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.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Ryan,
ReplyDeleteI am looking for more technical details about how you are going to execute your think-aloud protocol. Will you be doing audio and video recording? Once you're done recording, what kind of coding system will you use to help you organize your data?
If you are doing a recording of your think aloud geared towards your revision process, that is fine, but from this posting, it isn't clear.
A writing sessions log seems like a good idea,but beyond the number of words and the choice to delete some words, what other data will you include in your log? Perhaps you can record yourself as you draft and revise your paper for several sessions. Then you can transcribe your recording. Perhaps Perl's coding system could help you devise a way to analyze your review process.
I hope this helps, but if you want to talk more, please post another response with potential questions you have.
Hi Joe,
DeleteThank you for the feedback, I went back and corrected what I wrote.
I will be using the think-aloud protocol when I am going to compose m essay. I’m going to be using an audio record to record all of my thoughts while composing my essay. I will ask myself questions like how am I going to put this essay together? What is the message that I am trying to portray in my essay? I am going to record myself analyzing the examples I put in the essay to get the deepest meaning I can out of them. Once I’m done recording myself, I will replay the recording and transfer the recording on to a sheet of paper.
ReplyDeleteThis is a copy of the link to my dropbox which contains my chart for the five days of writing in the data collection blog.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/222cry6u4b9fu8j/Data%20Collection%20Blog%201.docx
I will be using the think aloud protocol to compose my essay. During the span of my twenty minute protocol I will attempt to create a thesis and three strong points which can be elaborated on in my paper. Hopefully my phone will be able to record twenty minutes of audio. No worries. I will begin to explore past writing experiences and hopefully I will be able to find a connection between a few experiences. I will read Perl's articles to better prepare myself for the think aloud protocol. I would like to apologize in advance for the vulgarity that I'm sure will appear in my transcribed writing pieces.
ReplyDeleteI will be using the think aloud protocol to keep track of my writing. The other class I am taking is SLS, and I have a paper coming up this week. I will use audio to record myself as I write this essay. I will ask myself many questions throughout the protocol to keep myself organized. I will use my book to read and help me develop key ideas that I need to include in this paper. I will sit at my desk in my dorm with my book open as well as my computer open. I will read out loud from the book and then read what question I am being asked in the prompt. I will then talk about different ideas that come to me as well as what I think I should focus on. I will take any notes needed and then read them aloud. I think this way of planning will help me strategize well and write a very detailed as well as thought out essay.
ReplyDeleteFor my essay, I will be using the think-aloud protocol. For this protocol I will record the audio of myself for twenty minutes going through the text to analyze what is being given. I will use the text and my own experiences to formulate an essay with key points. I will come up with questions on what the text is trying to say and go deeper than just using the text. After I have finished recording I will listen to the recording and transfer what I said on to paper. By hearing myself talk out loud and hearing the questions I bring up, I will have a better awareness of where I will go with my paper. By tracing my thought process back and placing it on paper, I will be able to reference my ideas so I can be more efficient when writing my paper.
ReplyDeleteI will be making a chart that will organize all of my conversations for the five day period. The different categories on the chart will be the actual day, the time message was sent, the genre, audience, content of message, the purpose of the message and the location from which the message was sent. I will be using text messages, social networks like Facebook Twitter and messenger, and sent emails. I will be documenting every massage or status I send out publicly and privately. Since I do not have a mobile device that allows me to access social networks it will be easier to track my activity on social networks because they will all be on my laptop, I can easily transfer my messages to the chart, and I will document text messages at the end of everyday. The list will be in order of genre, this way it will be easier to track instead of having to put all activities in chronological order.
ReplyDeleteI have chosen to use the think-aloud protocol because I think it will be interesting to hear myself composing a paper. I will use the voice memo recorder on my phone. First, i will talk about the topic of my paper and figure out the point i will be wanting to make. I will ask myself about what i would like to hear if i was part of the audience. I will pick out the most important points and figure out how i am going to connect them all. Then i will think about how i am going to start the essay and how i will grasp the reader's attention by asking myself what would catch my attention. I will think back to what iv'e been through and the important moments in my life that had to do with the topic i am writing about. When the twenty minutes are over i will listen to myself and write down word for word everything that i said. By using this method i will be able to figure out what is missing and what i should use for the essay. By listening to myself i am acting as the audience and it will aid me in omitting the useless points and reassuring me on the points that should be highlighted. This without a doubt will help me write a more detailed and thorough essay.
