Data Collection
Your
first draft of the process essay is coming up, and I want to make sure
everyone is taking an approach to gather some significant personal data
about their own writing process. There are two approaches I suggest for
gathering data. The first approach calls you to do a think-aloud
protocol. This involves recording yourself talk aloud as you write a
different paper. You might do a think-aloud protocol by recording
yourself for twenty minutes as you compose your contest essay. Of course
if you are taking another class and have an essay assigned for that
class, you can do your think-aloud protocol for that other assignment.
Please review Sondra Perl's article (pages 191-214) for a concrete
example of how a think-aloud protocol might work.
After completing your recording, you are expected to transcribe the recording (this means that you listen to the recording and copy everything you say word for word). Your transcription should not be edited at all, so if you accidentally use a curse word in the moment of thinking through your essay, you should include the exact curse word in your transcript.
Your other choice for collecting data for your process essay is to develop and keep a writing log for at least five days. Your task is to log and organize all of the writing you do for a period of five days. From grocery lists to text messages and tweets, you must compile and organize everything you write for the five day period. Additionally, you must develop a method of organization to help you manage this data. One possibility is to use a spread sheet and identify the writing situation according to the rhetorical situations you are writing for. You might create several columns including the following headings to identify purpose, audience, location where writing happened, and so forth.
What's important is that you develop a way to examine your writing practice from a somewhat objective perspective. Obviously, there is no such thing as perfect objectivity, but your protocol or your writing log should give you a different perspective regarding your writing process.
For this posting, you are called to work out the details of how your self-study will work. I want lots of details about how you will undertake this project. If you are doing the think-aloud protocol, you might want to develop a simplified version of Perl's coding system on pages 196-198 of your text. If you are doing a writing log, you should clearly show how your log will be organized.
You grade for this posting is determined by how detailed you are in explaining and showing how your protocol or writing log will work. Simply stating that you will be following closely with Perl's protocol procedure will not cut it.
After completing your recording, you are expected to transcribe the recording (this means that you listen to the recording and copy everything you say word for word). Your transcription should not be edited at all, so if you accidentally use a curse word in the moment of thinking through your essay, you should include the exact curse word in your transcript.
Your other choice for collecting data for your process essay is to develop and keep a writing log for at least five days. Your task is to log and organize all of the writing you do for a period of five days. From grocery lists to text messages and tweets, you must compile and organize everything you write for the five day period. Additionally, you must develop a method of organization to help you manage this data. One possibility is to use a spread sheet and identify the writing situation according to the rhetorical situations you are writing for. You might create several columns including the following headings to identify purpose, audience, location where writing happened, and so forth.
What's important is that you develop a way to examine your writing practice from a somewhat objective perspective. Obviously, there is no such thing as perfect objectivity, but your protocol or your writing log should give you a different perspective regarding your writing process.
For this posting, you are called to work out the details of how your self-study will work. I want lots of details about how you will undertake this project. If you are doing the think-aloud protocol, you might want to develop a simplified version of Perl's coding system on pages 196-198 of your text. If you are doing a writing log, you should clearly show how your log will be organized.
You grade for this posting is determined by how detailed you are in explaining and showing how your protocol or writing log will work. Simply stating that you will be following closely with Perl's protocol procedure will not cut it.
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ReplyDeleteFor this assignment I am doing the writing log. To organize my data, I will be using a Google Docs spreadsheet. To create the spread sheet, I first thought about what I typically write on a daily basis then made them into categories for a table. My categories are Communication, Planning, School, Social Media, and Other. The Communication categories includes any written communication I have with anyone such as texting, emailing, or writing a letter. The Planning category is for anything I am writing down while planning. I made this a separate category because at the moment I am planning multiple events for my sorority such a socials, parties, and gatherings. That means I write a lot of lists, information about the event, prices having to do with the event, and so on. I have a binder full of thing for my events so that is where most of my writing for the Planning category will be coming from. The School category will include anything writing I have to do for school such as notes, assignments, essays, or even these blogs posts. The Social Media category is for anything a write on a social media website such as tweets sent, status updates, Instagram caption, and so on. The only social media I go on are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram but I go on them a lot. Even though most of the stuff I post on social media would be considered communication, since I go on it so much I thought it would be better to separate the two. Lastly, I added an Other category. That category is for if I am writing something and feel like it doesn't belong in one of the four main categories, I can still write it in the log without making a whole new category. I don't think I will be using that category much though because most of the writing I do on a daily basis would be in those four main categories.
