Writing Assignment 2: Mastering Disciplinary Writing Practices

For this assignment, you are going to review the academic journal article you selected from Week 2 in terms of the writing (i.e. not the content itself). You should have read your article already, but make sure you read the article in its entirety before you do this assignment. If you just read the abstract and skim the article for this assignment, you will find this assignment to be very challenging. This review is very specific. That is, you are not telling your reader if the content is “good” or “bad”, you are not summarizing the findings, nor are you discussing if you agree or disagree with it. While I trust many students found interesting and relevant topics, the purpose of this assignment is to dissect the writing in the article, not to examine specifics about the topic. Instead, you are telling the reader how the author(s) handle these 4 things:

1. The Information (1-2 Paragraphs):

What type of information is included in the article in various sections of it? Does the information come from other journal articles (check the reference page)? Does it have statistics (from where)? Does it have original, empirical data (i.e. did they collect data and do some analyses)?

What are some of the arguments made by the author(s)? What evidence do they use to support these arguments?

Discuss the ways the author(s) reference their sources. When and where do they reference their material? What are some of the style practices in terms of direct quotes, paraphrased material, additional footnotes, or listed references to studies or groups of studies?

2. Linguistic Features (1-2 Paragraphs):

Look closely at the typical terminology or phraseology being used by the author(s). What are some things that are important to note? Are there changes in style from section to section? For example, how different does the methodology section look from the discussion?

Do you see any first person “I” used? If so, what does it look like? How frequently do the author(s) use it?

What sorts of verb tenses are used to report on other scholars’ work (usually in the literature review)?

What specific language choices are used? In other words, is the language obvious, predictable, unusual, striking, or effective? What is the range of vocabulary used (how much of it is new to you)?

3. Organizational Features (1-2 Paragraphs):

Look at the way the author(s) divides up the overall text by way of parts or headings/subheadings. Scrutinize these. Do these provide a sense of how the whole text fits together?

Discuss how the author(s) organizes their work from the introduction to the conclusion. Discuss how the author moves from one section of their writing to the other.

Scrutinize the structure of a paragraph (just select one you find interesting), the implicit or explicit strategies used to ensure the logical flow of ideas within the paragraph and linkages across paragraphs, the actual words or phrases employed.

4. Audience Features (1-2 Paragraphs):

Isolate examples of “signaling” (Chapter 3) in the article where the author is assisting the reader to follow the line of discussion. How much signaling is there? What does it look like? Is it obvious or subtle?

Your paper should address most of the questions in each section but does NOT have to address all of them.

Format:

This is a formal paper. Do not write numbered responses to each of the 4 things above. Start writing your first paragraph and flow from each topic of discussion to the next (w/ out using headings/numbered lists). Make sure you are writing where you are rephrasing the questions being asked rather than writing direct responses to them with “Yes/No” sorts of responses. For example:

Question: Does the author include a literature review?

Good Response: The author does include a literature review. Bad Response: Yes, the author includes a literature review.

The latter example is bad because you should write in a way where the reader does not know what question is being asked of you.

Font: Times New Roman (12pt) or Calibri (11pt) Margins: 1” on all sides

Spacing: Double Throughout

Header: Somewhere in the header put your first and last name (nothing else).

Page Numbers: Include somewhere in the footer.

Reference: Instead of a traditional reference page. Simply put a full citation (the way it would look on a reference page) at the top of your document in the correct format. The format you choose should be the style you are most comfortable with as discussed in your introduction from Week 1. If you are comfortable with multiple formats, pick your favorite. If you are not sure, I would pick APA as I am most familiar and can help with any issues you may have. For any of the major styles like Turabian, Chicago, MLA, or APA the Purdue Owl website is very useful. Simply Google: “Purdue Owl (INSERT FORMAT) Reference Page.”

1st/2nd Person: None. Even when it asks something like: What sorts of vocabulary are new to you? Do not say:

“I have never heard the phrase ‘de jure’ before, which means…”

Instead, write like this:

“One phrase that was new was ‘de jure’, which means…”

In-Text Citations: None are needed. Simply refer to the article throughout by saying “The article found…” “The author(s) found…” and similar phrases.

File Format: Must be MS Word compatible ending in either .doc or .docx.