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Given our ability to communicate quickly and effectively through visuals such as signs and pictures, it is not surprising that graphical messages now permeate our technology-oriented culture. Magazines, television, and computers integrate text and graphics to convey information. As teachers of writing, we need to study and understand these visually enhanced texts, because they have become the standard for communication in our society. Beyond this, we should learn how to teach students about visual literacy and document design so that they can effectively interpret these visually enhanced texts and create documents that use visuals and words together; this will also prepare students for college writing and workplace writing. Naturally, there exists some uncertainty surrounding the inclusion of these ideas in first-year composition. First-year writing is already difficult to teach because colleges expect us to foster critical reading, critical thinking, and critical writing skills in students from a wide variety of disciplines. Compounding these challenges are large class sizes and shrinking budgets. However, many scholars assert that visual thinking is an essential part of the learning process and must be included in writing courses. Specifically, some scholars suggest that we should integrate visual literacy and document design into first-year composition courses to help students create effective documents for college and the workplace. This thesis explores the scholarship surrounding visual literacy, document design, and professional writing in first-year composition. The project underscores the importance of using students' visual thinking processes to help them organize and present information in college writing and beyond. / Master of Arts

This dissertation examines the integral role of identity in first-year composition, a crucial site of writing instruction predominantly taught by contingent, often inexperienced faculty. It explores how identity is manifested in composition textbooks, which are pivotal in transmitting knowledge about writing and pedagogy across various programs nationwide. Utilizing established identity theory, this project aims to establish a baseline for future research in identity and writing development. Chapter 2 lays the theoretical groundwork, drawing on the works of Gee, Ivanič, Matsuda, and Hyland to offer a comprehensive understanding of identity in writing. It explores generalized definitions of identity, delving deeper into its nuanced role in first-year writing classrooms. The chapter justifies the focus on identity due to its significant influence on the writing process and composition. The literature review in Chapter 2 synthesizes prominent theories, including Gee's "Identity as Discourse and Community," Matsuda's "Identity as Voice," Ivanič's perspective on "Identity and Writing," and Hyland's concept of "Academic Disciplinary Identity." This review also establishes key terminology such as discourse, voice, literacy, ideology, and identity, crucial for the study's context. Chapter 3 details the methodology, introducing the "Textbook Identity Analysis." This case study, using corpus linguistics software, analyzes key terms within the Norton Field Guide to Writing 4e with Readings. Drawing on Gee's "How to do Discourse Analysis," the method provides a baseline framework focusing on identity. Chapter 4 is divided into two sections for systematic data presentation and analysis. Chapter 4a focuses on the relationship between identity and literacy in the Norton Field Guide, examining their intersection and impact on first-year composition students. Chapter 4b shifts to analyzing discourse, ideology, and voice within the same textbook, exploring their implications on student writing experiences. Finally, Chapter 5 evaluates the findings, assessing the effectiveness on how identity manifests in the Norton Field Guide, and how the study could be applied to other texts, groups of texts, and fields of scholarship. It synthesizes the key insights, overarching themes, and implications of the study. This chapter provides practical insights for instructors and outlines future research, emphasizing a shift toward identity in future first-year composition texts.

abstract: My study examined Automated Writing Evaluation tools (AWE) and their role within writing instruction. This examination was framed as a comparison of 4 AWE tools and the different outcomes in the Writing Program Administrators “Outcomes Statement for First Year Composition” (the OS). I also reviewed studies that identify feedback as an effective tool within composition instruction as well as literature related to the growth of AWE and the 2 different ways that these programs are being utilized: to provide scoring and to generate feedback. My research focused on the feedback generating component of AWE and their relationship with helping students to meet the outcomes outlined in the OS. To complete this analysis, I coded the OS, using its outcomes as a reliable indicator of the perspectives of the academic community regarding First Year Composition (FYC). This coding was applied to text associated with two different kinds of feedback related AWEs. Two of the AWE used in this study facilitated human feedback using analytical properties: Writerkey and Eli Review. While the other 2 generated automated feedback: WriteLab and PEG Writing Scholar. I also reviewed instructional documents associated with each AWE and used the coding to compare the features described in each text with the different outcomes in the OS. The most frequently occurring coding from the feedback was related to Rhetorical Knowledge and other outcomes associated with revision, while the most common codes from the instructional documents were associated with feedback and collaboration. My research also revealed none of these AWE were capable of addressing certain outcomes, these were mostly related to activities outside of the actual process of composing, like the act of reading and the various writing mediums. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Composition 2017