ReplyDeleteThen I separated the days into separate sheets and labeled them accordingly. For example, the first sheet is labeled Day 1 (2/13). In each sheet, there is one large table separated into the five categories going across; Communication, Planning, School, Social Media, and Other. Underneath each of those categories going across are What Was Written, Audience, Location, and Why. Under each of these going down will be the different pieces of writing I have done. For What Was Written, I will put a brief description of what I wrote like “Sent Tweet” or “Notes for Math”. For Audience I will put who the writing was directed to. For example, if I texted Rochelle, my audience would be Rochelle. Location is for where I did the writing such as my room or in class. Lastly, Why is for the purpose of that writing. For example, for “Emailing my professor” the purpose would be to ask a question.
After thinking about writing that could be in two categories, I made up some rules. Anything sent through Facebook messenger is considered Communication, not Social Media. Any emails sent having to do with my event planning will still go under Communication even though it has to do with my planning. Tweet responses are considered Social Media even though it's a way of communication. These will also be labeled "Tweet responses" and not "Tweets sent".
I am using Google Docs Spreadsheet because it is connected to my phone so if I am away from my computer and am writing something down, I can log it into my phone. The link to my log is:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmnbsL2sJZ-7dHhoOERaWGFCOG82NUozUy1ONEpZU2c&usp=sharing
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ReplyDeleteI will organize my writing with a writing log. I use google Drive with almost everything I do for school, so I will use that to organize my writing. I think the best way to organize is in folders. The folders will be labeled as follows:
ReplyDeleteWRITING LOG - Parent folder
1.Coursework
a. Class Notes
b. Assignments
c. Other
2. Emails/Internet correspondence
a. Academic/Professional
b. Personal
3. Lists/Reminders
4. Phone/Phone Apps
a. texts
b. postings
I will do entries by google documents. The title of the document will contain the date of the writing. I will make a template for storing the writing in the folders. The template will have the following headings to be filled in for each entry:
Purpose:
Audience:
Location:
Time:
Anxiety Level: 1 2 3 4 5
Comments:
I want to include the comments section to record any additional relevant information regarding the writing. I plan to put my feelings, so to speak, about the writing in this section. I know that I struggle with procrastinating because I dislike writing so much. I want to see how my feelings about writing relate to the time of day I write and how easily the writing comes to me. I know for certain that the audience affects my anxiety level, but it will be interesting to see it organized.
For this assignment I am going to do a detailed writing log. I am going to create an excel spreadsheet in order to organize my data. I am going to have three major categories; school work, personal organization, and communication. My school work category will contain any written work that I do academically, such as tests, note taking and even writing blogs. My personal organization category will contain lists that I create on my phone or on paper. The communication category will keep track of the emails, letters and texts I send.These three categories are going to be the documented in three separate spreadsheets. Each spreadsheet is going to have rows titled day one, day two, day three, day four and day five. Each column is then going to contain five sub categories titled content, purpose setting, enjoyment and reflection. Content is going to briefly describe what the writing was. Purpose will explain why the writing was conducted. Setting will describe where and when the writing took place. Enjoyment will express if I enjoyed the writing and to what extent. Reflection will allow me to express brief thoughts about the writing I conducted. What I desire to get out of this writing log is a better understanding of the writing I do daily. I don't consider myself a big writer, but I know this log will prove to me that writing is a daily necessity and an activity that I truly enjoy.
