writers work on the following aspects of writing
as they edit:
■■ clarity
■■ grammar
■■ word choice/diction
■■ proofreading
■■ titles
■■ opening sentences
■■ closing sentences
■■ topic sentences
Editing usually involves short, small changes in order to polish a piece of writing and make
it ready to share in a final version. Try to reserve editing until the latter stages of a piece of
writing so you don’t spend valuable time getting the words of a sentence just right only to
learn later as you revise that you have decided to take out that sentence altogether.
Feedback across Disciplines

Feedback is one of the most crucial parts of the writing process and, like research, is best
located throughout every stage of the writing process. Feedback can be verbal or written,
it can involve your own feedback to yourself or come from others, and it can be formal or
informal. Throughout the process of receiving feedback, keep certain strategies in mind to
make feedback more useful.
Integrate feedback throughout the writing process

Writers can request and receive feedback at all points during the writing process, from
prewriting through editing. You can share writing-in-progress or ideas you are thinking
about writing at earlier stages in the process in order to get feedback from others to
help you develop a piece of writing. During the drafting phase, writers can get feedback
about portions that are already drafted or about portions of a project that are presenting
difficulties. Feedback during the revision phrase is also crucial. Such feedback should be
timed when writers have a basically finished
Writer Insights draft, but one that is not yet fully polished
and finalized. Drafts at this latter stage
Why is revision important in your writing?
should be as developed as possible so those
Writing is the physical manifestation of thoughts,
providing feedback can have the advantage
concepts and ideas. Words give form to abstrac-
tions bubbling out of the imagination. Laid side of reading the entire project. However, drafts
by side, these create sentences whose sole task should still be in a stage where writers are
is to impart the reader with a sense of pace willing and able to make revisions. While a
and, if all goes to plan, drama. Getting at those
right words and placing them in the right order writer might wish on some level that read-
takes time. Writing becomes re-writing, which ers’ feedback will simply say that the draft is
becomes re-re-writing. All this calls for patience perfect and complete as is, the reality is that
and trust that with a sustained effort, your initial
idea will be captured out of abstraction and laid
writing is almost never completely polished.
out for all to see. Purely positive feedback would not equip
~Benoit Detalle, Animation Scriptwriter and Animator, writers with the insight to improve a writing
Belgrade, Serbia project or grow as a writer.
Feedback at its most effective should occur throughout the writing process so writers
can incorporate others’ ideas along the way rather than waiting until the last minute before a
deadline and then finding themselves unwilling or unable to revise.
Even after a writing project is complete, feedback remains valuable. Writing transfer
emphasizes that you will move forward as a writer even after individual pieces of writing are
completed. Soliciting and receiving feedback even on a final product will enable you to use
that feedback to move forward with other writing projects, extend ideas, and otherwise grow
as a writer.
Choose readers purposefully

Different readers will offer different strengths and perspectives. Perhaps there is a disci-
plinary perspective you would like to include. Perhaps you know someone who is working
on a related project. Or, perhaps you’ve admired an aspect of someone else’s writing or
thinking, and you would like his or her input. We can’t always choose who is giving feed-
back to us, but if you have any input in the selection process, try to do so purposefully. Also
aim for getting feedback from multiple readers. Each reader should have the potential to
offer something valuable.
Acknowledge that sharing can be uncomfortable

If you are comfortable sharing your writing with others, good for you! But, if you are like many
of us, you may feel nervous sharing your writing. Getting used to sharing your writing, though,
will make you a better writer. Receiving feedback helps you grow as a writer overall, and it helps
you improve a particular writing project. Writers at all levels in all disciplines, especially profes-
sors or researchers, must submit their writing to peers for review before their work is published
in academic journals or books. See Figure 4.2 on p. 131 to learn more about this process.
Write Now
Think back to moments in the past when you have provided or received feedback on
a piece of writing. The feedback could be from a peer, friend, colleague, or teacher.
What makes feedback more or less effective? Do you remember any particular feed-
back you received? What makes this feedback stand out? What’s hard about providing
feedback to others?
T
Offer your readers feedback guidelines

When you ask for feedback, avoid just asking “What do you think?” Also try to avoid asking
yes/no questions. Instead, share with them what your main concerns are, what you would
especially like feedback on, where you were stuck or uncertain as a writer. For example,
you might ask any of the following questions:

Writer Insights Which evidence did you find most effective?
Describe your experience getting feedback on What other evidence would be helpful for
your writing. my argument? I struggled on page 4 with the
The toughest part in my writing is asking for feed- [insert specific] section; what do you think
back. My field of expertise is quite narrow, so I tend that paragraph is trying to accomplish or
to ask colleagues. I have a very special one who is
so…helpful! “Oh this is so interesting!…However communicate? Which elements of my intro-
you might consider making your point stronger here, duction enable you to become interested in
attach these two paragraphs, rewrite this and that the writing project? As much as possible, try
and that.…” I then rewrite. And it works.
to avoid asking readers to copyedit (at least
~Anna Bianco, Art Historian, The Hague,
not until later in the process); substantive
The Netherlands
feedback should really be more about the
ideas and substance of the writing, not the more surface aspects.
Be open and flexible, even with challenging feedback

