Presentation
Research & Writing: Using Rhetorical Moves in Research & Evaluation
American Library Association
(2023)
Abstract
There is often a divide between how research and writing are taught in academic libraries, treating them as two distinct processes. Library instruction focused on database search skills and identifying a source type (peer reviewed, popular, etc.), can cause a disconnect between how a source relates to the actual need or the assignment, making it difficult to use the source in a meaningful way. Additionally, focusing on source type creates a hierarchy of importance that can eliminate voices not part of the academic conversation.
Librarians at Western Washington University teach integrated literacy workshops (Getting Started, Finding Using Sources, and Revising & Editing) focused on the research and writing process. This poster will demonstrate how using the rhetorical moves of grounding, forwarding, and countering–normally as writing strategies are used to to teach students how to identify and choose sources, asking students to think about how students will use their sources in their writing. This moves instruction from teaching a skill to teaching a method, focusing on the process and concept of both research and writing and less on database skills. Students develop agency over their own research and writing by understanding how to research and write in order to develop an argument and support a thesis.
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer June, 2023
Location
Chicago, Illinois
Citation Information
Elizabeth Stephan. "Research & Writing: Using Rhetorical Moves in Research & Evaluation" American Library Association (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/elizabeth_stephan/49/