2nd Annual Naylor Workshop for Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies

At this second workshop, we were joined by one of the most important voices in undergraduate research in our field, Dr. Joyce Kinkead as our plenary speaker and workshop leader:

Plenary Speaker, Dr. Joyce Kinkead, Utah State University

Dr. Joyce Kinkead began her career at Utah State University in 1982, taking on the role of director of the Writing Center and then director of the Writing Program. Since then, she has served extensively at the university, as creator and director of the Writing Fellows program, associate dean for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, vice provost, and associate vice president for research, among other roles. Kinkead led the USU undergraduate research program for 11 years as the associate vice president for research, from 2000 to 2011. During her time, she brought about many advances in the program, including Research on Capitol Hill and the Undergraduate Research Fellows program. She also established the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research (UCUR). Kinkead has helped increase the number of students participating in undergraduate research, as well as increased the number of those students winning awards for their research.  

With 13 books, 15 book chapters and numerous articles, her publication count is the highest in the Department of English—including her influential text to support undergraduate researchers, Researching Writing. Over the years, she has mentored 20 undergraduates, served on 20 master’s and doctoral candidates’ committees and headed the initiative to provide research funding to those in the humanities, an overlooked area in the research world. In 2018, she was awarded one of the University’s most prestigious honors, the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Awardee 2018.

At the second annual workshop, we were joined by a group of dedicated students and faculty mentors including:

Undergraduate Researchers:

Kevin Baker,  York College of Pennsylvania
Nathan Bayer, Cardinal Stritch University
Crystal Conzo, Shippensburg University
Nicole Dufour, York College of Pennsylvania
Jean Gillingham, Loyola University
David C. Halliwell, York College of Pennsylvania
Dionte Harris, University of Maryland
John Kneisley, Dickinson University
Megan Knowles, Marquette University
Christian Kowalski, Elon University
Krysta Larson, Creighton University
Rachael Martines, Loyola University
Brandi Mummert, York College of Pennsylvania
Paige Odegard, Sam Houston State University
Marian Okpali, Loyola University
Chelsea Otis, York College of Pennsylvania
Allie Remis, Millersville University of Pennsylvania
Miranda Romano, Elon University
Walter Stover, Allegheny University
Tracy Staples, Goucher College
Katie Stuller, University of Maryland
Celena Todora, North Dakota State University
Alexandra Valerio, University of Central Flordia
Sasha Yambor, York College of Pennsylvania
Kaila Young, York College of Pennsylvania

These students came with an exciting array of research topics, topics that both mirrored key issues in the discipline and pushed the disciple into new areas of study, including:

• Peer tutoring
• Tutoring in online environments
• Transcending formulaic writing in secondary schools
• Working with undergraduate editors
• The effects of classroom humor on teaching of writing
• Creative Writing instruction
• The rhetoric of the way academia interacts with the public
• African-American Vernacular and the legacy of “Students’ Right to their Own Language”
• Critical reading skills and how they support writing and writing instruction
• Student engagement habits and the role of writing classes
• Measuring students’ approach to writing assignments and its effect on writing competency
• The role of International Baccalaureate Diploma Programs on writing instruction
• Urban Schools, writing, and equity
• Using cross-disciplinary assignments in writing courses
• The role and perception of Writing Centers within the University structure
• Social Media and blogging in writing pedagogy
• Writing about Writing
• Feminist Analyses of Public Writing
• Second-language writers and cultural differences in approaches to writing
• The role of affect in writing and writing pedagogy
• The role of discussion in a Writing Center tutorial
• Discourse communities in the writing classroom

Attendees were mentored by generous faculty from around the US who provided expertise in areas directly related to undergraduate researchers’ interests. This group included:

Professor Kerrie Carsey, York College of Pennsylvania

Kerrie Carsey is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at York College of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include history of rhetoric, rhetorical theory, composition pedagogy, including digital pedagogy, religious rhetoric and homiletics, and history of composition.

