Discussion prompts for Week of 8/9

I am working my way through your research portfolios and will be getting you some feedback as soon as I can. While you’re waiting for that, please review the  unit 3 assignment sheet and get started on the week’s readings, a couple of texts on building healthy cultures within an organization that look rather different from the essays/articles we’ve been reading.

Our focus is on genre this week and next. To refresh, “genre” refers to the sort of reasonable responses we make to recurring writing situation–need to reach out to a prospective client? a formal business letter can be a good way to initiate contact. Need to show what you know to a teacher on an exam? a 5-paragraph essay might get the job done. Need to impress a potential employer? An organized, clean, easy-to-read resume is a good plan. Have to make a sales pitch? A snazzy Prezi might be just the thing. Genres take shape because we find them to be helpful, audience-centered ways to accomplish a particular kind of communication task. The demands of the writing situation dictate the sort of genres that might be appropriate. As you move toward presenting your research, it’s time to explore possible genres for that work.

For this week’s discussion, please respond to both of the questions below. Categorize your posts as “Discussions/Homework,” and tag them with “weekof8/9,” “unit3,” “genre,” and [your name].

  1. Notice the practical focus of both of this week’s readings (these aren’t just about sharing information for curiosity’s sake but rather about rendering it usable for a particular audience and purpose). Select one of this week’s readings to focus on, and examine how the authors do that–how do they process what they’ve learned to make it actionable for a reader? what readers? what writing/rhetorical strategies do you see them employing to make this information usable for their readers? Be specific and analytical–why do you think they go about it in this way? How effective do you think it is for that particular audience?
  2. It’s time to start imagining the possibilities for your own research writing in Unit 3–given what you want to discuss, for what purpose, and to whom, what are some of the options for you? What kinds of texts would this sort of reader be likely to engage with? where/when/on what platform do you see them getting this info? what kinds of expectations would your readers have about
  • level of detail
  • writing style
  • length of text
  • time spent reading
  • citation method
  • types of evidence/sources

Your response work might carry over a little into next week–you can either respond to their answers to #2 above, or read through a couple of your classmates’ project proposals after they’re due on Sunday, 8/15. Either way, please comment on at least 3 of them.  Try to offer up your suggestions for what forms their work might take, given the parameters they’ve outlined.

Julia research portfolio

Annotation-1-WRT-205Download
Annotation-2-WRT-205Download
Annotation-3-WRT-205Download
Annotation-4-WRT-205Download
Annotation-5-WRT-205Download
Annotation-6-WRT-205Download
Annotation-7-WRT-205-1Download
Annotation-8-WRT-205Download
Annotation-9-WRT-205Download
Focusing-flowchart-WRT-205Download
Research plan: Julia
Complicating-my-research-WRT-205Download
Conversation-worksheet-WRT-205Download
Reflection-unit-2-WRT-205-1Download

Overview for Week of 8/2

We’re wrapping up Unit 2 this week, and your primary focus will be on assembling your research portfolio. This set of texts is kind of a checkpoint on the way to your research project, an opportunity to assess what you have to work with and what you might be able to make from it. It’s not an end in and of itself, but rather a stopover.

A few reminders about the items that the portfolio will contain (taken from the unit 2 assignment sheet )

  • at least 6 annotations (2 paragraphs each, 1 of summary, 1 of discussion)
  • focusing flowchart
  • research plan
  • complicating your research activity
  • rounding out the conversation worksheet
  • your unit 2 reflection (see assignment sheet for prompt)

In short, this portfolio will represent your research progress, from the inception of your idea, through locating and considering sources, and including your efforts to broaden that conversation to better understand the issues under consideration.

As you advance towards this goal, then,

  • be sure to read through feedback on the above assignments and your discussion posts (I’ll get you feedback on your draft annotations ASAP)
  • refresh your memory on writing an effective summary (review this handout on summary)
  • review the rubric and assignment overview on the unit 2 assignment sheet
  • email me with any questions

Read on for the week’s agenda.

Reading

Writing

  • write your unit 2 reflection
  • complete your source annotations
  • assemble your research portfolio. This will come in as a single blog post with embedded PDF files. Check out this post for instructions on how to do that:
Instructions for creating a blog post with embedded links and files
  • respond to this week’s discussion prompts by the end of the day on Friday (this is a 1-day extension). See post below:
Discussion prompts for Week of 8/2

Note that I’m going to push back the next assignment (the project proposal) to next week, so that you’ll have some more time to work through your ideas. You can look for more info on that in next week’s overview on Monday.

Instructions for creating a blog post with embedded links and files

For the research portfolio, you will be submitting multiple documents all in a single post. Please follow these instructions to get everything in there so that it’s easy to read.

