Bibliographic Essay
I haven't procrastinated this Colossus of an essay, but I haven't exactly started, either.
Since the beginning of the semester, I've been playing with a few ideas. Although I know Cameron's writing on this subject, I've been considering focusing on ESL students. I've also considered the rhetoric of tutoring and Linda Flower's cognitive theory of composition as possible topics.
My muse, as yet, has been silent in regards to this bibliographic essay. I just don't know yet. However, earlier this semester, I learned a useful lesson about researching: Rather than trying to bend sources to an ambitious but somewhat untenable idea, it's far better to allow an essay to grow naturally out of the research itself. I'm going to go into serious research mode late this week, and after I peruse the jungle of academic publications, I'll have a clearer idea of what to address in my bibliographic essay.
Preliminary exploration of Linda Flower's theory yielded surprisingly meager fruit; considering what I found on JSTOR, I doubt whether I could find sufficient sources to construct an entire bibliographic essay on her -- unless I have to really REALLY dig deeply. In the interest of time, however, I'm trying to simplify.
Preliminary searches of tutoring rhetoric yielded nothing in journal searches. There's plenty of information on rhetoric, plenty on tutoring, but nothing on rhetoric and/in/during tutoring. Although I am tempted to examine tutoring in an classical, Aristotlean light, I don't want to do anything remotely pioneering. I just want to get a good grade.
ESL tutoring is my back-up. I'd like to explore tutoring specific to Chinese students, investigating how Chinese grammar contributes to the common errors they make in English, and how, in the light of Chinese cultural traditions, how tutors can have the most productive sessions with these students. But again, I still can't make a definitive commitment at this time.
Since the beginning of the semester, I've been playing with a few ideas. Although I know Cameron's writing on this subject, I've been considering focusing on ESL students. I've also considered the rhetoric of tutoring and Linda Flower's cognitive theory of composition as possible topics.
My muse, as yet, has been silent in regards to this bibliographic essay. I just don't know yet. However, earlier this semester, I learned a useful lesson about researching: Rather than trying to bend sources to an ambitious but somewhat untenable idea, it's far better to allow an essay to grow naturally out of the research itself. I'm going to go into serious research mode late this week, and after I peruse the jungle of academic publications, I'll have a clearer idea of what to address in my bibliographic essay.
Preliminary exploration of Linda Flower's theory yielded surprisingly meager fruit; considering what I found on JSTOR, I doubt whether I could find sufficient sources to construct an entire bibliographic essay on her -- unless I have to really REALLY dig deeply. In the interest of time, however, I'm trying to simplify.
Preliminary searches of tutoring rhetoric yielded nothing in journal searches. There's plenty of information on rhetoric, plenty on tutoring, but nothing on rhetoric and/in/during tutoring. Although I am tempted to examine tutoring in an classical, Aristotlean light, I don't want to do anything remotely pioneering. I just want to get a good grade.
ESL tutoring is my back-up. I'd like to explore tutoring specific to Chinese students, investigating how Chinese grammar contributes to the common errors they make in English, and how, in the light of Chinese cultural traditions, how tutors can have the most productive sessions with these students. But again, I still can't make a definitive commitment at this time.
posted by Michael Madson at 6:26 PM
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