ReplyDeleteI will be using the think aloud protocol to construct me essay. I will start recording my thoughts using a voice recorder from the beginning of my writing process, that includes my brainstorming and outlining of my paper. I will then record myself as i am actually writing the paper and revising it. While writing and revising the paper I will ask myself if I have done what I had planned in each paragraph and have I made all of the important points that I originally had intended. I will be using the think aloud protocol for my essay contest which is a fictional peice so I will be cheking to make sure Iused good description to set the scenes and make sure i have smooth transitions through the story. I will focus on making sure that I stick to my planning and outline, making sure that I do not veer too far away from my original plan. As I am revising my essay I will make comments as to what parts flowed well and sounded appropriate as well as comment and delete parts that do not flow well with the overall point of the paper. The final step would be to record myself while writing my final draft, comenting specifically on the parts that were added or removed and what the purpose was for the changes.
ReplyDeleteIn order to collect data for the process essay, I will be using a “writing log” in the form of a Microsoft Word table, which will fully detail all of my encounters with writing over a 5-day period. I believe this method will prove to be much more concise and easier to interpret as opposed to a recording of myself for a brief 20 minute span. The table will consist of: type/form of writing, audience affected, purpose, actual content, and location. With these 5 categories I should be able to pool enough information about my daily writing processes to construct an effective “Process Essay” As I expect, most of my entries into the table will be draw from text messages and social media, although the occasional grocery list or class writing assignment should appear.
ReplyDeleteHere is an example of the table I will be using to store my data:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xstbavva9qf1pn5/5-Day%20Writing%20Log.docx
I will be using the think-aloud protocol while I compose my contest essay. I will allow myself five of the twenty minutes to record myself planning out ideas for my writing aloud. I will most likely use my cell phone to do the recording, if possible. After the five minutes are up, I will actually write my essay as I gather and form my sentences aloud. I will be recording any judgments, positive or negative, that I may make about my written essay. I will also include moments where I backtrack and reread parts of my essay that was already on paper. After I have finished my twenty minutes of recording, I will transcribe my recording, taking note of everything that I say. To add to the collect information I will use the recording system explained in the reading to take count of each operation I perform. For example, I will create a chart with a column labeled “assessing”. If I hear myself assessing a portion of my essay I would count each time I use this method and record it in my chart. I will also refer back to my recording to record how long I spend using different writing operations. With this protocol I am pretty sure I will be able to get an understanding of how I carry out my writing process.
ReplyDeleteThis is my link to Drop Box
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/a50abvtkvrknskv/Coding%20Systems.odt?m
I chose to use the think-aloud protocol because I have never used this type of method to compose an essay and I think it will be very interesting in doing so. I will most likely be using the voice recording capabilities of my iPhone to record my data. I will use this method for brainstorming ideas and also writing my first draft of the essay. Even though I have never done this before, I believe that it will be a beneficial technique that I can use in the future. My essay prompt asks to describe your culture, customs and home life. I am going to start off by describing my home from the moment you walk in but in a fashion that it grabs the reader’s attention. Then I am going to use as much detail as I can in order to give the reader a thorough look at my home life and truly make them feel like they are standing inside my home. I will then talk about some experiences that I have had in my life that have to do with having a cultural background. I will finally end with how my culture has a set of rules that are universal and easy to follow. By listening to myself speak, I can get a good understanding of how the audience feels while reading my paper. After I listen to my recording, I will transcribe the recording from audio into text by typing it all up on a word document. I will then read the information, fix the errors as needed and finally make sure that the essay flows properly. After I am all done with a proper rough draft of my paper, I am going to record my essay once again in order to make sure that the essay makes sense when one is listening or reading it. Hopefully this exercise works for this paper and I will be able to use this method later as my college career progresses.
ReplyDeleteI will use the think-aloud protocol when writing my essay. The essay that I will write using this method will be the first draft of my contest essay. I will also use the Voice Memos app on my phone to record my thinking. My first thought for the paper will be the overall theme. This usually takes me 5-10 minutes as I brainstorm about the many potential themes for my paper. The next part would be to think about the 'attention grabbing' first sentence. This usually takes 2-5 minutes. For the rest of the 20 minutes, I will create the main points presented in my paper which will turn out to be first draft. During this process, I will also talk about my word choices and sentence structures as I am thinking about them. Obviously, mistakes will be made and my live reaction will be recorded and also my thinking process for correcting them. After the 20 minutes of recording is over, I will put the think-aloud protocol to use and listen to myself talk about the paper and then write down what I heard, word for word. By doing this, I will get a better understanding of my writing process as I am able to see it instead of just hearing it. This will also allow to temporarily become the audience and correct any mistakes made. After this, I will use a simplified version of Perl's coding method to analyze my writing process. The final step would be to write a final draft based on my voice recording and rough draft.
