Kirchmeier Summer 2020 English 313 Project 4 Slidedoc 2

1. How to Create and
Use a Research Dossier

2. About research dossiers 3
How to use a research dossier 4
Options for creating your dossier 5-6
Option 1: How to use a digital workspace for your dossier 7
Option 2: How to use a document file for your dossier 8
Reminder: types of and number of sources needed 9-10
How to use the chronological framework 11
How to use the scholarly framework 12
How to code some of your data 13-20
Table of Contents
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3. A research dossier is a container that holds
all of your research data and analysis notes.
Its purpose is to help you work efficiently
and to make your research methodology
and data accessible to others.
A research dossier can be created in a
digital workspace or in a document file.
About research dossiers.
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4. In this project, you will be gathering and analyzing excerpts from the
communication that surrounded the crisis event you chose as it
unfolded over time.
You will not be taking a position on whether the business or
organization was to blame. Instead, your focus will be on analyzing
the nature of this communication and coding some of the data you
collect (more on coding later in this slidedoc).
To create your dossier, you will need to choose an option.
How to use a research dossier.
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5. • Option 1: Use a digital workspace such
as Evernote or OneNote.
The benefit of using Evernote or OneNote
is that each has a web clipper that will
allow you to clip excerpts from your
sources and organize them in the
workspace. Both are free. OneNote is
accessed through your Office 365 email
and UI offers technical support for it.
• Option 2: Use a document file with
multiple pages.
Options to create your dossier.
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6. Students in this course are about evenly
divided in their preference for one of these
tools.
If you have never used a digital workspace,
it’s useful to try both out before deciding if you
want to use it.
Also check with your instructor who may
prefer that you use OneNote since UI offers
technical support for it.
Many students who are new to using a digital
workspace tell us they enjoyed learning and
using one of these tools and plan to use
Evernote or OneNote in the future.
Student responses to using a digital workspace.
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7. 1. Create a digital notebook.
2. Include your first and last name in the title of your notebook.
3. Download the workspace’s clipper into your browser.
4. Gather data by clipping excerpts from sources, insert into digital
notes, and organize these in your notebook.
5. Title your notes, compose analysis comments, and generate
source citations to include in these notes.
• Establish a naming convention for note titles, so they are
consistent and easy to find.
How to use a digital workspace dossier.
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8. How to use a document file dossier.
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1. Create a document file in Word or whatever word processing
software you use.
2. Include your first and last name in the title of your file.
3. Gather data by clipping excerpts from sources your file or cut
and paste excerpts into your document file.
4. Organize these in your document file by using headings to
differentiate one source excerpt from others, compose analysis
notes, and generate source citations.
• Establish a naming convention for the headings, so they are
consistent and easy to find.

9. The business or organization’s responses to the crisis event such as news
releases, media interviews, apology videos etc.
Articles by journalists reporting on the crisis event and the business or
organizations responses in news and magazine websites -- both serious
and tabloids.
Editorial / Opinion responses to the event found in news and magazine
websites, blog posts, and fan or advocacy sites.
Depending on the nature of the crisis event, you may need excerpts from
government responses it at the national and/or state level.
Visual material about the event such as screenshots of tabloid cover
pages, cartoons, photographs of the event (as in an environmental disaster)
etc.
Reader response comments to the above
Reminder: gather excerpts from these types of sources.
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10. Depending on the nature of the crisis event, you may not find all
types of these sources, but you want to choose a wide variety that
represents the communication surrounding the crisis event.
Your instructor will give you additional guidance about how much
source material you need throughout the project.
Remember to apply the chronological and scholarly frameworks
when searching for source material.
Reminder: how many sources?
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11. Look for articles that contain
timelines to help you find
responses to the crisis event as it
unfolds over time.
Use the timelines to help you
search by date for other sources
about the crisis communication.
How to use the chronological framework.
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12. Use the model you chose for this framework
to help you organize and analyze the crisis
communication excerpts (see slidedoc 1).
In the following example, the scholarly framework
is using the three phases of crisis communication
from the Varma article. Phase 1 is denial.
When using a scholarly framework, remember
that your research data may confirm existing
research such as Varma’s or show how your data
doesn’t quite fit this model. These are things you
can write about in your white paper.
How to use your scholarly framework.
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13. Notice the note title, citation URL,
and analysis notes. The image is a
screenshot clip of the video.
In the white paper, this writer would
need to create a full citation using a
standard documentation style.
Although this writer is using a digital
note, the entry would look the same
in a document file.
Example 1
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14. In this example, the writer has clipped
excerpts from a source article that further
supports Deen being in Phase 1: Denial.
Again notice the title, citation, analysis
notes, how excerpts with notes are all
well organized, and the writer has
included a complete citation.
Consider using a citation generator.
Example 2
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15. When you have finished gathering source
excerpts and making analysis comments in your
dossier, you will need to use Grounded Theory to
code the reader response comments you
gathered.
Grounded Theory is a method that allows
researchers to inductively analyze and quantify
their data. The theory is “grounded” in the sense
that the theory is derived from the data in
contrast to the scientific method that poses an
hypothesis and then tests that hypothesis.
Although Grounded Theory was developed in the
social sciences, it is used across all disciplines.
Coding data using Grounded Theory.
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16. Look for comments that are similar to one another to identify patterns.
Next, create a table in a Word document file and categorize the patterns
by labeling each with a short phrase or sentence.
Then count the number of responses per label and use this information
to graphically represent this data. You will need to insert your graphic into
the white paper.
What you discover when applying grounded theory should explain
something that is significant about the nature of the these comments.
See next slide for an example of how one writer did this.
How to code reader comments
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17. This example shows reader comments in
response to an online article about food
network star Paula Deen's crisis.
The number of patterns derived from the
comments is four, and the writer has created
a category label for each.
The comments highlighted in yellow are an
example of how these comments fit under
one label "N Word Double Standard."
The number column reveals how many
comments could be categorized under that
label.
Example
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18. The most significant aspect that coding
this data revealed is how quickly Deen’s
brand became equated racism,
specifically “southern racism.”
See the next slide for how the writer
graphically represented this data in a
column chart.
Notice how the chart shows at-a-glance
the significance of the data because it
reveals which theme was the most
prominent.
Example continued
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19. Figure 1: Themes in reader response comments to Huffington Post article.
Example of graphically representing coded data.
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