WR 2111: Designing Effective and Ethical Research Studies

What does it mean to explain science and technology through the lens of writing practices? Or, politics through the prism of social media communication? Or, medicine as a discourse between clinicians and patients? This course equips students with tools to interpret and explain their worlds by introducing research approaches commonly used in rhetoric, professional writing, and literacy studies. By experimenting with a range of methods for collecting and analyzing data (such as interviewing, archival work, grounded theory, ethnography), students develop and refine their own research project. In the process, students gain practice evaluating others’ research designs, as well as their own. Although this course focuses on topics central to the discipline of Writing & Rhetoric, it will be useful to any student whose future coursework or project work (e.g. IQP/MQP) will require critical reflection on the ethical and practical dimensions of conducting research. Students may not receive credit for both WR 2111 and WR 4111.