ReplyDeleteTo help with writing my contest essay, I will use the think aloud method and record my thoughts with my phone recorder as I speak them. Before I begin writing, I will set aside 10 minutes for prewriting planing. I will discuss to myself what topic I am writing about, to whom I am writing to, and what message I am trying to convey. During planing I will also figure out how I will lay out my writing. Going on from planing I will begin to write the main part of the essay, in which while writing I will ask questions to make sure there is a flow in my writing. I will question if that sentence make sense, if it flows properly with the sentence before and if it conveys the proper meaning to the audience. While writing I will try to read my sentences out loud to be able to pair them with the thoughts that went with them. In the end I will read my essay out loud. After the recording is complete I will listen to it and make sure the thoughts that I said out loud are properly conveyed in the essay. I will also figure out based on the questions I asked myself and the written material if there is more questions that I should ask myself, or if there are details missing that can be added. Then I will use the final recording of my essay being read out loud and follow along in the actual essay to make sure that there are no missing words or punctuation in the essay. Listening to my thoughts will help me figure out why I wrote the essay a certain way and help me figure out were I am lacking in details and planing.
ReplyDeleteI will use the think aloud protocol to compose my essay. The other class I am currently taking is SLS, so I will record myself talking a while I am writing the essay for that class. Before I construct my essay I will talk and write down ideas and thoughts to organize my essay. After I have my ideas and information to support my essay I will attempt to write and revise my essay with my SLS book open to get back up support to my essay. During my attempt to write my essay I will ask myself questions that will further better my essay writing as I go along. And any ideas that come to mind while writing my essay I will talk about in my recording. After I am finished I will write down word for word what I said in my recording. I will then revise anything I think could flow better. I am interested to see how speaking to myself affects my writing style and if it will make my writing style better if I didn’t talk to myself.
ReplyDeleteTo compose my essay, I will be using the think-aloud protocol. I will record my voice which would reveal my thought process for twenty minutes. Throughout my recording, I will consider the questions such as who is my audience? How will I portray my main message (exigence) to the reader? And other questions that address the rhetorical situation mentioned by Grant-Davie. I will use my phone to do a recording and I plan to record every process that comes with writing my essay such as the planning, drafting, revising, and monitoring part as mentioned by Tierney and Pearson. After I go back and listen to my recording I will use a coding system and organize it into a table and have different categories such as: how many times I have a long pause, go back and reread some parts, refer back to the prompt and the number of times I look back to my research that I have collected for my paper, and will keep a tally system in order to see my methods in organizing my essay. By recording myself, I will get to see my thought process and how I go about creating the first draft of my essay, and my main technique for writing which can help me in future papers I have to compose.
ReplyDeleteI will be using the think-aloud protocol when writing my essay. I will set aside 5 minutes before I begin recording myself so I cant brainstorm and think about exactly what I need to write about. I am going to use voice memo notes on my phone to record my thoughts out loud for 20 minutes. I will speak about various points of my main topic in my essay and go into details out load. Then after recording myself I am going to analyze how I organized my thoughts. Before I do that, I am going to transcribe all of my words spoken into a word doc. I might get side tracked during the voice memo but eventually I will hop on back on track. The point of this is so that I will be able to track my thoughts and improve my thought process. Its also a more efficient way for me to keep all my thoughts saved in case I make a point and forget it shortly after.
ReplyDeleteI will use the think aloud method. I will record myself for 20 minutes as I write my essay for the contest. I have a link to the codes I will use below. I will write down the codes based on what I'm doing and after each minute I will mark the time. I will re watch the video to transcribe the audio and mark the codes. I have a basic coding system planned for obvious tasks I will do while writing and I will add to the list as needed.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/b0nlk86vd9i4aor/Think%20Aloud%20Codes.pdf
I am going to record myself using the think aloud protocol. I might record more then 20 minutes of myself writing the literacy narrative, because I think 20 minutes doesn't portray a good enough scope of data. My code will include distractions, revisions and editing during the writing process and creation of content. In order to use this coding system I will need to transcribe my think aloud protocol and group thoughts into the specific codes they pertain to.
ReplyDeleteFor my essay I will be using the think aloud protocol to examine myself as a writer. I am going to record myself for twenty minutes while I am writing my contest essay. I will then listen back to the tape and transcribe my actions onto paper using the coding listed by Sandra Perl in the book (only 1-10). I feel that using this method will give me the best chance to really analyze what I was thinking each step of the way, and how I put my essay together. While I am writing I will ask myself question such as: "What am I trying to get across?", "How am I going to get it across?", "Where am I going with this?" , and "How could I improve my writing?". Thinking about these questions and other critical thinking questions will help me to analyze my writing better when I put it into coding. The coding will help me better understand how I think and put together ideas as a writer. This will allow me to better myself in the future by figuring out how I can improve my writing practices.
ReplyDelete