Today’s Plan:
- Thursday Office Hours from 9:30 to 12:00 in Ross 1140B
- Discuss B&L Reading
- Diving into Data
- Homework
Diving into Data
As I mentioned last Friday, I am approaching teaching this project differently this semester. In the past, we would have spent a week coding job ads; this semester, I am simply going to hand you my data (link to 2017 and 2022 job data). Your task is to comb through that data in order to make sense of it and translate it for lay audiences (students, parents, other faculty, administrators).
I want to start that work today by giving you time to look at the data and identify three smart/interesting/relevant/rhetorical ideas. I am here if you want to ask questions.
The idea behind transforming this project grows out the L&B article we read for today: as professional writers, you are likely to encounter a project in medias res; having an ability to jump into and make sense of foreign material will be valuable. I expect my data will be a bit confusing–a direct learning objective here is to work through that feeling.”
First research goal: to identify what tools and technologies, professional competencies, and personal characteristics writers can expect to encounter in job advertisements. Identify trends/changes. Identify outliers. Compare my results to B&L 2015. Do something smart.
Let’s put some smart things in here.
Once we have this list under (somewhat) control, our second task will be to put that data in conversation with your education at UNC. Remember, our ultimate goal is to help sell high school students on pursuing a literature or writing degree here at UNC. So let’s think across those vectors. [NOTE: IIRC everyone here is an English Major or a Writing minor, so I think one of the two following options works for everyone].
- Option One: Comb through the new WEP major to identify strengths (and maybe point out weaknesses / supplemental options)
- Option Two: Map out how, while at UNC, a student can pursue a course of study that prepares them to apply for writing jobs
Unfinished Draft:
I don’t know if we will have time for this in class today, or if this will have to wait until Friday. But our second research goal is to align these expectations with our new Writing, Editing, and Publishing (WEP) major. To help facilitate this alignment, let me share:
- Programmatic Outcomes Document. What is this?
- WEP at a Glance Marketing Document. What is this?
Homework
For Friday, I’d like you to take a swing at drafting a methodology section for this report. The methodology section needs to do a few things. First, it needs to describe how the job ads were collected (I described this process in a blog post, condense my Brumberger and Lauer discussion)? Second, it needs to describe how the job ads were coded (what are codes)? Third it has to explain what the researchers did to ensure that their research was reliable. Overall, the point of an academic or professional methodology section is to articulate the project such that a reader feels they could recreate this work. Think of it a bit like a recipe.
This methodology will of course grow–since the coding of the job ads is something that happened before you even started working. We will have to add more on how you processed this data and aligned it with an education at UNC.
For Monday, read the Carolyn Miller article “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing” and complete the Canvas assignment.