If you think you’ve written a perfect final version and then you share it with others, you will
likely be disappointed. Feedback involves more than just providing a stamp of approval. Be
willing to really consider others’ ideas, and be open to changing your writing project in accor-
dance with the feedback you receive. Cultivating this receptivity, though, is easier in some
instances than in others. It might be easy to be open and flexible to feedback when feedback
highlights the strengths of a writing project or when responders suggest a few quick edits,
such as fixing typos, changing words, or revising a few sentences. Being open and flexible
to feedback can be much more challenging when that feedback is unsolicited, challenging
to implement, or emotionally difficult to hear. Writers, for instance, must work harder at
being open and flexible with difficult feedback suggestions, such as deleting an entire section,
integrating more research, or reframing an argument. In these instances, though, it is even
more important for writers to be open and flexible by carefully considering the feedback they
receive. Try to listen carefully to what your readers say and consider thoughtfully how you
might respond to the feedback in order to strengthen your writing.
Take an active role in making feedback meaningful

Although it may seem that the writer is a passive recipient of feedback, the truth is that
writers can and should take active roles in making feedback productive. This is true even
when that feedback may seem less than ideal. Some writers, for instance, believe that if
they receive feedback that is unhelpful, unclear, too critical, or otherwise unproductive, it
is the fault of the reviewers and nothing else can be done. However, writers have many
options available to them in order to take active roles in making feedback productive.
Take time reviewing feedback

After you receive feedback, consider waiting a little while before you implement the sug-
gestions. Read and re-read the feedback so you can process the feedback and develop your
approach to revising. Sometimes feedback can seem overwhelming at first, but waiting a few
days usually enables you to find renewed energy to revise a writing project.
Explain unclear feedback

Do not settle for less than satisfactory feedback. If you can, return to the reader to ask
follow-up questions and gain more clarity. If not, find another reader to read that feedback
and help you gain more clarity. If you are unclear how to proceed with a project after hav-
ing received contradictory feedback from two or more different readers, you can also take
actions to provide clarity for yourself. Discrepancies in feedback do not usually mean that
one responder is right and the other wrong. Rather, feedback discrepancies are often sim-
ply a result of individual readers having their own perspectives. Different readers respond
differently. You can arbitrate between contradictory feedback by eliciting more conversa-
tion between and with the responders. Alternatively, you can aim for a compromise or get
another opinion altogether from another responder.
Revise overly harsh feedback

Sometimes writers encounter negative feedback that seems exceedingly harsh. Harsh
feedback can be frustrating and discouraging. Some writers respond to harsh feedback by
ignoring it. Writers do this for many reasons. Perhaps this harsh feedback is emotionally
painful to hear, and avoiding such pain is a natural human reaction. Or, perhaps a writer
anticipates that revising in response to this harsh feedback would be too challenging,
so ignoring it or the writing project seems more reasonable. Sometimes writers ignore
harsh feedback because they believe the person providing the feedback is biased against
the writer or writing project. While ignoring harsh feedback is understandable, it is not
necessarily the best choice. Harsh feedback can often have value despite the harshness.
To access this value, you can revise harsh feedback. For instance, if a responder describes
your writing as “awkward and boring,” you can revise that to become the following:
“Use more precise word choices, vary sentence structure, and add more human-interest
elements.”
Remember your own authority

If you disagree with feedback, you can reject certain portions of it. Perhaps a responder
suggests taking the project in a direction the writer does not prefer, or maybe the responder
suggests deleting a segment the writer deems essential. In these cases, writers can always
decide to reject portions of the feedback.
That said, writers might also recognize that
even seemingly unproductive feedback can be Writer Insights
valid in some manner: perhaps the suggested What has been your experience giving
new direction would yield a good footnote feedback?
or an opportunity for future work; or, a sug- I fear my feedback will be misconstrued. Some
gestion for deletion might signal that the people have lower thresholds for criticism. They
writer needs to connect that material more feel they’re being attacked, but that’s not true. I
want to help them produce the best writing pos-
thoroughly to the main argument. In the end, sible. So I structure my feedback positively to
though, the writer is the author and, as such, encourage receptivity.
has final authority over what to do with a ~Yolanda Riley, Writer,
text (at least to a certain extent, depending St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
on context).
Provide feedback to yourself

Many writers forget that they too can provide feedback to themselves. Providing feedback
to yourself is best accomplished through time away from the text. This is known as re-
seeing a text. Set down your project for a day or more in order to create space and distance.
Doing so before reappraising one of your drafts will enable you to read with fresh eyes and
recognize aspects that can be modified and improved.
Feedback is always valuable

Writing transfer emphasizes that you will move forward as a writer even after individual
pieces of writing are completed. Accept and solicit feedback even on a final product so you
can use that feedback as a way to move forward with related projects, extend ideas, or grow
as a writer.
Provide feedback to others as a way of becoming a stronger writer

Although the benefits of providing feedback are in some ways less immediately visible than
the benefits of receiving feedback, they are nonetheless highly present and valuable. Offering
to provide feedback to others, whether for writing projects that are similar to ones you are
working on, or writing projects that are quite different, will help you with your writing.
During the process of providing feedback, you can identify features of writing you would
like to model in your own writing (or do differently), or you might come across ideas that
resonate with your own thinking or that inspire you to pursue new questions.
Each time you provide feedback to others, reflect on how providing feedback has
benefited you and your writing. You can ask yourself what you have learned about a par-
ticular topic or about an aspect of writing. Possibilities include anything from style to sen-
tence structure, paragraphing to organization. Every chance you get to provide feedback is
another opportunity for you to learn more about yourself as a writer and about your own
writing.
Transfer and The Final Product

