Format: Paper (>4 pages) or Digital Equivalent (>8 minutes)
Rough Draft: November 27, 2021 [Blackboard]
Polished Draft: December 11, 2021 [Blackboard]
WRITING TASK
The Autoethnography project asks you to document your research and writing process. You will use data you collect from your writing this semester to compose a representation of your academic writing process. In the Autoethnography you will discuss your expectations for the course projects, the questions or problems you addressed, your approach to addressing the writing tasks, and the results or writing you did. Importantly, however, your focus for this project will be on the process of conducting the research, arriving at the results, and composing the project rather than on the content of the project.
APPROACHES
Use data you gather about your writing process to start to draw conclusions, just as you did with your primary and secondary research in your course projects this semester.
- You might think of the Autoethnography project as showing an audience of inexperienced researchers how you addressed a researched project so as to provide helpful tips and tricks for their research.
- You can also approach this project as an analysis of your growth as a writer throughout this course and consider your audience your instructor and yourself.
POSSIBLE DATA COLLECTION POINTS COULD INCLUDE
You might begin by reviewing your Writer’s Journal for key moments or ideas about your writing process. Feel free to use material from any writing you’ve done this semester, whether it is formal or informal, turned in to your instructor or not.
Qualitative
- Reflections and predictions you made in writing journal posts and other writing tasks
- Feedback received from your instructor and peers in discussion and on drafts
- Your writing itself (major projects, posts, etc.) and the revisions (from draft to draft) you made to your writing
- Habits, settings, or other conditions you noticed you favored or took on while writing this semester
Quantitative
- The number of drafts completed for each project
- The time spent on your writing process
- Any changes (increases, decreases) between the number of drafts/time spent
CITATION EXPECTATIONS FOR THE AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
As is true with any data, you can and should include quotations, charts, figures, or other examples to demonstrate your analysis. If you are referring to a specific piece of writing please “cite” it in parentheses in your project. You do not need to include a Works Cited/References page unless you’re citing secondary sources beyond your own writing or feedback you received.
Examples
- (“Week 1 Writing Journal Post”)
- (“Research Project Rough Draft”)
- (“Literacy Narrative Polished Draft”)