Composing Inquiry: Methods and Readings for Investigation and Writing Book

Preface     ix
Acknowledgments     xiii
Introduction     1
What's Inquiry?     1
Why Inquiry; Why Composing?     3
Literacy     3
Reading and Writing Together     6
Strategies for Active Reading     6
Posing Questions     11
Using This Book     16
Inquiry and the Internet     18
Internet Resources     18
Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter     19
Presenting Inquiry: Rhetorical Choices and Writing Issues     20
What Does Audience Have to Do With It?     20
Discourse Communities and Genre Expectations     22
Framing Your Work     25
Developing an Argument Through Analysis     29
Including the Work of Others: Paraphrases, Quotations, Citations     31
Arrangement     33
Foregrounding     33
Headings     34
Transitions     35
Clarity and Style     39
Sentence Length     39
Word Choice     39
An Eye Toward Revision     42
Internet Resources     45
Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter     46
Observing     47
Special Materials: Visuals     53
Special Materials: Artifacts     63
Ethical Considerations in Observing     67
Working on Writing Observations     69
Summary Descriptions to Generalizations     70
Vivid Details versus "Objective" Language     72
Student Essay: Observation of a Place     74
"The Fields of Dreams" Hattie Wellington     75
Student Essay: Visual Analysis     78
"Web Pages in the Automobile Industry" Christopher Perin     78
Internet Resources     82
Web Sites Referenced in This Chapter     84
Links to the Readings     84
Assignments Using Observation     84
Assignments Working with Visual Materials     85
Assignments Working with Artifacts     85
Interviewing     86
Ethical Considerations and the 4 C's of Responsible Interviewing     88
Staging the Interview     90
Thematizing: Crafting Two Kinds of Questions     90
Designing: Practical Matters     92
Interviewing: Semi-Structured Conversation     95
Transcribing: From Oral to Written Form     96
Analyzing: Paying Critical Attention      98
Verifying: Evaluating Your Findings     98
Reporting: Shaping for Audiences     99
Special Case: Focus Groups     99
Special Case: Oral Histories     101
Working on Writing Interviews     102
Form of Presentation     102
Quotations     103
Student Essay: Case Study Interview     106
"A Sociolinguistic Interview" Bryan McLucas     106
Sociolinguistic Interview Transcript     109
Student Essay: Oral History     114
"Columbine: A Day to Remember" Samantha Sanderson     114
Internet Resources     118
Web Sites Referenced in This Chapter     118
Links to the Readings     118
Assignments Using Interviewing     118
Assignments Working with Focus Groups     119
Assignments Working with Oral Histories     119
Working with Numbers     120
Interpreting Numbers: Some Basics     121
Types of Numbers: Raw Numbers, Percentages, Measures of Central Tendency (Mean, Median, and Mode), Rates     121
Reading Survey Reports     124
Data Analysis     130
Data Analysis Example: A Survey of Students Attending Large and Small Schools      132
Collecting Your Own Numbers: Surveys     136
Steps for Conducting a Survey     138
Ethical Considerations     144
Working on Writing from Numbers     145
Acknowledging Limits     146
Incorporating Graphics     149
Student Essay: Survey     152
"Satisfaction Among First-Year University of Miami Students" Kenny Rosina     152
Rosina's Survey     156
Rosina's Data Table     158
Internet Resources     159
Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter     159
Links to the Readings     159
Assignments Working with Numbers     159
Assignments Working with Surveys     160
Working with Texts     161
Inquiry into Texts     162
Close (or Critical) Reading     166
Facets of a Critical Reading     169
Special Material: Music and Public Speech     173
Special Material: Archives     176
Informal Archives     176
Library and Institutional Archives     177
Ethical Considerations     181
Working on Writing from Texts     182
Summarizing for Your Own Purposes     182
Accuracy in Representing Others      185
Balancing Your Words with the Words of Others     190
Student Essay: Textual Analysis of Literary Text     192
"The Freudian Uncanny in Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes" Stephen Fuller     192
Student Essay: Analysis of Spoken Language     202
"The Effects of Columbine" Samantha Sanderson     202
Internet Resources     205
Web Sites Referenced in this Chapter     205
Links to the Readings     206
Assignments Working with Texts     206
Assignments Working with Archives     207
Assignments Working with Music and Public Speech     207
Sample Projects     208
The Water Project     208
Local History     211
Public Space     214
Organizational Needs Assessment     216
Internet Resources Referenced in Sample Projects and Assignment Sequences     220
Assignment Sequences     221
Between Writing and Knowing     222
Collective Memory     226
Considering "Public"     231
Constructing Public Spaces     235
Cultural Politics and Public Discourse     239
Cultural Politics and Public Discourse II: Shaping Values      243
Direct Observation     247
Ethnicity in America: Identity     250
Ethnicity in America II: Defining America     253
Examining Visuals     255
Expanding a Trends Report     260
Eye on Campus     265
Gender Investigations     269
Histories: Official and Unofficial     272
Humanizing Numbers     275
Investigating Artifacts     279
Material Culture     283
Reading Media     286
Reclaiming the Past     290
Representing Community     294
Trying Out Interviews     298
Visual Rhetoric: Photographs     301
Working with Texts     305
Readings
"Courage, Endurance and Quickness of Decision: Gender and Athletics at the University of Chicago, 1890-1920"   Robin F. Bachin     309
"Narrating Cultural Citizenship: Oral Histories of First-Generation College Students of Mexican Origin"   Rina Benmayor     326
"Developing a Visual Discourse on Immigration"   Leo R. Chavez     346
"Handmade by an American Indian": Souvenirs and the Cultural Economy of Southwestern Tourism   Leah Dilworth     357
"Representative Form and the Visual Ideograph: The Iwo Jima Images in Editorial Cartoons"   Janis L. Edwards   Carol K. Winkler     369
"American History and the Structures of Collective Memory: A Modest Exercise in Empirical Iconography"   Michael Frisch     391
"Is This Song Your Song Anymore: Revisioning Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land"   Mark Allan Jackson     413
"Forums for Citizenship in Popular Culture"   Jeffrey P. Jones     433
"Rap Music: The Cultural Politics of Official Representation"   Julia Eklund Koza     446
"Representation of Women in News and Photos: Comparing Content to Perceptions"   Maria Len-Rios   Shelly Rodgers   Esther Thorson   Doyle Yoon     465
"Common Landscapes as Historic Document"   Peirce Lewis     479
"Colliding Feminisms: Britney Spears, "Tweens," and the Politics of Reception"   Melanie Lowe     494
"The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes"   Catherine A. Lutz   Jane L. Collins     510
"Trends in Literature Participation, 1982-2002"$dNational Endowment for the Arts     530
"The Truth of Material Culture: History or Fiction?"   Jules David Prown     541
"Public Memory and the Search for Power in American Historical Archaeology"   Paul A. Shackel      554
"Van Gogh in Alabama, 1936"   Steve Spence     575
"Remembering the Discovery of the Watergate Tapes"   David Thelen     597
"Human Dignity and the Claim of Meaning: Athenian Tragic Drama and Supreme Court Opinions"   James Boyd White     625
"A Bowlful of Tears Revisited: The Full Story of Lee Puey You's Immigration Experience at Angel Island"   Judy Yung     642
Photo Credits     625
Index     627