Service-learning is the combination of traditional teaching methods with field-based learning and critical reflection (Hurd, 2008) and is popular in first-year composition (Deans, 2001). However, academic research on service-learning in first-year composition is relatively scarce and the most frequently-cited scholarship is at least a decade old (Adler-Kassner, Crooks & Watters, 1997; Deans, 2001; Haussamen, 1997). This study seeks to contribute to the scholarship on service-learning in first-year composition by exploring how stakeholders, including the instructor, the students, and the community partner, perceive the project's purposes and outcomes. To complete the service-learning requirement for the course in this study, students conduct a bystander intervention workshop for a small group of their peers that focuses on cultural humility and sexual assault prevention. In preparation for the service-learning project, students attend a bystander intervention training conducted by the [Women's Advocacy Program], a center on campus that specializes in violence prevention, LGBTQA rights advocacy, and promoting cultural humility on campus and in the surrounding community. In order to explore participants' experiences with the project, data was gathered through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and relevant artifacts, such as student work and course materials. In total, the study includes twenty-one participants, including the instructor, the community partner, and 19 students. Of the 19 students enrolled in the course, this research focuses on the experiences of five key informants (Bogdan & Bilken, 1997), who are referred to as “focal students” throughout the study. The findings of this study have implications for first-year composition instructors who engage in service-learning. Echoing previous research, this study finds that the relationship between the community partner and the instructor is an important factor in service-learning. Specifically, in this study, the instructor and the community partner design, implement, and assess the service-learning project collaboratively and have adapted the project over five semesters to ensure that it meets both their needs. The instructor and the community partner cite their collaboration as one of the reasons the project is successful. This study also reflects previous findings that indicate service-learning is more successful when it is integrated into the course curriculum. Students in this study feel that the project seems somewhat “separate” from the course, and perceive this lack of integration between the project and the course as one of the project's biggest weakness. A key finding of this study is that stakeholders in a service-learning project may not need to recognize or understand one another's perspectives about the project's purposes or outcomes in order for the the project to be successful. Previous research has suggested that service-learning projects are more likely to be successful if stakeholders understand one another's expectations for the project (Bringle, Clayton, & Hatcher, 2012; Deans, 2001), but this study suggests that this understanding might not be as essential to a service-learning project's success as previously thought. This study finds that participants perceive the project's purposes differently and have varying expectations about its outcomes. They make different and occasionally contradicting claims about which aspects of the project are effective or ineffective and they often indicate that they don't fully understand one another's perspectives on the project. Participants perceptions of the project are consistently divergent with one exception: they believe the instructor should continue teaching the project in future courses because they believe that the project is beneficial to their community, which suggests that participants don't need to understand one another's perspectives in order for the project to be successful.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on July 29, 2010). Department of English, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Stephen L. Fox, Susan C. Shepherd, Teresa Molinder Hogue. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70).

Recent research has suggested that building personal relationships with students and establishing "learning communities" may be one way to encourage students to persist in their studies beyond the first year. Because many institutions require students to complete one or more writing courses early in their careers, first-year composition instructors have the opportunity to interact with students as they first attempt to assimilate into the academic culture. Response activities--one of the key ways writing instructors interact with their students and ask their students to engage with one another--can be a be a way to both facilitate effective revision and foster a sense of community among students. Group conferencing, defined in this study as a meeting between an instructor and a small group of students in which the participants receive feedback on drafts from their group members and instructor simultaneously, is a promising strategy for achieving those goals effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this study was to use a teacher research/participant-observer methodology to examine group conferencing more expansively and thoroughly than previous researchers and depicting a broader range of the behaviors that characterized the conferences and including the students' perception of the activity. In order to achieve these aims, a group of eighteen first-year composition students participated in individual conferences, in-class peer response, and group conferences and completed reflective assignments about each activity's effectiveness. Recordings of the group conferences were reviewed for significant behavioral patterns and the students' written responses were analyzed for indications of positive and negative reactions to group conferencing. The results included many behaviors described by previous researchers as well as several additional behavioral patterns that indicated the activity could be an effective and unique feedback experience. Most notably, working side-by-side with the instructor seemed to enhance the quality of feedback the students were able to offer one another because the instructor was able to demonstrate appropriate response techniques, prompt for more detailed responses from the students, and reinforce the students' helpful contributions. The students' written responses indicated that they saw value in group conferencing and, in some cases, came to prefer it over other feedback activities. Further, the findings of this study suggest that group conferencing may provide opportunities for community-building not afforded by other response strategies.

With respect to matters of identities as a treacherous and sensitive subject in today’s college classroom, this project explores concepts like identity, otherness, resistance, otherization, writer’s identity, and identity negotiation; and interrogates how these concepts may affect learning and professional relationship among the class members in the First Year Composition Classroom. The crux of the argument in this research is that process and social construction collaborative pedagogies can be effective in negotiating the resistance and otherness manifesting from identity dichotomies in the First Year Composition classroom.