ReplyDeleteFor the upcoming essay I decided that I would do a think-aloud protocol. I have an essay due in American History in a couple weeks on Theodore Roosevelt, and I thought it'd be a good way for me to get started on that essay, while working on this one as well. For the think-aloud protocol I would record myself using my phone. My coding system will include planning, rereading the prompt, writing, editing, and off topic comments. Then when I type up my manuscript I will color code each category. (Planning - Red, Rereading - Blue, Writing - Green, Editing - Yellow, and Off Topic - Purple)
ReplyDeleteWhitney Barnes
ReplyDeleteI will be using the think-aloud approach exhibited in Sondra Perl’s study in order to collect my data. I will be using the process essay as the base of what I will be planning out during my think aloud session. I chose to use the process essay because this think-aloud session will be a component I use when I begin to formally write my process essay. I will be recording myself for 20-30 minutes on my IPhone as well as using the photo booth application on my MacBook Pro. This way I have both audio and visual data that I can analyze, transcript, and then interpret through coding. I’m going to conduct this experiment in my room where there is complete silence and little room to get distracted. I’m going to aware my roommates of this assignment so that I am not disturbed during my think-aloud process. I will begin the protocol as I would any essay by planning in my mind rather than creating a written outline. I will then begin to write down my thoughts and as time goes on they will began to form together into a concise essay. I plan to print out the process essay’s prompt and have it next to me at all times so that I can refer to the prompt when necessary. After I undergo my think-aloud protocol I will listen to the audio then watch the video. Having both an audio and visual version will allow me to make a more detailed transcript. After typing my transcript out verbatim I will then decode my thoughts, words, and actions to a format the reader will be able to understand. I am using a similar coding to the one we used in class when we practiced conducting a think-aloud.
CODING: planning/thinking (red), writing (blue), reading (green), editing (yellow), talking (purple), breaks/silence (orange)
On this assignment I will be doing a think-aloud protocol. I will be using a government paper about the drinking age remaining at twenty-one for this protocol. I chose to do it on my government paper so I could start working on that assignment. I am going to record myself on my phone for fifteen minutes and then watch myself to see what movements or thinking I did. I will be completing this assignment in the library so none of my friends can distract me. I will start writing the think-aloud by taping myself. After watching the tape, I will write down every single movement or words I did or said. I will write down every time I look down, get distracted, look at phone, etc. After I write the think-aloud I will review the overall assignment and make sure I did not miss any steps.
ReplyDeleteFor this assignment i'am selecting the writing log. To orgainize myself for this assignment i will be using a spread sheet from Microsoft Excel. This will be orgainized as such: Coursework, Email/Texts, and Social Media. The "course work" section will track all of my student studies such as: class notes, free writes, quizzes/tests, and other written assignments that took place in regards to schooling. The "email/text" section will track all emails that i have composed or replied to, text messages that i have been sent via my cell phone. The "social Media" section will track all outgoing messages, friend requests, photo comments etc. on my Facebook (being that Facebook is the only social media network that I have) Each section will have 4 subsections that list "what was written", "Audience" (Who the writing is directed towards), "Location" (where the writing took place), and "why" (the reason for writing the actual writing piece). To further sophisticate my writing log, at the bottom of my spread sheet i have the dates of February 12th-17th to show what day the actual writing took place.
ReplyDeleteBlakley Wilcocks
ReplyDeleteI'm doing a quite simple think aloud protocol for a paper due for my American History course. The prompt is: "Compose an essay in which you consider the first and second stages of American auto-mobility and the Progressive Era, 1900-1920." The protocol will consist of 4 colors of coding. The 4 categories will be Planning (BLUE), Writing (GREEN), Distracted (RED), and Editing (PURPLE). I will break up the think aloud protocol in paragraphs and each paragraph will represent 5 or 10 minutes, depending on how long the tape is will determine whether it is 5 or 10. I will jot down everything I either said or did. If it was something I did, it will be in parentheses. Nothing too complicated, it should be pretty straight forward. I will have a legend or key at the header of the paper so you won't get confused.
