Plan of Inquiry James Guzman

Research Question:
Ive always had trouble writing essays in school and, well, now that Im in college it has been brought to
my attention that Im not as good as a writer as I thought I was. Since this realization, its obvious that
one should seek out help whether they want to or notand so the main questions that have brought up
to topic are: What is it that makes up a good writer? How can you be on your way to become a better
writer? Lastly, what needs to be done in order to achieve that goal? But just as there are tips and
suggestions there are also some writing problems and misconceptions that come along with it. Meaning
not all suggestions work for everyone.
Writing Problems and (Mis)conceptions:
One major problem with the topic that I have chosen would have to be that people in general have
different ways of learning. With that being said, some of the helpful methods of teaching students how
they can improve their writing abilities can almost always be bias since they are not universal methods.
It is not like Mathematics to where there is only one way of learning, this takes time and effort and
involves a lot of patience to go with their practice. This can also cause students to give up early, and may
only be helpful to students who are passionate about writing.
Annotated Bibliography:
1.
A Model Essay: One Way to Improve Students' Writing
Michael D. Sublett
College Teaching
Vol. 41, No. 1 (Winter, 1993) (pp. 11-14)
Page Count: 4

In this Essay, Michael D. Sublett creates a model essay for his students to use during their
journey throughout his class which involved several writing assignments and no exams
whatsoever. At first the model essay was rough and did not work for everybody but over time,
the feedback that was given was used as constructive criticism only to make his sixth edition of
the model essay and has apparently gotten successful feedback from students who say they still
use it for their essays today. He then goes on to encourage the reader to try it out and create a
model essay of their own. One that has been revised to perfection and use that as a reminder of
what you are capable of achieving. Practice cannot hurt, it can only bring you that much closer
to perfection.

2.
Notes on Writing Papers and Theses
Ken Lertzman
Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America
Vol. 76, No. 2 (Jun., 1995) (pp. 86-90)
Page Count: 5

In this article Ken Lertzman (Assistant Profes sion in the School of Resource and Environmental
Management at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada) gives notes on
writing papers and theses. 21 suggestions should be relevant to both undergraduate and
Plan of Inquiry James Guzman
graduate students. The suggestions he makes about how to write more effectively are based
primarily on the comments he leaves to his students papers and theses. He sees that most of
his students share common problems in the papers he receives for review. A great read full of
suggestions built solely for the betterment of your writing.


3. Dialogue Journal Writing
Author(s): Barbara A. Bode
Source: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 42, No. 8, Empowerment through Literacy (Apr., 1989),
pp.568-571
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20200235
Barbara A. Bode corresponds with her students through journal writing to learn the
functional use of language. Even with a difference of age, a sixth grader and a first grader responded to
their teachers verbal question on how their school can be improved. Simple enough, she used
dialectical journal writing to achieve her main goal which was, the development of their ability to be
more autonomous in managing their academic and interpersonal life. I see this very helpful on the scale
that it is more independent writing to where there are no filters and helps one begin to think for
themselves more while reflecting with their responses.

4. Toward a Rhetoric of Journal Writing
Author(s): Ken Autrey
Source: Rhetoric Review, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 74-90
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/465516

Ken Autrey gives an example of the use of the diary that I thought was pretty cool. He
says that journal entries or the use of the diary dates back to at least the times of the Ancient
Greeks and was used for two different reasons, one to connect the self with the community,
the other to individualize the self. My thoughts would be to remember clever thoughts
and ideas so that they may present them to the rest of the community and the other would
be to find themselves; take notes on your dreams.

5. Does Reflective Journal Writing Improve Course Performance?
Author(s): Cheryl A. Cisero
Source: College Teaching, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Spring, 2006), pp. 231-236
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable
URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27559272

Cheryl A. Cisero does some research on whether or not reflective journal writing
does, in fact, improve course performance. Her research then shows that yes, reflective
journal writing does improve course work; statistics show that there was a drastic change
in improvement with the students who had Cs and Ds and a slight change, but still a
Plan of Inquiry James Guzman
change in the students with Bs and As. she goes on to say that, journal writing may
benefit the average student but may not substantially help the good students or the
struggling students.. and that ..The problem, though, may not be with the journal
assignment itself. Journal writing can only be effective in improving course performance
if students make the effort to engage in reflective thinking, thereby making learning
more meaningful. So this means that the student has to want to make the effort to
participate in the study.



Primary Research:

The overall question is, How to be a better writer? but seeing as how my research is on whether or not
journal writing can improve writing skill, I can maybe host a survey on that. Some questions I can ask are
as follows:

1. What are some ideas on how to be a better writer?
2. how would that idea improve your writing abilities?
3. how often do you find yourself writing?
4. Do you think that journal writing can improve your ability to write? Why?
I would write this interview into my paper and provide it in its entirety at the end.


Potential Audiences:
My potential audiences would most like be students, at any level really. The whole purpose of this
research is mainly to suggest ways to improve your writing ability and to use it for what its worth.

Potential purposes:
Again, the main purpose of this research is to find ways to improve your writing ability. It is also to find a
better understanding of what makes up a good writer. All writing can be great but what makes you an
accredited source?
Potential Forms/Genre:
Hold a survey, and include journal entries of how reflective writing improved writing skills.