2. JOURNAL
How did you decide on the topic that you’re exploring through your
inquiry paper? What databases did you search? Did you look at the
Works Cited pages of your articles? How did you know that this
issue is important to your field? What does exploring this issue help
you learn about your major?
Write 1-2 paragraphs in response to these questions. You don’t have
to answer all of them, and you don’t have to answer them in order.
3. PUTTING THINGS TOGETHER
1. Open up a new Word document. Save it as “Final Project”
2. Open your preliminary genre analysis, your annotated bibliography,
and your line of inquiry paper. Minimize them.
3. Now get ready to copy and paste stuff from the other documents
into your new document. This will be fun!
4. FROM YOUR GENRE ANALYSIS PAPER
Copy the introduction and paste it into the new document. It should
be something like this:
Genres are a way of communicating within a discourse community. These genres are not static but dynamic.
According to Amy Devitt “Genres develop, then because they respond appropriately to situations that writers
encounter repeatedly. In principle, that is, writers first respond in fitting ways and hence similarly to recurring
situations” (576). These changes cause a need to analyze genres to be able to understand them. In order to
successfully join a discourse community one must understand the genres that this community uses. Devitt,
Bawarshi and Reiff state “Genre study gives us specific access to the sites of language use that make up
communities, in all their complexity” (549). Using this knowledge and access that studying genre brings we
may then be able to enter into a discourse community.
Since, According to various genre theorists, genres reveal useful information regarding the values and goals of
discourse communities, I will be using the genre of a community that I plan to enter as a way of analyzing how
to communicate with that group. I have chosen to study engineering as a discipline, because it is a field I am
interesting in. In order to analyze appropriate methods of communication for that group, I will be analyzing
three articles from the field, looking specifically at the genre setting, participants, features, subjects, patterns.
5. FROM YOUR GENRE ANALYSIS PAPER
Copy the rest of your genre analysis, and paste it below
the introduction of your new document. Essentially, you
should have copied the entire genre analysis onto a new
document. Keep the formatting of the genre analysis
document, if you’d like.
6. AFTER THE LAST PARAGRAPH OF YOUR GENRE
ANALYSIS
1. Add a new heading in bold. Something like “From Genres to Arguments: The
Structure of Roller Coasters”
2. Copy the introduction from your annotated bib and paste it underneath this new
heading. It should look something like this:
After exploring genres common to the field of Mechanical Engineering through a preliminary genre analysis, I
continued to analyze the language and genres of my field by tracing a mechanical concern relevant to engineers.
To do this, I have gathered articles relating to the connection between structural stress analysis and amusement
rides, such as roller coasters. I have found numerous of academic articles pertaining to this topic, and have traced
the consistencies and patterns that are common to these articles. Through my research, I have found sources that
discuss the research of peak stress analysis in structures (Atzoria et al.; Meneghettia et al.;Wang et al.), as well as
documentation of safety protocol (ASTM International; NSPE), which is applied in the industrial world through
amusement parks such as Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Alton Towers (Ogando; Professional
Engineering). These sources have assisted me in identifying the various aspects of this issue in relation to the
field of mechanical engineering. In addition, these articles have helped me to continue to explore the genre
conventions that I will need to learn as I begin to enter a new community in my major.
7. THEN…
Copy and paste the paragraph that you wrote in your journal today. This
paragraph should go right underneath the intro to your annotated bib.
After exploring genres common to the field of Mechanical Engineering through a preliminary genre analysis, I
continued to analyze the language and genres of my field by tracing a mechanical concern relevant to engineers. To do
this, I have gathered articles relating to the connection between structural stress analysis and amusement rides, such as
roller coasters. I have found numerous of academic articles pertaining to this topic, and have traced the consistencies
and patterns that are common to these articles. Through my research, I have found sources that discuss the research of
peak stress analysis in structures (Atzoria et al.; Meneghettia et al.;Wang et al.), as well as documentation of safety
protocol (ASTM International; NSPE), which is applied in the industrial world through amusement parks such as
Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Alton Towers (Ogando; Professional Engineering). These sources have
assisted me in identifying the various aspects of this issue in relation to the field of mechanical engineering. In
addition, these articles have helped me to continue to explore the genre conventions that I will need to learn as I begin
to enter a new community in my major.
I chose to study roller coasters because….
8. NOW, YOUR INQUIRY PAPER
Copy and paste your inquiry paper (the headings) right below the last
paragraph that you wrote. So, the order so far should be:
3) Intro from genre analysis
4) Genre Analysis paper
5) Intro from annotated bib
6) Paragraph from today’s journal
7) Inquiry paper
11. HOMEWORK
At the end of your paper, you’ll need to identify a “gap” in the
research you’ve conducted. If you were already in the field that you
are studying, how would you contribute to the conversation?
Think about:
--Studying a different population. High Schoolers/college students/ senior
citizens
--Studying a different aspect of what your sources say. Making just one
clarification
--Conducting a study that looks at different variables or a different
population.
12. WHAT WE STILL HAVE TO DO…
1) Read through your entire document, making any revisions as you
see fit. Pay particular attention to the connections between each of
the sections. Could you smooth them out in some way?
3) Save a new copy of the entire document and label it: Inquiry Paper
Peer Review Draft (or something like that)
5) Turn the track changes on (as me for help with this if you need to)
and switch with a partner.
13. PEER REVIEW
1) Read through your partner’s entire document, making comments
along the way. Mark anything that is unclear, any quotes that could
be explained, anything that doesn’t make sense, any missing page
numbers or parenthetical references, any ideas that are not
thoroughly elaborated.
3) Write them a note at the end of the document, and sign your name.
In this note, explain:
1)What is the strongest part of the paper? The weakest?
2)Make specific suggestions for improvement
14. WRITE
At the end of your last section, write one paragraph that summarizes
the conversation you have explored and identifies a gap in the
research:
My sources have covered….. However, they have not covered….If I
were to continue exploring this topic as an
engineer/psychologist/politician, I would look at…..because…..
Save the new document and revise over the weekend. Print a copy of
the inquiry paper, starting with the paragraph that you wrote in class
today, and bring it to your conference on Monday.