Daniel Healy
ReplyDeleteFor collecting my data I will be using the think-aloud protocol. For the protocol, I will be using a coding system that will identify sections where I am planning, writing, reading, editing, talking, writing and talking together, editing and talking together, and random. After I have made my audio recording I will transcribe it into words and then identify every section of my coding system that applies by color coordination. I will have planning has yellow, writing as green, reading as blue, editing as purple, talking as red, writing and talking together as orange, editing and talking together as brown, and random as black. I will be using an audio recording device as well as my computer’s dictation feature so I won’t have to type it all and will only have to fix errors the computer made (the computer will type what I say). I don’t have any current writing assignments or essays for any other class other than this assignment for this class. So, I will most likely find another contest online and plan for it in order to complete my think-aloud protocol.
Christopher Parker
ReplyDeleteI have selected the writing log for this assignment. My log will be in an excel file, with the dates that I will be logging along the top, and the separate categories that I am writing about. The categories from top to bottom are: the writing itself (along with the medium of the writing, be it a text message, portions of an essay, notes, etc.), purpose (why was it written), location (where it was written, what environment), tone of the writing (how is it written, conversational, informal, formal), and audience (who the writing is for). The writing log itself is formatted where each piece of writing for that day will be given a letter (a, b, c, etc.) and the other sections will give explanations corresponding to that letter for that writing under that date. It will look something like this:
Writing - a. "Hey, hows it going?" (Text message)
Audience- a. Friend
For my process essay I have been keeping a writing log. I have been using Microsoft Office to record my writing. My log is organized by the date and then under each date are different categories for the type of writing: school work, reminders, social media, texts, and miscellaneous. From there I have created several columns in which to analyze my various writings which are, purpose, audience, location, mind-set, time of day, duration, and comments. I have all of this information arranged into a table that is at the beginning of every date. All of my texts and social media postings will be typed and included in the table along with reminders that I have written for myself. As for my notes I have scanned them and inserted the images below the table.
ReplyDeleteI will be doing a think aloud protocol for my upcoming essay in business CGS. Similarly to our class exercises, I will color different sections for planning, writing, reading/review, editing, irrelevant, and others. Planning shall be green, writing will be red, reading/review will be yellow, editing will be blue, irrelevant will be purple, and so on. The essay for my business CGS class is the semester project. The prompt asks me to compare humans and computers in various sections such as: input, output, memory, and communication. Instead of writing the essay or planning for it like I usually do, I will record myself speaking for twenty minutes, or as long as I can stay focused for, and then I will write down everything I said from my recording. This is a great project to do this on because the essay is worth ten percent of my entire grade for this class and this should help me perform better and receive a better grade.
ReplyDeleteJoe Amico
ReplyDelete-------------------------------
For my upcoming History paper about Bob Marley I will be doing a think aloud project. I I will simply look at 4 different categories of a few 8-10 minute typing sessions. I will categorize them as follows:
D(distraction)
E(editing)
TB(taking break)
TO(thinking outloud)
I will basically break up each different session into a paragraph representing 8-10 minutes of the process. Just about everything heard on tape will be coded, and will help analyze the different habits I have while typing a paper. A key will be provided at the bottom of the page to let the audience know what each phrase means.
For this assignment I will be doing a think aloud protocol on my process essay. I will record myself talk aloud and asking the opinions of my roommates as I always do. I will then listen to the recording and writing out exactly what I hear. The categories I will later break everything up into will be
ReplyDeleteW(writing)
E(editing)
U(unrelated)
T(thinking)
A(asking)
I will highlight each category in a different color and then write out a coded paper to see if there are any patterns to help better understand my writing style.