Hayes,
John R., and Linda S. Flower. "Uncovering Cognitive Processes in Writing: An
Introduction to Protocol Analysis." Research On Writing: Principles and
Methods. Peter Mosenthal, Lynne Tamor, and Sean A. Walmsley, eds. New York:
Longman, 1983. 207-220.
Tag: writing
Seasonal Visitors
Early in The Function of Theory in Composition Studies, Sánchez
discusses the differences between applying theory and writing
theory. He refers to Hairston’s "The Winds of Change," as a moment that
inaugurates "an enduring method for ‘doing’ composition theory: take a term or
concept from a more respected or respectable field such as philosophy and use it
to illuminate some aspect of composition studies" (12). The way of
theorizing about writing, according to Sánchez:
appropriate and apply, appropriate and apply. There follows a soft critique:
methods in scare quotes (i.e., "predominant ‘methods’") and, within a few pages,
a discussion of those who "have reasserted the importance of empirically
oriented theorizing" (13). Sánchez echoes
Linda Flower with his interest in ways "that composition theory might generate
new theories rather than retrofit existing ones" (14). I haven’t finished
reading The Function of…, but I’m wondering at the end of the first
chapter whether the retrofit and the new can coexist, whether they are hybrid
and integral.
Things II
Where we live now the office has new Pella windows. Lalo explained to
me that they have ties to Iowa and were, on that basis alone, compelled to order
and install Pella windows from
Pella, Iowa.
All of the other surfaces in the office are new, too: walls, flooring,
lights, outlets, wall plates, and so on. There are two windows. One
looks toward the house next door; the other faces the back yard–a marvelous
double lot overgrown with blackberries, wild garlic, wild grapes, choke
cherries, and so on. What we’ve gained in yard, however, we have compromised in
the kitchen and eating area. The office is a newly finished walk-in attic.
Neither of the windows is positioned such that a desk would sit comfortably in
front of it. This means that the pleasure of staring out through a Pella window
must be indulged on breaks, on intermittent standing stretching book-retrieving
breaks from whatever is happening at the wall-facing desk-table. Like the
fancy windows, this work space is, compared to all of the places we’ve lived in
Syracuse, "viewed to be the best."
Flower and Hayes, “Problem-Solving Strategies and the Writing Process”
Flower, Linda S., and John R. Hayes. “Problem-Solving Strategies and the Writing Process.” College English 39.4 (Dec. 1977): 449-461.
Rice, "Networks and New Media"
Rice,
Jeff. "Networks and New Media." College English 69.2 (Nov. 2006):
127-133.
Plotting Intensities
I first caught word over at
Junk Charts of
this infographical rendering (in the
Sunday Times) of a week of concert-going. The spread includes profound
thoughts, counts of the people on stage, quality arcs of each show, more
profound thoughts, entertaining phrases, profound guests on stage, and best
parts, all convoluted into charts, graphs, stacked bars, and bubbles. When
I first saw the quality arcs, I thought it would be cool to throw something like
that together to suggest rising and falling intensities over the course of a
graduate program of study. But heck, it took me four days to get around to
posting on these few pieces that churned through the aggregator on Sunday, so
it’ll be a few more days before I get around to drawing up quality arcs of my
own.
Scardamalia and Bereiter, "Levels of Inquiry in Writing Research"
Bereiter,
Carl, and Marlene Scardamalia. "Levels of Inquiry in Writing Research." Research
On Writing: Principles and Methods. Peter Mosenthal, Lynne Tamor, and Sean A.
Walmsley, eds. New York: Longman, 1983. 3-25.
Haynes, "Writing Offshore: The Disappearing Coastline of Composition Theory"
Haynes,
Cynthia. "Writing Offshore: The Disappearing Coastline of Composition
Theory." JAC 23.4 (2003):
667-724.
Berthoff, "The Problem of Problem Solving"
Berthoff, Ann E. "The Problem of Problem Solving." CCC 22.3 (1971):
237-242.
Disstraction?
I’ve refurbished the exam notes blog, Exam Sitting, and converted it to a
dissertation blog. I suppose I’ll use it to post notes and other gems of
speculation. I’ve never dissertated before, so it’s not entirely clear yet
just how useful such entries will be. All the same, I’m convinced of the
benefits that carried over from the exam note-keeping to the performance of the
exams themselves. And I appreciate that some processual transparency
allows others who might be interested in such a thing to see into what I’m
working on, what I’m thinking about. It also introduces a mild, supportive
form of accountability in that everything I do there is out in the open for my
committee to follow as they see fit.