Professor Martin Camper, Loyola University of Maryland

Martin Camper is an Assistant Professor of Writing at Loyola University Maryland, where he teaches classes in writing, rhetoric, and style. His research interests include rhetorical and argumentation theory, the history of rhetorical theory, religious rhetoric, and linguistics. His recent publications concern rhetoric in the context of Christianity, while his current book project offers a rhetorical method for understanding how people persuade each other to accept or reject particular interpretations of texts, whether the Constitution, the Bible, or a celebrity tweet. He has also conducted qualitative research on why students do (and don’t) go to office hours and on how reflection assignments help (or don’t help) students revise their own work.

Professor Emily Cope, York College of Pennsylvania

Emily Cope is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition  at York College of Pennsylvania, specializing in rhetoric, religion, and writing. She also serves as the coordinator for YCP's discipline-specific advanced written, oral, and visual communication courses. She love teaching writing and rhetoric, and while she teaches a variety of courses, in each class her goal is to empower students to make effective and ethical interventions in issues they care about. Her scholarly interests center on rhetorical education, pedagogy, public discourse, and religious rhetorics, and she is especially interested in American evangelicals' rhetorical practices and how those practices are shaped by their educational experiences. Her current projects include a qualitative study of evangelical undergraduates' academic writing and a mixed-methods study of writing teacher preparation.

Professor Cynthia Crimmins, York College of Pennsylvania

Cynthia Crimmins was a high school English teacher for 5 years prior to teaching developmental writing in higher ed. In 1995, she began working as a professional tutor and directing a Writing Center, as well as directing tutoring in content areas and providing accommodations for students with disabilities Five years ago she began working more directly with faculty to help them with their assessment processes and improving pedagogy. During her nearly 30 years as an educator, she has helped many different types of learners, from adults learning English for the first time to under-prepared urban high school students and college students in every discipline. 

Professor Gabriel Cutrufello, York College of Pennsylvania

Gabriel Cutrufello's work in the rhetoric of science investigates how scientists make and sustain persuasive arguments for a variety of audiences. Currently, he is researching how graduate students in physics in the nineteenth century integrated visual data into their writing by examining student papers written for an advanced seminar. Images (tables, graphs, charts, photographs, drawings, etc) are a central part of writing for scientific audiences, and his project is attempting to fill a historical gap in the understanding of visuals and their place in scientific arguments.

Professor Dominic DelliCarpini, York College of Pennsylvania

Dominic DelliCarpini is currently the Dean of the Center for Community Engagement and The Naylor Endowed Professor of Writing Studies at York College of Pennsylvania. Before his current appointment, he served for 5 years as York College’s Chief Academic Officer, and 13 years as WPA, where he led a first-year curriculum redesign and developed a successful major in Professional Writing, now in its 12th year. DelliCarpini has served in a number of leadership positions within the national Council of Writing Program Administrators and other organizations in the discipline. He is currently an officer of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (Secretary), a WPA Consultant Evaluator, and serves on the CCCC Committees on the Writing Major and Undergraduate Research. He has also served as a WPA Executive Board member, and held leadership positions on initiatives such as the WPA Network for Media Action and the National Conversation on Writing. He also has twice led the WPA Summer Workshop, and acts as a reviewer for the WPA journal and CCC. DelliCarpini’s numerous publications and presentations have focused upon WPA work, civic engagement (including his book, Composing a Life’s Work: Writing, Citizenship, and your Occupation), writing majors, and undergraduate research in writing centers. DelliCarpini has also edited two composition textbooks: Conversations: Readings for Writers and Issues: Readings in Academic Disciplines, and is currently completing work on the 11th edition of the Prentice Hall Guide to Writin with Dr. Stephen Reid, to be published in early 2106. He serves on the Board of Directors for the York County Community Foundation and the Cultural Alliance of York County, and Chairs the Moving Plans into Action Advisory Board for Downtown, Inc. in York City.  