Writer Insights In academic writing, a final product is not
How does providing feedback help you? an end, necessarily, so much as the moment
I am a biomedical scientist, and my latest writing when your writing becomes more public so
task is a systematic review paper. Since English is that others can engage with your ideas and
my second language, writing in English has been
thereby continue the conversation. Of course,
an exciting challenge. The same way English is
the language of the academic world, written some writing is meant only to be read by the
communication is the most common form of person who wrote it, and some writing is writ-
communication in science. In addition to writing ten without even the intention of being read at
letters, scientific papers and course assignments,
I also review the writing of my co-workers which all. But academic writing, for the most part, is
is a great opportunity to improve my writing skills generally read by others so scholars can con-
and help people with theirs. tribute to and advance knowledge based on
~D., Biomedical Scientist, engaging with others’ texts.
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Academic writing takes many shapes

and forms across disciplines. Some writing Writer Insights
appears in books (or as books), as articles in How do you transfer writing knowledge to
scholarly journals, or in more popular forms of subsequent writing occasions?
writing such as op-eds, blogs, memos, policy I am a writer working in Tokyo. Since I first
papers, and reviews. Across all these possible became a copywriter in 1989, I have been chang-
ing my writing style and focusing area. I wrote in
formats, the best academic writing encourages advertising for about a decade, then I became a
more writing and research, whether by the writer for a history magazine. After working in the
original authors or by others who are encoun- editorial office, I started a web design business by
myself in the 2000s. And in recent years, I have
tering and engaging with that text. co-authored web articles and books with scien-
Even though academic writing partici- tists. These works may look similar, but they are
pates in an ongoing conversation, however, a diverse in backgrounds, interests, and cultures. So
each time I moved to another field, I had to take
final product does mark a distinct ending
on a new challenge. Now I am engaged in another
point. Sometimes writers may not feel ready one: becoming a writer in English. Through my
for a writing project to be finished, but a experience, I think that switching to a new field
deadline might demand that it be finished. Or, has only good effects for improving writing skills. I
anticipate that it will bring the most revolutionary
sometimes a writing project has just reached reform to my writing.
its natural conclusion. It is therefore important
~Rue Ikeya, Writer, Research Administrator,
to acknowledge that a piece of writing does Tokyo, Japan
live on as a final product, a material artifact of
your thoughts and research at a given moment in time (even if in cyberspace).
Even as you take a moment to acknowledge this moment of closure, it is vital you
also recognize that you will encounter subsequent writing projects. Because writing transfer
hinges in large part on your ability to adapt, modify, reject, or translate what you learn from
a previous writing occasion when a new writing occasion occurs, it is important to reflect
on your experience with writing at this final juncture. As King Beach advises, transitions are
not all created equally, and for a transition to be meaningful, it should include reflection: “A
transition is consequential when it is consciously reflected on, struggled with, and shifts the
individual’s sense of self or social position.”
To help make your writing transitions between projects as “consequential” as possible,
reflect on what you have learned and how you are planning to move forward. You can con-
sider elements about the writing experience you enjoyed, or you disliked, as well as anything
you learned about yourself as a writer (strengths and areas for improvement) that you think
might be applicable to subsequent writing occasions.
Reflecting on these ideas upon completion of writing projects will help you cultivate a
habit of mind grounded in writing transfer, one that enables you to navigate more success-
fully through the many writing occasions you will encounter both in and outside of school
settings.
Transferring the Research and Writing Process

These phases of the research and writing process provide writers with a way to navigate through
writing projects that may otherwise seem daunting or overly complex. Prewriting, drafting, revis-
ing, and editing, with research and feedback throughout, enable writers to develop worthwhile
final products that advance knowledge and con-

Writer Insights tribute to ongoing conversations.
How do you know when you have a final product? As indicated throughout this chapter, it
I just received notice that a scientific manuscript is crucial to keep in mind the ways in which
for which I am lead author was accepted for context impacts the research and writing
publication in a respected peer reviewed journal. process. With some writing projects, you may
The acceptance came after the editor requested
a substantial rewrite, which led me to reconsider find it necessary to focus most of your ener-
and reconceptualize the way I presented my gies and time on research; with others, revi-
study. Applying the peer feedback, engaging in sion might take precedence. Still other writing
critical thinking and articulating a compelling
rebuttal letter were important steps that helped
occasions may demand that writers compress
turn a possible rejection into a publication. I am these phases into a shorter overall timeframe.
left with a physical feeling of accomplishment Becoming effective at transfer means that
and growth.
you can draw on these general phases of the
~Deirdre Dingman, research and writing process but customize
Postdoctoral Fellow with Public Health Law Research,
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
them to meet the particular needs and con-
straints of any given writing occasion.
Building on what you have learned in this chapter about the research and writing
process, the next chapter invites you to consider how writers pose meaningful questions.
Questions often actually animate the research and writing process, providing the jumping-
off points for research, prewriting, and drafting, and serve as the anchor points for revising,
editing, and feedback. As Chapter 3 illustrates, questions also sponsor ongoing inquiry that
builds on final, published products.
y y y
Government Document: “Resolution 1738: (2006)

Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict” by the United
Nations Security Council
Transfer Points: Public Policy, Political Science, International Relations
Brian Smith, Sportscaster: Shot on August 1, 1995, while exiting the CJOH-TV station building in Ottowa,
Canada.
Zezinho Cazuza, Journalist: Shot on March 13, 2000, while leaving a party in Canindé de Sáo Francisco,
Brazil.
Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla, Crime Reporter: Shot while arriving at work on April 16, 2005, in
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
Paul Kiggundu, Journalist: Beaten to death on September 11, 2010, near Kalisizio, Uganda, while filming a
group of motorcycle taxi drivers demolishing a house.
Faisal Arefin Dipan, Newspaper Publisher: Stabbed to death at the offices of a newspaper, Jagriti Prokashoni,
in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
These are but several of the hundreds of journalists who have been killed in the line of work. Nearly every
year, dozens of journalists are murdered, tortured, and kidnapped for their roles with the media. Some years
are especially appalling. Fifty journalists were murdered in 2015, for instance. Eight of these people were
killed on January 7, 2015, in the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France.
Making such dangers more visible, and creating recommendations to protect journalists, the United
Nations (UN) Security Council adopted Resolution 1738 on December 23, 2006. Resolutions such as this
proceed through a complicated development process involving research, advocacy, debate, drafting, revi-
sion, and voting (“What’s in Blue”). In the case of Resolution 1738, France and Greece co-authored the
resolution, with input from Reporters without Borders (Reporters; “UN Condemns”).
UN Security Council Resolutions, which describe problems and make recommendations, address many
pressing issues, from terrorism and piracy to democracy and humanitarianism. Resolution 105, for example, from
1954, created an International Court of Justice. And, Resolution 1576, from 2004, recommended continued aid
for Haiti, including that which would promote accountability in the Haitian electoral process.
The breadth of issues addressed by UN Security Council Resolutions helps explain the wide range
of scholars who research and write about, with, and for the UN and its resolutions. Perhaps most directly
among these scholars are those in public policy
and international affairs. Public policy relies on The UN Security Council was formally established
analytical tools to implement and evaluate public in 1945, as part of an effort to preserve peace and
programs. International affairs, also known as inter- improve upon what were seen to have been the short-
national relations or international studies, carries an comings of its predecessor, the League of Nations. The
explicitly global perspective to questions of policy UN SC consists of fifteen countries, five of whom are
permanent members: China, United States, United
and interaction. Both fields intersect with econom-
Kingdom, Russian Federation, and France. The other
ics, ethics, and moral and political philosophy, deal
ten member countries are elected and nonpermanent,
with policies and debates in the public sphere, and and serve on two-year cycles. There are also more
rely on quantitative and qualitative social-science than 60 non-council member states. This organiza-
research methods. tional structure is significant, because it impacts vot-
Academics across public policy and inter- ing privileges and establishes a hierarchy. Resolution
national affairs write in many genres. They might, 1738 was published in 2006, developed through a
for example, write position papers, policy briefs, or collaboration between France and Greece, with sup-
white papers to describe a problem and make recom- port by Reporters without Borders.
mendations for action or advocate a position. These documents can help develop a UN resolution, or they
might target other policy makers or corporate leaders. Writing in this context requires conciseness, clarity,
and accuracy, and an awareness of writing transfer. Policy briefs require synthesizing complex knowledge
from different disciplines for readers who themselves carry diverse disciplinary knowledge and expertise.
Writing in public policy and international relations also includes analyses and critiques of UN
policies, processes, and resolutions, often in the form of case studies. Examples include an analysis of the
implications of Resolution 1325, which called for a mainstream approach to gender during peacekeeping
efforts (Pratt), and an argument that Resolution 242, from 1967, has been misinterpreted and is leading to
the erosion of Israeli rights (Lapidoth). Researchers in other disciplines, such as history, use UN resolutions
as evidence for their work understanding historical events and issues.
For those in media studies and journalism, Resolution 1738 brought visibility to an ongoing, critical
problem. A related resolution came in 2013, Resolution 2222, which continued to promote protection of
journalists. Sadly, though, as the people named at the outset of this introduction show, violence against
journalists continues, illustrating simultaneously the importance of such resolutions, and their limitations.
Write Here
With classmates or individually, learn more about the origins and function of the United Nations
Security Council, and about the process of development for UN Security Council Resolutions. Then,
write a reflection about the United Nations Security Council and Resolutions in which you address the
following questions: What are the overarching aims and functions of the UN Security Council? How
do resolutions get developed? What advantages and limitations do you see, if any, with the structure
of the UN Security Council and/or with the process for resolutions?
United Nations Security Council

Resolution 1738: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict
Deeply concerned at the frequency of acts of vio- in that regard, as well as their obligation to
lence, including deliberate attacks, in many parts of end impunity and to prosecute those respon-
the world against journalists, media professionals and sible for serious violations. All parties in situ-
associated personnel, in armed conflicts, the Security ations of armed conflict were urged to respect
Council today condemned such attacks and called on the professional independence and rights of
all parties to put an end to such practices. journalists, media professionals and associated
Unanimously adopting resolution 1738 personnel as civilians.
(2006), the Council recalled, without prejudice Further to the text, the Council reaffirmed
to the war correspondents’ right to the status its condemnation of all incitements to violence
of prisoners of war under the Third Geneva against civilians in situations of armed conflict,
Convention, that journalists, media professionals as well as the need to bring to justice those who
and associated personnel engaged in dangerous incite such violence. When authorizing mis-
professional missions in areas of armed conflict sions, the Council also indicated its willingness to
shall be considered civilians, to be respected and consider, where appropriate, steps in response to
protected as such. media broadcast inciting genocide, crimes against
In that connection, the Council recalled humanity and serious violations of international
its demand that all parties to armed conflict humanitarian law.
comply with their obligations under interna- The meeting was called to order at 12:42
tional law to protect civilians in armed conflict. p.m. and adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
It also emphasized the responsibility of States
Resolution their own courts, regardless of their nationality,

