Course Description
Provides a networked writing experience for completing a chapter of a dissertation. Writers will meet regularly with each other, have peer and faculty support, develop an IRB in conjunction with their chair, and develop knowledge of professional writing and research practices.
Course Overview
English 900: Dissertation Research will be a highly individualized course for advanced doctoral students. This course will focus on helping you develop a solid literature review. Whether you are writing a traditional dissertation or a 3-article dissertation, your research must be grounded on current research in the field. But it takes lot of reading and writing time to do that literature review. This course is designed to give you that time. You will spend all your work time for this course focused on your own individual dissertation project. You should think of this course as similar to an independent study because you will be deciding how you focus your time and attention for the course. Dr. Pagnucci will discuss your ideas and thinking with you over the course of the semester and provide you with feedback on your writing, but you will set the direction. At the end of the semester, each student will be asked to give a short presentation on their dissertation research.
It is my hope that this course will give you the time, space, and support you need to write a great dissertation literature review.
Course Philosophy
I design this and every course based on current pedagogical theory as well as my personal beliefs about teaching and scholarship. The works of Mikhail Bakhtin and Lev Vygotsky lead me to believe that learning takes place through social interaction. For this reason, active in-class discussion is essential by every class member. To facilitate this socially-based learning, students in this class will read and share their writings with each other. The work of other people in this course is just as valuable as works published by professional authors, and we will treat it as such. For this reason, adequate time will be allocated to read and discuss everyone’s writing for the class. As the teacher of this course, I will strive to make sure that all voices are heard and that no one voice is privileged, not even my own voice. Following the work of Kenneth Bruffee, Lisa Ede, and Andrea Lunsford, I’ll ask students in this course to work collaboratively to increase opportunities for dialogic thought.
Writing Process Pedagogy
This course is designed using a Writing Process Pedagogical approach. Writing Process scholars believe that the best way to learn to write is by writing and talking about your writing. I believe this is true with dissertation research too. As an advanced doctoral student, I believe you can learn best about how to write your dissertation by working on it and then discussing your progress in a small group of your classmates.