Written Communication Apr 1995

Making Sense of My Own Ideas

STUART GREENE

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to trace the emergence of authorship in a beginning college writing classroom through two case examples. Three primary questions motivate this study of authorship: (a) What were students' interpretations of writing an essay based on sources? (b) How did these students organize their essays? and (c) What strategies did they use to advance their own ideas? An additional question focused on the instructional context of the course. In particular, how did the instructor represent the task of writing an essay based on different sources of information and the process of writing in the classroom? To answer these questions, each class was audiotaped during a 15-week semester and field notes were taken. Retrospective protocols and cued questions were used in order to understand students' evolving interpretations of the task they were given. The results show that although the instructor tried to foster a sense of engagement and commitment through reading, writing, and talking, the technical difficulty of the task, students' perceptions of their peers' interests, and a legacy of schooling and culture were equally important concerns that shaped the decisions made in writing. Implications for developing a theory of authorship are discussed as well as strategies for teaching.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1995-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088395012002002
Open Access
Closed
Topics
race and writing multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Alexander et al. (2015)
    DMAC After Dark: Toward a Theory of Distributed Invention
    Computers and Composition
  2. Sutherland (2014)
    Reading Yourself
    Pedagogy
  3. MATHISON (1996)
    Writing the Critique, a Text about a Text
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (10)

  1. Greene (1993)
    The Role of Task in the Development of Academic Thinking through Reading and Wr…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. FARR (1993)
    Essayist Literacy and Other Verbal Performances
    Written Communication
  3. Nystrand et al. (1991)
    Instructional Discourse, Student Engagement, and Literature Achievement
    Research in the Teaching of English
  4. Nelson (1990)
    This Was an Easy Assignment: Examining How Students Interpret Academic Writing Tasks
    Research in the Teaching of English
  5. Hull et al. (1990)
    "This Wooden Shack Place": The Logic of an Unconventional Reading
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 10 →
  1. Trimbur (1990)
    Essayist literacy and the rhetoric of deproduction
    Rhetoric Review
  2. KAUFER et al. (1989)
    Novelty in Academic Writing
    Written Communication
  3. HULL et al. (1989)
    Rethinking Remediation
    Written Communication
  4. Haswell (1986)
    The Organization of Impromptu Essays
    College Composition and Communication
  5. FLOWER et al. (1984)
    Images, Plans, and Prose
    Written Communication
Also cites 10 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.3102/0013189X022005004
     ↗
  2. Bartholomae, D. (1979)
    10.37514/JBW-J.1979.2.2.07
    Journal of Basic Writing  ↗
  3. 10.1177/002205749017200112
     ↗
  4. 10.2307/358073
     ↗
  5. Kaufer, D.
    Communication at a distance
     ↗
  6. 10.2307/377860
     ↗
  7. 10.1177/002205749017200105
     ↗
  8. 10.2307/358759
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  9. Mehan, H.
    Learning lessons: Social organization in the classroom
     ↗
  10. 10.17763/haer.47.3.8840364413869005
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 13 View in citation network →

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