The full text of resolution 1738 (2006) reads as or may hand them over for trial to another con-
follows: cerned State provided this State has made out a
“The Security Council, prima facie case against the said persons,
“Bearing in mind its primary responsibility under
the Charter of the United Nations for the main- “Drawing the attention of all States to the full
tenance of international peace and security, and range of justice and reconciliation mechanisms,
underlining the importance of taking measures including national, international and “mixed”
aimed at conflict prevention and resolution, criminal courts and tribunals and truth and rec-
onciliation commissions, and noting that such
“Reaffirming its resolutions 1265 (1999), 1296 mechanisms can promote not only individual
(2000) and 1674 (2006) on the protection of responsibility for serious crimes, but also peace,
civilians in armed conflict and its resolution 1502 truth, reconciliation and the rights of the victims,
(2003) on protection of United Nations person-
nel, associated personnel and humanitarian per- “Recognizing the importance of a comprehensive,
sonnel in conflict zones, as well as other relevant coherent and action-oriented approach, includ-
resolutions and presidential statements, ing in early planning, of protection of civilians in
“Reaffirming its commitment to the Purposes situations of armed conflict. Stressing, in this regard,
of the Charter of the United Nations as set out the need to adopt a broad strategy of conflict pre-
in Article 1 (1-4) of the Charter, and to the vention, which addresses the root causes of armed
Principles of the Charter as set out in Article 2 conflict in a comprehensive manner in order to
(1-7) of the Charter, including its commitment to enhance the protection of civilians on a long-term
the principles of the political independence, sover- basis, including by promoting sustainable develop-
eign equality and territorial integrity of all States, ment, poverty eradication, national reconciliation,
and respect for the sovereignty of all States, good governance, democracy, the rule of law and
respect for and protection of human rights,
“Reaffirming that parties to an armed conflict
bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible “Deeply concerned at the frequency of acts of vio-
steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians, lence in many parts of the world against journal-
ists, media professionals and associated personnel
“Recalling the Geneva Conventions of 12 August in armed conflict, in particular deliberate attacks
1949, in particular the Third Geneva Convention in violation of international humanitarian law,
of 12 August 1949 on the treatment of prisoners
of war, and the Additional Protocols of 8 June “Recognizing that the consideration of the issue
1977, in particular article 79 of the Additional of protection of journalists in armed conflict by
Protocol I regarding the protection of journalists the Security Council is based on the urgency and
engaged in dangerous professional missions in importance of this issue, and recognizing the
areas of armed conflict, valuable role that the Secretary-General can play
in providing more information on this issue,
“Emphasizing that there are existing prohibitions
“1. Condemns intentional attacks against journal-
under international humanitarian law against
ists, media professionals and associated personnel,
attacks intentionally directed against civilians,
as such, in situations of armed conflict, and calls
as such, which in situations of armed conflict
upon all parties to put an end to such practices;
constitute war crimes, and recalling the need for
States to end impunity for such criminal acts, “2. Recalls in this regard that journalists, media
professionals and associated personnel engaged
“Recalling that the States Parties to the Geneva in dangerous professional missions in areas of
Conventions have an obligation to search for armed conflict shall be considered as civilians
persons alleged to have committed, or to have and shall be respected and protected as such,
ordered to be committed a grave breach of these provided that they take no action adversely
Conventions, and an obligation to try them before affecting their status as civilians. This is with-
out prejudice to the right of war correspondents national law to end impunity and to prosecute
accredited to the armed forces to the status of those responsible for serious violations of inter-
prisoners of war provided for in article 4.A.4 of national humanitarian law;
the Third Geneva Convention;
“8. Urges all parties involved in situations of armed
“3. Recalls also that media equipment and installa- conflict to respect the professional independence
tions constitute civilian objects, and in this respect and rights of journalists, media professionals and
shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals, associated personnel as civilians;
unless they are military objectives;
“9. Recalls that the deliberate targeting of civilians
“4. Reaffirms its condemnation of all incitements and other protected persons, and the commission
to violence against civilians in situations of armed of systematic, flagrant and widespread violations
conflict, further reaffirms the need to bring to of international humanitarian and human rights
justice, in accordance with applicable interna- law in situations of armed conflict may constitute
tional law, individuals who incite such violence, a threat to international peace and security, and
and indicates its willingness, when authorizing reaffirms in this regard its readiness to consider
missions, to consider, where appropriate, steps in such situations and, where necessary, to adopt
response to media broadcast inciting genocide, appropriate steps;
crimes against humanity and serious violations of
international humanitarian law; “10. Invites States which have not yet done so
to consider becoming parties to the Additional
“5. Recalls its demand that all parties to an armed Protocols I and II of 1977 to the Geneva
conflict comply fully with the obligations applicable Conventions at the earliest possible date;
to them under international law related to the protec-
tion of civilians in armed conflict, including journal- “11. Affirms that it will address the issue of pro-
ists, media professionals and associated personnel; tection of journalists in armed conflict strictly
under the agenda item “protection of civilians in
“6. Urges States and all other parties to an armed armed conflict”;
conflict to do their utmost to prevent violations
of international humanitarian law against civil- “12. Requests the Secretary-General to include as
ians, including journalists, media professionals a sub-item in his next reports on the protection of
and associated personnel; civilians in armed conflict the issue of the safety
and security of journalists, media professionals
“7. Emphasizes the responsibility of States to and associated personnel.”
comply with the relevant obligations under inter-
Write Away
1. UN Security resolutions consist of two parts: 1. reasoning statements, also known as the
perambulatory statements, which lay out the background and justification, and 2. operative
clauses, which lay out the resolution’s recommendations (Nadin 12). Conduct a close read-
ing of the reasoning statements and operative clauses of Resolution 1738: What forms of
reasoning or persuasion shape the reasoning statements? What aims are the operative clauses
accomplishing? How are the reasoning statements aligned with the operative clauses?
2. Write a policy brief in which you describe a problem and advocate for a security council
resolution. You can focus your brief around an issue of your choice, but it should be an issue
you care about and which you can show has global significance. Specify the components
of the resolution you would hope to be included.
3. Choose a disciplinary perspective, such as environmental studies, health sciences, cul-

