Research Idea

 

As we begin to draw closer to having to put rubber to the road, I have had the chance to really consider the angle I want to take in my thesis. I know that my thesis will be on the linguistics of transitioning veterans but the direction is a little less fleshed out. I have compiled articles below of the different approaches I think would be effective, but I am still not really certain of just how I want to approach the actual research component of my project yet. I think there is value in showing the correlations that can be drawn between foreign exchange students and military students by showing the level of “Code Switching” taking place or through an analysis using multiple literacies theory. Overall, still have a lot of details I need to finalize before I can really set on any one direction.

My (tentative) 10 sources:

1.       1. Becoming a better military writer by Todd Greg Airpower Journal

 This article describes how a members deployment served to hone his writing ability.

 

2.     2.  “Brave Words”: Rehabilitating the Veteran-Writer by Liam Corley

    Similar to the first but more cautionary on how deployment can change the student.

3.       3. Multiple Literacies Theory: Discourse, sensation, resonance and becoming by Diana Mansy

     This theory is actually what made me think of Code Switching seen in bilingual literacy students.

4.      4. Effective Writing for Army Leaders the Army Writing Standard Redefined by Desirae Gieseman

      Article demonstrates the ways that the military desires prose and the needs of the military in writing in general.

 

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/military-review/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20151031_art016.pdf

 

5.     5.  The Air Force Tongue and Quill AFH 33-337

      Military style guide

 

https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/saf_cio_a6/publication/afh33-337/afh33-337.pdf

 

6.   6.    The Rhetoric of Combat: Greek Military Theory and Roman Culture in Julius Caesar’s Battle Descriptions.

      Another demonstration of military writing and an analysis of rhetoric used in wartime.

 

https://online.ucpress.edu/ca/article-abstract/18/2/273/104488

 

7.  7.     Veterans in the Writing Classroom: Three Programmatic Approaches to Facilitate the Transition from the Military to Higher Education

                A direct article on my topic idea. Seems prudent to give it a once over.

 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44783565

 

8.      8.  Supporting Veterans in the Classroom by Alisa Roost and Noah Roost

                This is essentially what my research aim is so seeing how I can supplement the work already in this article can help my own research along.

 

https://www.aaup.org/article/supporting-veterans-classroom#.X2EomGhKhhE

 

9.      9. Transformation of identity of four female Japanese international students by Chizu Matsubara-Jaret

                Here’s where the reaching starts. I discussed with a professor the idea for my thesis and out of that conversation came the idea of drawing correlations between foreign exchange students and military students. The idea being that both may have come from backgrounds where other forms of communication may have been their primary method to communicate but are now in an academic setting where writing can tend to be more flowery or elegant instead of concise and to the point.

https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3792&context=rtds

 

  10. Bilingual Code-Switching and Syntactic Theory

                Bilingual Code-switching will be the basis of my analysis on the comparison of international and veteran students.

https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.dixie.edu/stable/4178342?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Shana+poplack+code+switching&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DShana%2Bpoplack%2Bcode%2Bswitching&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ae2894a71dc133f342328d7720fa21b81&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents




Part 2

    My plan moving forward is to weed out the sources that won't add much to my paper. I think I am comfortable with the mix that I currently have. Most sources are coming from the academic databases, with a few articles, publications and even a dissertation. I do plan to add more sources for each of the two theories I plan to use in my research. I feel like I need at least three sources for each one just to be able to say I have a firm understanding and grasp of the theory being used. Overall though I feel very good about my topic and about my way moving forward and am excited to see how this class will evolve my thesis for my upcoming semesters. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plans for revision

 As we approach the end of the turn, I continue to consider how I can best address my research purpose and research questions. One point of interest that will change one of my main points is the idea to include an analysis of each branches style guides. I think there could be value in this especially considering it firmly roots my paper in the TWDR discipline. I'm also looking as to how I can better highlight English Language Learners so that my collaboration with the education department is more than just a footnote in my research. I also want to orient my conclusion to be more of instructional recommendations and proven instructional methods. I think this will allow my paper to be more open to presentation so that I can possibly present the material at a conference. So much to consider as the semester continues its slow crawl to the end.
Read more

Reflection

This class was very informative on the finer points of research. Coming into this semester, I already knew I would be conducting a research project for my thesis but I didn't have a very clear way forward. This class allowed me to hammer out the items such as my surveys to (hopefully) receive the best form of data to use to support my thesis. I've been trying to be more open about my thoughts about being a technical communicator and what that will look like for me in the future. I can see now the need in most jobs to at the very least have some basic principles down as most jobs use much of the same digital tools. This course has also helped me think about how I could take on future roles supporting others research as well. 
Read more