Writing Your Way to a Focused Research Question Dr. Erica Cirillo-McCarthy Assistant Director of Graduate and ADEP Writing

 Revisiting the writing process: Invention, Drafting, Revision, Editing  Writing as Inquiry  Recursive process of research, reading, and writing  CARS Model  Free writing/ Discussion

 Invention  Drafting  Revision  Editing

 Writing to synthesize concepts ◦ Complex writing takes multiple concepts and synthesizes them  Writing to map or organize concepts ◦ In order for your audience to understand the relationship between concepts, you need to organize them (keep in mind the rhetorical nature of organizing)  Writing to extend concepts and ideas ◦ Graduate writing builds upon existing ideas and concepts

 The Create A Research Space (CARS) Model (see Swales and Feak) ◦ Move 1 Establishing a territory ◦ Step 1 Claiming centrality (or importance, relevance, problematic) and/or ◦ Step 2 Making topic generalization(s) and/or ◦ Step 3 Reviewing items of previous research (obligatory)

 Move 2 Establishing a niche ◦ Step 1A Counter-claiming or ◦ Step 1B Indicating a gap or ◦ Step 1C Question-raising or ◦ Step 1D Continuing a tradition or extending previous knowledge (obligatory)

 Move 3 Occupying the niche ◦ Step 1A Outlining purposes(obligatory) or ◦ Step 1B Announcing present research (in some fields) ◦ Step 2 Announcing principal findings (in some fields) ◦ Step 3 Indicating Research Article structure (in some fields)

 Let’s take a close look at two published articles in Education and Organizational Behavior… ◦ Justice, Christopher, James Rice, Dale Roy, Bob Hudspith, & Herb Jenkins. “Inquiry-based learning in higher education: administrators’ perspectives on integrating inquiry pedagogy into the curriculum.” Higher Education 58 (2009): ◦ Heath, Chip & Sim B. Sitkin. “Big-B versus Big-O: What is Organizational about Organizational Behavior?” Journal of Organizational Behavior 22 (2001):

 Close reading will help you see the moves made in introductions  Read articles in your field’s top journals and see what moves scholars make as they create a research space  Try to emulate those moves  Do not try to reinvent the wheel – disciplinary conventions are there for a reason. You need to be able to recognize them and be comfortable recreating and adhering to the moves.

 Write about your research question including: ◦ What brought you to your research? ◦ What research are you aware of? Who are the scholars who do this type of research? Where do they publish? ◦ What research do they (the above scholars) rely on? ◦ How will you add to the discussion or conversation surrounding your research topic?

 Discussion/Questions

 References ◦ Stripling, Barbara K. "Inquiry-based Learning." Curriculum Connections through the Library. Eds. Barbara K. Stripling and Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Ann Arbor: Libraries Unlimited, ◦ Swales, John M. & Christine B. Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 2004.