tural anthropology, media studies, or women’s studies, and write an analysis of UN reso-
lutions related to that discipline. How does the UN intersect with that discipline? What
has the UN accomplished with relation to that discipline? What challenges remain with
regard to the UN, the relevant resolution(s), and that discipline?
Technical Document: Excerpt from “Emergency

Management Plan: Classifications of Emergencies”
by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Transfer Points: Public Policy, Criminal Justice, Public Health, Emergency

Management, Technical Writing
“Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse.” This was a May 16, 2011, blog post by a staff member of the Centers for
Disease Control (Khan). The CDC website server soon crashed from all the traffic. Inspired by the surge of public
interest, the CDC subsequently published a manual titled Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse. Alongside zom-
bie images, photographs from the Toronto Zombie Walk, and links to Walking Dead discussions, one can also find
step-by-step guidelines for surviving zombies: “Once you’ve made your emergency kit, you should sit down with
your family and come up with an emergency plan. This includes where you would go and who you would call if
zombies started appearing outside your door step” (“Preparedness”). Other government agencies followed suit. War
planners at U.S. Strategic Command created a 2011 contingency plan titled “Counter-Zombie Dominance,” FEMA
held a 2012 webinar about zombie preparedness, and the Kansas Department of Emergency Preparedness launched
October zombie awareness month with activities and events designed to fortify zombie resilience.
Emergency planning asks people to imagine—even anticipate—the most horrifying circumstances. It asks
people to suspend fear in order to plan for and dwell upon what is, for many, unimaginable. Couching emergency
planning in zombies provides an imaginative way of engaging with the murkiness of facing risk and anxiety.
Zombie preparedness also highlights the ways in which writing transfer plays an especially key role in
emergency planning. Grafting preparedness onto a zombie landscape relies, at an essential level, on writing
transfer. To do so requires that a writer draw on multidisciplinary knowledge and multidisciplinary approaches
to writing. “Zombie Preparedness 101,” in fact, fuses thinking and practices from cultural anthropology, public
policy, and psychology to technical writing, criminal justice, and public policy.
As a highly transferable and transfer-based field of knowledge, practice, and writing, emergency planning
transects an enormous range of contexts, operating across local and national government organizations, businesses,
educational institutions, performance venues, neighborhoods, and families. Across these contexts, those who pro-
duce plans and accompanying texts for emergency planning must collaborate extensively with others, including
those in public policy, security, health care as well as experts across fields that have knowledge that might come to
bear on planning for various disasters, such as chemistry,
history, geology, cultural anthropology, and sociology. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
The “Classification of Emergencies” text included (SIUE) (SIUE) is a liberal-arts university with
here is part of a longer document produced by the approximately 14,000 undergraduate and gradu-
SIUE Emergency Management and Safety (EMS) office. ate students. It is located near St. Louis, Missouri.
Nearly every educational institution has an office such SIUE offers undergraduate degrees across arts, sci-
as this, and the people involved with this office address ences, education, business, and health. SIUE is also
home to the Schools of Dental and Pharmacy. The
all aspects of emergency management: “hazard mitiga-
“Classification of Emergencies” text included here
tion, emergency preparedness, emergency response, and
is part of a longer document produced by the SIUE
recovery activities.” At SIUE, these hazards include earth- Emergency Management and Safety (EMS) office.
quakes, severe weather, and flu, as well as Homeland
Security and hazardous material incidents. Such offices are also responsible for safety recommendations for
employees and students, and making sure institutions operate in environmentally and locally conscious ways
(“Emergency”).
Although each of these instances signals a unique context, they all intersect through transfer. All of these
instances require expert knowledge about the discipline of emergency planning, transferred to particular con-
texts through nuanced understandings. Emergency planning, for instance, can involve the collaboration of many
disciplinary perspectives, from technology and culture, to training and infrastructure. Such work also requires
ongoing assessment, analysis, and evaluation in order to identify shortcomings, respond to new developments,
and strengthen operating procedures and plans. Emergency planning also involves transfer across modes of
communication and genres, moving information across multiple modalities, from written, verbal, and visual and
including virtual and face-to-face contexts.
The transfer evident across emergency planning reflects, more broadly, the transfer-based dimensions of a
field that those in emergency planning draw upon: technical writing and communication. Technical communica-
tion involves communication that is about technical or specialized topics, that uses technology to communicate,
and/or that provides instructions about how to do something (STC). Examples include training manuals, technical
illustrations, medical instructions, and software instructions (STC, “Defining”)
Technical communication privileges clarity of message and design and involves an extensive process of
development, feedback, and revision. Technical communicators must design materials for people who speak
many different languages, have widely divergent levels of education and literacy, and who may have learning
differences or disabilities that impact the ways in which they process information.
Technical communication within emergency management often gains public attention. On August 3,
2016, for example, Emirates Flight 521 crash-landed at Dubai International Airport. Videos soon went viral of
passengers stopping to grab their luggage before evacuating. Debates ensued about how airlines approach emer-
