Composing inquiry: methods and readings for investigation and writing

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Introduction

What's Inquiry?

Why Inquiry; Why Composing?

Literacy

Reading and Writing Together

Strategies for Active Reading

Posing Questions

Using This Book

Inquiry and the Internet

Internet Resources

Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter

Chapter 2. Presenting Inquiry: Rhetorical Choices and Writing Issues

What Does Audience Have to Do With It?

Discourse Communities and Genre Expectations

Framing Your Work

Developing an Argument Through Analysis

Including the Work of Others: Paraphrases, Quotations, Citations

Arrangement

Foregrounding

Headings

Transitions

Clarity and Style

Sentence Length

Word Choice

An Eye Toward Revision

Internet Resources

Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter

Chapter 3. Observing

Special Materials: Visuals

Special Materials: Artifacts

Ethical Considerations in Observing

Working on Writing Observations

Summary Descriptions to Generalizations

Vivid Details versus "Objective" Language

Student Essay: Observation of a Place

"The Fields of Dreams" Hattie Wellington

Student Essay: Visual Analysis

"Web Pages in the Automobile Industry" Christopher Perin

Internet Resources

Web Sites Referenced in This Chapter

Links to the Readings

Assignments Using Observation

Assignments Working with Visual Materials

Assignments Working with Artifacts

Chapter 4. Interviewing

Ethical Considerations and the 4 C's of Responsible Interviewing

Staging the Interview

Stage 1. Thematizing: Crafting Two Kinds of Questions

Stage 2. Designing: Practical Matters

Stage 3. Interviewing: Semi-Structured Conversation

Stage 4. Transcribing: From Oral to Written Form

Stage 5. Analyzing: Paying Critical Attention

Stage 6. Verifying: Evaluating Your Findings

Stage 7. Reporting: Shaping for Audiences

Special Case: Focus Groups

Special Case: Oral Histories

Working on Writing Interviews

Form of Presentation

Quotations

Student Essay: Case Study Interview

"A Sociolinguistic Interview" Bryan McLucas

Sociolinguistic Interview Transcript

Student Essay: Oral History

"Columbine: A Day to Remember" Samantha Sanderson

Internet Resources

Web Sites Referenced in This Chapter

Links to the Readings

Assignments Using Interviewing

Assignments Working with Focus Groups

Assignments Working with Oral Histories

Chapter 5. Working with Numbers

Part I. Interpreting Numbers: Some Basics

Types of Numbers: Raw Numbers, Percentages, Measures of Central Tendency (Mean, Median, and Mode), Rates

Reading Survey Reports

Data Analysis

Data Analysis Example: A Survey of Students Attending Large and Small Schools

Part II. Collecting Your Own Numbers: Surveys

Steps for Conducting a Survey

Ethical Considerations

Working on Writing from Numbers

Acknowledging Limits

Incorporating Graphics

Student Essay: Survey

"Satisfaction Among First-Year University of Miami Students" Kenny Rosina

Rosina's Survey

Rosina's Data Table

Internet Resources

Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter

Links to the Readings

Assignments Working with Numbers

Assignments Working with Surveys

Chapter 6. Working with Texts

Part I. Inquiry into Texts

Part II. Close (or Critical) Reading

Facets of a Critical Reading

Special Material: Music and Public Speech

Special Material: Archives

Informal Archives

Library and Institutional Archives

Ethical Considerations

Working on Writing from Texts

Summarizing for Your Own Purposes

Accuracy in Representing Others

Balancing Your Words with the Words of Others

Student Essay: Textual Analysis of Literary Text

"The Freudian Uncanny in Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes" Stephen Fuller

Student Essay: Analysis of Spoken Language

"The Effects of Columbine" Samantha Sanderson

Internet Resources

Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter

Links to the Readings

Assignments Working with Texts

Assignments Working with Archives

Assignments Working with Music and Public Speech

Sample Projects

Project 1. The Water Project

Project 2. Local History

Project 3. Public Space

Project 4. Organizational Needs Assessment

Internet Resources Referenced in Sample Projects and Assignment Sequences

Assignment Sequences

Between Writing and Knowing

Collective Memory

Considering "Public"

Constructing Public Spaces

Cultural Politics and Public Discourse

Cultural Politics and Public Discourse II: Shaping Values

Direct Observation

Ethnicity in America: Identity

Ethnicity in America II: Defining America

Examining Visuals

Expanding a Trends Report

Eye on Campus

Gender Investigations

Histories: Official and Unofficial

Humanizing Numbers

Investigating Artifacts

Material Culture

Reading Media

Reclaiming the Past

Representing Community

Trying Out Interviews

Visual Rhetoric: Photographs

Working with Texts

Readings

"Courage, Endurance and Quickness of Decision: Gender and Athletics at the University of Chicago, 1890-1920"

"Narrating Cultural Citizenship: Oral Histories of First-Generation College Students of Mexican Origin"

"Developing a Visual Discourse on Immigration"

"Handmade by an American Indian": Souvenirs and the Cultural Economy of Southwestern Tourism

"Representative Form and the Visual Ideograph: The Iwo Jima Images in Editorial Cartoons"

"American History and the Structures of Collective Memory: A Modest Exercise in Empirical Iconography"

"Is This Song Your Song Anymore: Revisioning Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land"

"Forums for Citizenship in Popular Culture"

"Rap Music: The Cultural Politics of Official Representation"

"Representation of Women in News and Photos: Comparing Content to Perceptions"

"Common Landscapes as Historic Document"

"Colliding Feminisms: Britney Spears, "Tweens," and the Politics of Reception"

"The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes"

"Trends in Literature Participation, 1982-2002"

"The Truth of Material Culture: History or Fiction?"

"Public Memory and the Search for Power in American Historical Archaeology"

"Van Gogh in Alabama, 1936"

"Remembering the Discovery of the Watergate Tapes"

"Human Dignity and the Claim of Meaning: Athenian Tragic Drama and Supreme Court Opinions"

"A Bowlful of Tears Revisited: The Full Story of Lee Puey You's Immigration Experience at Angel Island"

Photo Credits

Index