Your Unit 2 research reflection (answering the prompt on the assignment sheet) will be the body of the post–just create a post as you usually would on the blog.

  • Title your post with your name and “Research Portfolio”
  • Categorize it as “Research Portfolio”
  • Tag it with [your name], “unit2,” “weekof8/2,” and “portfolio”

Add these PDF file attachments within the same post:

6 different annotations (please post them individually, so I can easily see what’s there)

Your supporting materials: focusing flowchart, complicating your research, and Rounding out the conversation exercises (the same things you submitted on Bb, but saved as  PDFs and attached here)

Here’s how to do this:

  • prepare your documents
    • save each annotation individually as a PDF (this makes them easier to read because they will just open without a download)–you can do this in Word or Pages or Google Docs in the “Save As” options
    • use clear and direct file names (i.e. the title of the text you’re discussing or something like “Annotation #1”)
  • once your files are ready to upload
    • click on the “+” button to add a block
    • scroll down through the Blocks menu to the “Media” section
    • choose “File” and then “Select Files”
    • choose the first file that you’re uploading, and click “Open”
  • you’ll see your file as an embedded link, listed by its file name
  • click “Enter” to move to a new line

Repeat this process for each of the file attachments (there should be at least 9 attachments–6 annotations and then 1 for your focusing flowchart, 1 for complicating your research, and 1 for Rounding out the conversation)

Embed a link to your Research Plan post:

  • locate your Research Plan post (updated if need be to reflect current direction of your project)
  • copy the url
  • click the “+” to add a block
  • scroll down through the Blocks menu to “Embeds”
  • click on “WordPress”
  • paste the copied url into the text editor window, and click “Embed”

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Discussion prompts for Week of 8/2

In this article, Alison Wynn (a researcher at Stanford) summarizes her own recent article, in which she analyzed the findings of a year-long case study of a Silicon Valley tech company’s gender equality initiative.

As is typically the case with summaries, an author is trying to do justice to the original text (representing it for what it is), while also working toward their own distinct purpose. Here, for Wynn, that is bottom-lining the findings for a different audience and objective–trying to open up a new kind of conversation around the role that organizations (and not just individuals) must play.

Pay attention to how she works with research in here. Within this article, Wynn provides a lot of linked resources, which function both as a sort of bibliography (here are some of the sources I’m working with…) and as a reading list for those who want more (if you think this is interesting, check this out….). Consider the first one, which links to this article, itself a compendium of a whole bunch of different sources.

Giving her readers access to this lets Wynn build upon that informational foundation without taking up a lot of space in her text. It also gives interested readers a lot more to work with (and a lot more reason to trust Wynn as knowing her stuff). Each of you will follow up on one of the other resources she links and give us a sense of what’s in there and how it’s valuable (both to Wynn and to us, readers who might be looking to use this new knowledge).

Also pay attention as you read to her section headings–she’s setting up a careful logical chain. These headings are kind of like breadcrumbs (think Hansel and Gretel) for the reader to follow Image result for hansel and gretel breadcrumbs

We can learn from that, of course, about a way to organize our ideas to make them as usable as possible for our readers. As we head into Unit 3, that’s going to be an important consideration–not just writing for ourselves or for me (a teacher reader), but for an audience who needs to hear what you have to say and needs to be able to act on it or make use of it in some way.

Once you’ve read through Wynn’s article, follow up on your assigned link (see the announcement on Blackboard for those assignments). Then, post your responses to these 2 questions (everyone should answer both):

  1. Give us a capsule summary of the linked article/resource that you explored. What is it? what’s in there? what’s valuable about it? what does it add to Wynn’s article?
  2. Who do you think would most benefit from reading this article, and why? (in other words, who do you think her target audience is or ought to be?) Select one passage (a sentence or two) from the article, and explain why you think this segment would work especially well for that group of readers. Please quote the passage in your response.

Discussion 7/26

  1. “Racial and Socioeconomic Inequity in the Spatial Distribution of LGBTQ Human Services: an Exploratory Analysis of LGBTQ Services in Chicago” by Rosentel Kris; VandeVusse Alicia; Hill, Brandon J examines the intersectionality between members of the LGBTQIA+ community, people of color, and people from low socioeconomic status. This text focuses on members of these groups that reside in the area of Chicago. This article placed an emphasis on the distribution  of programming tailored specifically towards members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Geocoding was the method used to conduct this research and it revealed that there was a disproportion between the amount and quality of LGBTQIA+ supportive programs in less affluent neighborhoods.  Additionally, the neighboorhoods that lacked these programs were comprised of mostly Black and Latino families.