gency planning: How much carry-on luggage should be allowed? Should overhead bins be automatically locked
during emergencies, takeoff, and landing? Should the pre-flight safety instructions include more emphasis on
leaving luggage in the event of an emergency landing? In what ways, more generally, should pre-flight instruc-
tions be improved? (Flottau)
Such questions, and ongoing incidents that raise more such questions, form the basis of emergency plan-
ning and make it one of the most complex and transfer-based of disciplines. It is also one of the disciplines most
grounded in our everday lives, even if it does sometimes venture into imaginative realms filled with zombies.
Write Here
Think about a moment when you encountered an emergency planning and management text. This might
be an evacuation map in a hotel room, a weather alert, a safety drill, a pre-flight emergency presentation on
an airplane, or another instance. Describe in as much detail how you responded to and engaged with that
text: Did you pay careful attention? Why or why not? What feelings, if any, did it evoke for you? How do you
imagine other people might respond to or engage with that document? What are various human behaviors
with regard to emergency planning and what do you think accounts for these behaviors?
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Classifications of Emergencies
The Director of University Police and Director emergency staff in determining the appropri-
of Emergency Management and Safety are ate level of response:
the designated Campus Emergency Directors
during any major emergency or disaster. The Levels of Emergency Response
following classifications of emergencies are Level 1—Minor Emergency: A minor
provided as guidelines to assist the campus department or building incident that can be
resolved by the responding service unit with Center will be activated by the Director of
existing University resources. (Example: Emergency Management and Safety, and the
Facilities Management is called to respond appropriate support and operational plans
to a broken water pipe.) will be executed. The lead duty officer, the
Director of University Police, or the Director
Level II—Major Emergency: Any event of Emergency Management and Safety will
that affects an entire building or build- seek approval from the Chancellor or Vice
ings and that will disrupt the overall Chancellor for Administration to activate
operations of the University. (Example: the Emergency Operations Center.
A Building Fire or Chemical Spill dur-
ing which outside emergency services will TYPES OF EMERGENCIES
probably be required.) Level II emergen- The types of emergencies covered in this manual
cies may also include imminent events that are:
may develop into a Major Emergency or A. Airborne Releases N. I nfectious Disease
Disaster. (Example: An extended power Outbreak
outage or severe storm.) The lead duty B. Airplane Crash O. Life Threatening
officer, the Director of University Police, or Emergencies
the Director of Emergency Management C. Bomb Threat P. Medical and First Aid
and Safety will seek approval from D. Chemical Spill Q. Natural Gas Leak
the Chancellor or Vice Chancellor for E. Civil Disturbance/ R. Pipeline/Transportation
Administration to activate the Emergency Demonstration Accident
Operations Center. F. Death on Campus S. Psychological Crisis
G. Earthquake T. Radiation Emergency
Level III—Disaster: A catastrophic event H. Elevator U. Rape or Sexual Assault
or occurrence that has taken place and has Malfunction
seriously impaired or halted the operations I. Evacuation V. T errorism and Other
of the University and possibly the surround- National Security
ing communities. (Example: A Tornado or Emergency
Earthquake) In some cases, mass person- J. Explosion W. Tornado/Severe
nel casualties and severe property damage Weather
may be sustained. A coordinated effort of K. Fire X. Unsafe Water Supply
all campus-wide resources is insufficient to L. Hostile Intruder Y. Violent or Criminal
effectively control the situation. Outside Behavior
emergency services will be essential. In all M. Inclement Weather
disaster cases, an Emergency Operations
Write Away
1. One of the key components of emergency planning is hazard assessment. Use the differ-
ent levels of emergency identified in the text here as a starting point for developing your
own hazard assessment. Working with a team of classmates, conduct a hazard assess-
ment for the area in which you reside. This endeavor involves identifying and defining the
various types of hazards facing the region, as well as evaluating the likelihood of each of
these hazards occurring and the range of risk and damage they might yield. Synthesize
your hazard assessment into a graph or chart depicting your research in visually acces-
sible ways.
2. Design a public preparedness text for a potential emergency. Identify a potential emer-
gency you would like to address, and conduct research to learn about its causes and
impacts, contextualized within a particular place. Then, produce your text. Decide what
format will be most effective. It can be written, verbal, visual, or tactile. You might, for
instance, create an infographic for preparedness for a particular context, or a video, or an
in-person demonstration. After you have designed and developed the text, write a reflec-
tion that articulates what your primary aims are for the text, what challenges you faced,
how you intend to disseminate it, and what else would be needed in terms of accompa-
nying that text in order to most effectively prepare people for the potential disaster under
consideration.
3. As illustrated by the efforts taken to develop and design Preparedness 101: Zombie
Apocalypse, those involved with preparedness and emergency planning must acknowl-
edge and respond creatively to human emotions and behaviors. Conduct research on
your campus about people’s perceptions of, knowledge about, and attitudes toward pre-
paredness and emergency planning. Your research design will address research methods
(will you use survey instruments, focus groups, interviews, observation?) as well as study
populations (whom will you research and why) and final product options (a presentation,
a report, a researched article, etc.). Develop specific research questions, and, in consulta-
tion with your instructor, conduct research by doing secondary research, data collection
and analysis, drafting, revision, and editing.
y y y
Chapter 2 Key Terms
writing process quantitative research drafting

