English 225 Signature

Assignment: Writing
Studies Research Project
Purpose:
You will design and complete your own writing studies research project. In completing this project, you will develop and
practice skills in research methods, critical reading, writing in several genres, finding and ethically using sources, and many
other areas.

The Project:
In your mapping project, you established some scholarly territory in writing studies that you might want to explore. To design
and complete your own writing studies research project, you will enter a territory with a question or problem in writing studies
that you want to investigate. Projects on school writing are certainly welcome, but as Kinkead notes, writing studies is a “big
tent” and covers much more than school writing (69). Be creative and consider the sweeping landscape of writing studies.
Research something that interests you and that you think is important. Your finished product should resemble the exemplary
essays in Research Writing: An Introduction to Research Methods or the essays published in Young Scholars in Writing.

Authentic research includes both primary and secondary research. You will select the primary research method that is best
suited for the question or problem you are investigating:

 Analysis of text and discourse

 A case study
 Ethnography
 Archival research
 Mixed methods

You will submit a proposal that describes your project and your plan for completing it (complete proposal guidelines are
available in the Course Documents module).

You’ll also need to consider existing research and the conversation that already exists around your question or problem; that is,
you’ll need conduct secondary research. You’ll present your secondary research findings in an annotated bibliography
(complete annotated bibliography guidelines are available in the Course Documents module).

After conducting your primary and secondary research, you’ll present your findings in an essay.

The final draft of your essay should have a clear, specific, and arguable thesis that is supported with primary and secondary
research. Your research should be ethically conducted, including citing scholarly sources appropriately. You should
demonstrate your understanding of organization, development, and mechanics, producing polished final drafts.

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Other Requirements:
Length:
Your final draft should be at least 2,000 words. You must include a Works Cited page, but it does not count towards the length
requirement.

Sources and Citation:

All sources must be cited in MLA or APA style. The nature of your project will determine which sources you use, how many
you use, and which citation style you choose. You should have appropriate and sufficient sources to support your claim and
position your research within the existing scholarly conversation.

Submission Format:
The final draft of your essay should be submitted to Canvas as Word or PDF file.

Sample Grading Rubric:

Levels of Achievement
 Criteria Satisfactory, Passable, but Falling Work
Exceptional Work Work of Distinction
Average Work Unsatisfactory, Work

A B+ C+ D+ F

The essay has a clear The essay has a clear The essay's focus is Focus often isn't clear The essay lacks a
Purpose, focus that is focus but it lack vague or uninspired. or is simplistic. discernable focus.
Focus, and/or interesting, specific, specificity, insight, The focus is
Argument and arguable. The or tension. The focus sometimes not clear
focus is exceptionally is mostly clear throughout the essay.
clear throughout the throughout the essay.
essay.

Development The writer chooses The writer chooses The writer chooses The writer chooses The writer chooses
and Use of appropriate sources mostly appropriate some appropriate few appropriate inappropriate sources
Sources and effectively uses sources and mostly sources and sources and doesn’t or doesn’t use them
them to develop the effectively uses them sometimes effectively often use them to to develop the essay.
essay, including to develop the essay. uses them to develop develop the essay. Ideas are often not
positioning the Explanation of ideas the essay. Explanation Ideas are frequently developed, including
writer’s research may be inconsistent of ideas is not developed, missing supporting
within the existing but, for the most inconsistent, including missing details and examples
scholarly part, is sound. including missing supporting details and from sources where
conversation. Quotations are supporting details and examples from sources they would be
Thorough explanation integrated into examples from where they would be appropriate.
of ideas, including sentences, and their sources where they appropriate. Quotations are not
good use of relevance is would be appropriate. Quotations are not integrated into
supporting details and adequately Quotations are not integrated into sentences, and their
examples from explained. The writer always integrated into sentences, and their relevance is not
sources where uses a mix of sentences, and their relevance is not explained. The writer
appropriate. summary, relevance is not explained. The writer fails to use a mix of

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 Levels of Achievement
 Criteria Satisfactory, Passable, but Falling Work
Exceptional Work Work of Distinction
Average Work Unsatisfactory, Work

Quotations are paraphrase, and consistently fails to use a mix of summary,

integrated into quotation. explained. The writer summary, paraphrase, paraphrase, and
sentences, and their fails to use a mix of and quotation. quotation.
relevance is summary, paraphrase,
adequately explained. and quotation.
The writer uses a mix
of summary,
paraphrase, and
quotation.

Ideas are logically Ideas are mostly Ideas are sometimes Ideas are rarely There is no
organized, and the logically organized, logically organized, logically organized, discernible
transition from one and the transition and the transitions are and the transitions are organizational
idea to the next is from one idea to the sometimes missing or frequently missing or scheme. Essay is
Organization
smooth and orderly, next is usually in adequate. Essay is inadequate. Essay is consistently difficult
and
showing the consistent and shows sometimes difficult to often difficult to to follow.
Coherence
relationship between the relationship follow. follow.
ideas. Essay is easy to between ideas. Essay
follow. is mostly easy to
follow.

Sources are Sources are Sources are Sources are Sources are rarely or
documented in ways documented, but documented, but often inconsistently never documented.
that show a full sometimes in ways in ways that show documented and show
Citation understanding of that show lack of full lack of full a lack of
conventions of understanding of understanding of understanding of
documentation. conventions of conventions of conventions of
documentation. documentation. documentation.

Skillful use of voice Voice and style are Voice and style are Voice and style are Voice and style are
and style to articulate mostly skillful; few sometimes not often not adequate to inadequate to
the writer’s meaning; errors, posing little adequate to articulate articulate the writer's articulate the writer's
few errors, posing no impediment to the the writer's meaning. meaning. Frequent meaning. Frequent
Style and
impediment to the reader’s Errors are frequent; errors, often impeding errors, which
Mechanics
reader’s understanding. sometimes posing the reader's consistently impede
understanding. impediment to the understanding. the reader's
reader’s understanding.
understanding.