From Inquiry to Academic Writing A Practical Guide

Beginning from the premise that academic writing is a conversation -- a collegial exchange of ideas, undertaken in a spirit of collaboration to pursue new knowledge -- From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Practical Guidedemystifies cross-curricular thinking and writing by breaking it down into a series of comprehensible habits and skills that students can learn in order to join the conversation.

STUART GREENE (Ph.D in Rhetoric, Carnegie Mellon University) is associate professor of English at the University of Notre Dame where he has served as the O'Malley Director of the University Writing Program and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in Arts and Letters. Among his co-edited volumes is Making Race Visible: Literacy Research for Racial Understanding, for which he won the National Council of Teachers of English Richard A. Meade Award in 2005, the forthcoming Connecting Home and School: Complexities, Concerns, and Considerations in Fostering Parent Involvement and Family Literacy. Editor of Literacy as a Civil Right, he co-directs a parent involvement project in the South Bend community.  APRIL LIDINSKY (Ph.D. Literatures in English, Rutgers University) is an associate professor of Women's Studies at Indiana University South Bend. She has published and delivered numerous conference papers on writing pedagogy, women's autobiography, creative non-fiction, and film, and contributed to several textbooks on writing. Her work has appeared in the journals Tranformations and the International Feminist Journal of Politics, as well as book-length collections. She has served as acting director of the University Writing Program at Notre Dame and has won awards for her teaching and research through Indiana University.

Preface for Instructors Part One: A Text on Academic Writing 1.   Starting with Inquiry: Habits of Mind of Academic Writers
What Is Academic Writing?
Academic Writers Make Inquiries
Academic Writers Seek and Value Complexity
Academic Writers See Writing as a Conversation
Academic Writers Understand That Writing Is a Process
Becoming Academic: Two Narratives
     *Richard Rodriguez, “Scholarship Boy”
     *Gerald Graff, “Disliking Books” 2.   From Reading as a Writer to Writing as a Reader
Reading as an Act of Composing:  Annotating
Reading as a Writer:  Analyzing a Text Rhetorically
     E.D. Hirsch, Jr., “Preface to Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know”
     *Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr., “Hirsch's Desire for a National Curriculum”
Writing as a Reader: Composing a Rhetorical Analysis
     *Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, “Agency” from Reading Autobiography  
     Barbara Ehrenreich, Cultural Baggage  3.   From Identifying Claims to Analyzing Arguments
Identifying Types of Claims
     Myra and David Sadker, “Hidden Lessons”
Analyzing Arguments
Analyze the Reasons Used to Support a Claim
Annotated Student Argument
     *Marques Camp, The End of the World May Be Nigh, and It's the Kindle's Fault
     *Analyzing and Comparing Arguments
     *Stuart Rojstczer, Grade Inflation Gone Wild
     *Phil Primack, Doesn't Anyone Get a C Anymore? 4.   From Identifying Issues to Forming Questions
Identifying Issues
     *Anna Quindlen, Doing Nothing Is Something
Formulating Issue-Based Questions
An Academic Essay for Analysis
     *William Derieswicz, The End of Solitude 5.   From Formulating to Developing a Thesis
Developing a Working Thesis: Three Models
Providing a Context for Stating a Thesis
Annotated Student Introduction: Providing a Context for a Thesis
     Jenny Eck “From Nuestra Clase: Making the Classroom a Welcoming Place for English Language Learners”
     Shirley Brice Heath, from “Protean Shapes in Literacy Events: Ever-Shifting Oral and Literate Traditions”
Annotated Student Essay: Stating and Supporting a Thesis
     *Veronia Stafford, “Texting and Literacy” (annotated student paper) 
       
6.   From Finding to Evaluating Sources
Identifying Sources
Developing Search Strategies
Evaluating Library Sources
Evaluating Internet Sources 7.   From Summary to Synthesis: Using Sources to Build an Argument
Summaries, Paraphrases, and Quotations
Writing a Paraphrase
Writing a Summary
     *Clive Thompson, The New Literacy
Writing a Synthesis
     *Cynthia Haven, The New Literacy: Stanford Study Finds Richness and Complexity in Student Writing
     *Josh Keller, Studies Explore Whether Internet Makes Students Better Writers
     *Dan Kennedy, Political Blogs: Teaching Us Lessons about Community
     *John Dickerson, Don't Fear Twitter
     *Steve Grove, You Tube: The Flattening of Politics
Integrating Quotations into Your Writing
Avoiding Plagiarism
Annotated Student Researched Argument: Synthesizing Sources
     *Nancy Paul, A Greener Approach to Groceries:  Community Based Agriculture in LaSalle Square 8.   From Ethos to Logos:  Appealing to Your Readers
Connecting with Readers: A Sample Argument
     James Loewen, “The Land of Opportunity”
Appealing to Ethos
Appealing to Pathos
Appealing to Logos: Using Reason and Evidence to Fit the Situation
Recognizing Logical Fallacies
     * Meredith Minkler, Community-Based Research Partnerships: Challenges and Opportunities
     *Appealing to the Eye: Visual Rhetoric 
     *“1 in 8” (advertisement)
     *Analyzing the Rhetoric of Advertisements
     *“You Have Your Best Ideas in the Shower”
     *Further Advertisements for Analysis    9.   From Introductions to Conclusions:  Drafting an Essay
Drafting Introductions
Developing Paragraphs
     Elizabeth Martinez, “Reinventing 'America': Call for a New National Identity
Drafting Conclusions 10.   From Revising to Editing: Working with Peer Groups
Revising versus Editing
The Peer Editing Process
Peer Groups in Action: A Sample Session
Annotated Student Draft
     Brett Preacher, Representing Poverty in Million Dollar Baby      
Working with Early Drafts      
     Tasha Taylor (student writer), Memory through Photography
Working with Later Drafts
     Tasha Taylor, Memory through Photography
Working with Final Drafts
     Tasha Taylor, Memory through Photography
Further Suggestions for Peer Editing Groups 11.   Other Methods of Inquiry: Interviews and Focus Groups
Why Do Original Research?
Getting Started: Writing a Proposal
Annotated Student Proposal
     Mary Ronan: Research Paper Proposal:  A Case Study of One Homeless Child's Education and Lifestyle
Interviewing
Using Focus Groups
      
Assignment Sequences Appendix: Citing and Documenting Sources
     The Basics of MLA Style
     The Basics of APA Style Index of Authors, Titles, and Terms