Rosentel, VandeVusse, and Hill published this work with the intent of impacting the equity built around LGBTQIA+, people of color, and people from low socioeconomic status. By doing so they appropriately address the lack of career based programs in the neighboorhoods theses people live in. This source helps further my research by focusing in on intersectionality and provides direct causation for low employment amongst members of the LGBTQIA+ community. I plan on using this source to support my ideas with regard to the importance of equity and the role of city officials in the distribution of resources.

Rosentel, K., VandeVusse, A., & Hill, B. J. (2019). Racial and Socioeconomic inequity in the spatial distribution of LGBTQ Human SERVICES: An exploratory analysis of LGBTQ services in Chicago. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 17(1), 87–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-019-0374-0 

2. All of the responses to “The subtle sexism of your open office plan” added to the impacts of an open office space, however Emily’s response was not one that I had considered before. Emily has anxiety and felt as if she had nowhere to go during her panic attacks as a result of the office layout. When she finally spoke up about her concern to the other 2 female coworkers they shared similar feelings toward the design of the workplace. Stories like these demonstrate the need for mental health awareness and diversity in the workplace. If there had been more female workers then women like Emily amd her coworker would have been more likely to speak up about their grievances. Additionally, if there would have been more research into the effect office design has on mental health, then issues like these would likely never happen in the first place.

Discussion 7/26

Alcalde-Rubio, L., Hernández-Aguado, I., Parker, L.A. et al. Gender disparities in clinical practice: are there any solutions? Scoping review of interventions to overcome or reduce gender bias in clinical practice. Int J Equity Health 19, 166 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01283-4

  1. This article, titled Gender disparities in clinical practice: are there any solutions? Scoping review of interventions to overcome or reduce gender bias in clinical practice, revolved around the authors research trying to determine if there are any possible solutions to the gender biases that exist in the medical world.  To figure out if there are viable results, the researchers included and compared studies that had implemented various potential solutions and perused the collected data to reach their conclusions.  The studies varied according to health issues, country, description of intervention, etc.  There were 22 different types of interventions being researched and most of them had varying successes in attempting to make the healthcare field less gender biased, but four of the studies were unable to accomplish this. 

I think this article focused more on the potential solutions for ways to intervene in the gender bias that permeates the healthcare field, but it did not go into detail about what each of these studies did.  To incorporate this article into my research, I am going to include it in the end to prove that there are ways in which the gender gap can be narrowed, the correct interventions just have to be pursued in order to help.

2. I chose to expand on Emily’s response to “The Subtle Sexism of Your Open Office Plan” because she speaks about how her experiences working in the open office environment escalated her anxiety due to the extreme lack of privacy at her work.  Instead of having private spaces, the entire facility lacked any kind special areas where a worker could be alone even if it was just for a few minutes.  Emily realized after a few months that all of her female coworkers also experienced this and that all of them had also found a private space near their office building where they could find privacy.  This response really illustrated the experiences women have in the open office concept regarding mental health.  The author of the article spoke about how the glass offices with no privacy made female workers feel as though they are under a microscope and Emily’s experience confirmed that.  Mental health is something that should be taken much more seriously and if most women cannot even feel safe and comfortable at work, then the open office concept should not be considered a good thing.

Discussions 7/26

  1. Nuru-Jeter, A. M., Williams, T., & LaVeist, T. A. (2014). Distinguishing the race-specific effects of income inequality and mortality in U.S. metropolitan areas. International journal of health services : planning, administration, evaluation, 44(3), 435–456. https://doi.org/10.2190/HS.44.3.b

This article immediately establishes that there is a relationship between level of income and mortality rates. Socioeconomic position (SEP) is the strongest predictor of individual & population health status. Because BIPOC face monetary inequalities in the workplace due to structural and individual racism, they also disproportionately experience negative health outcomes. In other words, the authors examine how race influences these other variables. Within this article, there is a study that includes powerful findings regarding disparities and the impacts on BIPOC.

I think I could reference multiple sections of this article to further my argument. It includes explanations as well as a study regarding disparities within the realm of income levels and health status. Additionally, it also touches upon racial residential segregation and concentrated poverty which is another relevant social concept in this discussion.

2. I thought that the letters were sad to read, but important experiences to share. These letters provided me with a new perspective on sexism in the workplace. I never considered the architecture or office set up as a way to foster even more oppression towards women. Since I am a young girl almost at the age where I will enter Corporate America, this will definitely be something I keep in mind. I agree that sexism is prevalent in the workplace because my experience in a restaurant confirms it. A new perspective I would like to bring to the conversation would be about how women are treated in the food service industry. I have encountered extremely uncomfortable comments about my appearance and have had to ask coworkers to get out of my personal space/not touch me. The actions from some of the males in a restaurant is completely inappropriate and upsetting. Because these situations can be so so awkward, it can be hard to stop it. I have found myself freezing up because I do not know how to respond to a situation.