recursive qualitative research revising
research methodologies mixed-methods research editing
prewriting feedback
Write Away
Context deeply impacts the research and writing process. This chapter’s activity asks you to conduct and
produce an interview of another writer in which you find out about his or her research and writing process.
Follow these steps (notice that these steps themselves involve phases of the research and writing process).
Find a writer to interview (pre-write and research). Think about a person you might interview in
order to learn more about his or her research and writing process from the perspective of his or her
particular discipline or context. This writer can be a faculty member, administrator, or graduate student
at your institution whom you would like to get to know, or it can be a peer acquaintance. You might
interview a family member, friend, or other acquaintance, someone younger or older than you, and
you can conduct the interview virtually, by phone, or in person.
Develop interview questions (pre-write, research, and feedback). To develop your interview ques-
tions, work in small teams with your classmates. Think about what questions you will ask (and how
many) that will enable the interviewee to share specific details about his or her research and writing
process. Since your interviewee is likely to write across several different contexts, you might invite him
or her to think in particular about one or two recent writing occasions as he or she describes his or her
process. Keep in mind as well that your interviewee might not know as much about the phases and
features of the research and writing process as you do!
·Select an interview format (pre-write, research, and feedback). Decide, in consultation with your
interviewee, what format you would like to use for creating your interview: a brief written article, a
PowerPoint or Prezi, an audio account (such as a podcast), a video, or some other format or combina-
tion. Deciding in advance will enable you to procure any necessary technology. Use a format with
which you have some experience, so you are not taking on too many new challenges at once.
·Conduct the interview (research). Conduct the interview, using your interview questions as a guide,
but allow yourself the flexibility to also let the conversation move forward organically. During the
interview, take particular care to understand the context (genre, discipline, aims, audience, etc.) sur-
rounding the particular research and writing process your interviewee is describing. Be sure to have a
way of archiving the interview so you will not lose the material.
·Create and develop your final product (draft, revise, edit, and feedback). Create and develop the
final version of your interview, using the format you have decided upon. Verify with your interviewee
whether you should use his/her name or use a pseudonym. Share a somewhat polished draft of the
interview with your interviewee, and invite that individual to make any adjustments or changes she or
he believes would better capture what she or he had to say.
Share your interview (feedback). Share the interview final product with your classmates.
T
Reflect (transfer). After you have examined the interviews created by your classmates, write for ten
minutes to reflect on what you have learned from this experience about the interview process and/or
what you have learned from the interviews about how you might transfer portions of the research and
writing process across contexts and disciplines.

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Humanities 102

Introduction to Academic Research

First Year Writing Program

Design: Kelly Jacobi, Fountainhead Press

Image source: Shutterstock

Copyright © 2019 Megan O’Neill

Books may be purchased for educational purposes.

For more information, please visit our website at www.fountainheadpress.com.

Printed in the United States of America

Create a reverse outline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Question heuristic #3: Fundamental disciplinary questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Purposes of Synthesis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Chapter 1: What Is First Year Writing at NJIT?

What Is Humanities 102?

More specifically, in this course you will:

• explore and refine research questions;

Why Take HUM 102?

What Will I Find in this Textbook?

Guidelines for Proper Use of Sources

Ways to Avoid Plagiarism

Why Students Plagiarize

Plagiarizing an esay is never an acceptable solution.

Student’s Name: (Print) 

Course: Section: Instructor:

Semester and Year: 

Research and Writing

■■ Overview of the Research and Writing Process: Phases and Features

Overview of the Research and Writing Process

The writing process is dynamic

The writing process is recursive

FIGURE 2.1 Phases of the writing process.

The writing process is social

The writing process is context-dependent

The writing process is individualized

Research across Disciplines

Qualitative research methods

Quantitative research methods

Decisions about which methodology to employ or how to navigate between pri-

Prewriting Strategies across Disciplines

Outlines reflect and are shaped by

Outlines also shift based on

Writers can also adapt outlin-

FIGURE 2.2 Example of looping.

FIGURE 2.3 Example of a collaborative brainstorm by a group generating ideas for a

FIGURE 2.4 Example of a concept map about social media.

Drafting across Disciplines

overlaps significantly with research, pre-writ-

Begin drafting early

Establish a writing ritual

Start anywhere and jump around

Quiet your “inner critic”

Dimensions Prison size

Small Medium Large

Don’t get stuck with details

“Park on the downhill slope”

As Bolker’s suggestion illustrates, writers find it infinitely easier to return to a writing

Revising across Disciplines

Create a reverse outline

Draft: Nov 23, 2010

Student’s Name: (Print)

Semester and Year: