New: Try This: Research Methods for Writers (open-access book)

[ten grrl]

Hi Folks,

As we begin a new year, I’m pleased to share the news that the WAC Clearinghouse (https://wac.colostate.edu) has released another new open-access book. It appears in the teaching practices section of the Practices & Possibilities book series, which I co-edit with Aimee McClure and Aleashia Walton.

Try This: Research Methods for Writers

By Jennifer Clary-Lemon, Derek Mueller, and Kate Pantelides

Try This explores interdisciplinary research methods employed in research in writing studies but rarely drawn upon in undergraduate courses. This shifts writing instruction from a model of knowledge delivery and solitary research to a pedagogy of knowledge-making and an acknowledgment of research writing as collective, overlapping, and distributed. Each chapter is organized around methods to approach a particular kind of primary data—texts, artifacts, places, and images. Accompanying "Try This" invention projects in each chapter invite readers to "try" the research methods. Some projects are designed to try during class time and take 5 to 15 minutes, while others are extensive and will take days to accomplish. Each research writing opportunity introduced in a "Try This" invention project is designed to scaffold a research project. Each chapter offers different genres that allow research to circulate and connect meaningfully with audiences, including digital research posters, data visualizations, and short-form presentations.

You can find the book at https://wac.colostate.edu/books/practice/try/. Try This, like other books in our series, will be available in a print edition from University Press of Colorado in the coming months. Thanks to Jennifer, Derek, and Kate for their work on the book and for their decision to share it with us as an open-access publication. Thanks as well to the anonymous peer reviewers who contributed to its development.

I’d also like to point out two additional pieces of information. First, Try This is the 150^th book made available in open-access formats through the Clearinghouse. I think its focus on pedagogy is a great fit with the mission of the Clearinghouse. Second, this coming March marks the 25^th anniversary of the founding of the Clearinghouse. We had hoped to celebrate in person at the 4Cs in Chicago. But perhaps we can do so at another time.

I wish you all the best as we start this new year.  

Mike

******************

Mike Palmquist

Publisher, The WAC Clearinghouse

https://wac.colostate.edu

   

Professor of English

University Distinguished Teaching Scholar

Colorado State University

Email: Mike.Pa...@ColoState.edu

“Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

                                                                     - Martin Luther King, Jr.