Professor Catherine DeLazzero, Columbia University

Catherine DeLazzero is a Ph.D. candidate and instructor in English education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also leads writing workshops for local families in her community, serves as a writing mentor for Pen America’s Prison Writing Program, and serves as a member of Community Board 7/Manhattan, where she coordinates a taskforce on inclusive playgrounds. Earlier in her career, she coordinated the Writing Center at The College of New Rochelle and taught writing at St. John’s University and high schools in the Bronx and Cape Town, South Africa.  She has presented on topics related to writing pedagogy at annual conventions held by the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the National Council for the Teachers of English, the Council of Writing Programs Administrators and the International Writing Centers Association.

Professor Jenn Fishman, Marquette University

Professor Fishman is an associate professor of English (Marquette University) and rhetoric and composition scholar who keeps her plate full. Over the past fifteen years she has been involved in three longitudinal or multi-year studies of college writing: the Stanford Study (2001-6), the Embodied Literacies Project (2005-7), and Kenyon Writes (2011-13). Her scholarship spans college writing and writing research, performance, intellectual property, and mentoring, and she has edited watershed issues of two online journals: CCC Online (2012) and, with Jess Enoch, Peitho 18.1 (Fall/Winter 2015). In 2014-15 she helped found the first cross-institutional student affiliate of NCTE, MASA. Currently she is President of the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition and Co-Chair of the CCCC Committee on Undergraduate Research; in 2016 she will also direct Marquette's First-Year English Program. 

Professor Jennifer Follett, York College of Pennsylvania

Jennifer Follett is the Writing Center Director at York College of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include writing center tutors and their strategies, meeting the needs of students in the writing center, emotion in the writing center, and conversational analyses of tutoring sessions.

Professor Alexis Hart, Allegheny University

Professor Alexis Hart is the Director of Writing at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, where she trains and supervises the undergraduate writing consultants in Allegheny’s Learning Commons and teaches first-year seminars and introduction to literature courses. As a military veteran turned academic, Professor Hart has always maintained an interest in civic engagement. In fact, she began her Ph.D. work at the University of Georgia while still on active duty. Her dissertation focused on the ancient Greek rhetorician Isocrates and his civic-minded pedagogy. Professor Hart’s first faculty position was at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). While at VMI, Professor Hart began publishing on military rhetoric and civic engagement and received a grant from the CCCCs to study military veterans returning to the college writing classrooms. As the co-chair of the CCCCs Task Force on Student Veterans and a NCTE Policy Analyst for higher education in Pennsylvania, Professor Hart uses research to inform and support calls for public action.

Professor Karen Johnson, Shippensburg University

Much of Professor Johnson's research has focused on studying the effects of tutoring on writing and writers' perceptions of tutors, fellows, and tutoring strategies. She has developed several types of research designs that include pretest/posttest models, quasi-experimental research designs, and survey research. Her studies have measured the impact of tutoring on students' writing, changes in students' perceptions of tutoring over time, tutors' perceptions of training sessions, and evaluations of student learning outcomes. She enjoys studying changes that result from pretest/posttest designs and using SPSS software for her statistical analyses.

Professor Joyce Kinkead, Utah State University

Professor Joyce Kinkead began asking her students to undertake meaningful, authentic study of writing when directing the Writing Fellows Program she created at Utah State University in 1990. More than a dozen students had their work published in The Tutor's Column of Writing Lab Newsletter. Another group saw their interdisciplinary work on the design of writing centers published as a chapter in a book. For eleven years, she directed the Undergraduate Research Program at USU and is the author/editor of several books on student research, including the forthcoming Researching Writing: An Introduction to Research Methods. 

Professor Jessie L. Moore, Elon University

Jessie Moore is Associate Director of the Center for Engaged Learning and an Associate Professor of Professional Writing and Rhetoric in the Department of English at Elon University. Her teaching, scholarship, and professional service move among and blend professional writing and rhetoric, high-impact learning practices (e.g., undergraduate research, study abroad, service-learning, internships, etc.), transfer of learning, writing studies, second language writing, teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), and faculty development. She organizes the undergraduate researcher poster session at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).

Professor Barbara Roswell, Goucher College

For over thirty years, Professor Roswell has been teaching writing at Goucher College, where she has also directed the Writing Program, Writing Center, First Year Seminars, and WAC. Much of the work she is most excited by engages (and connects undergraduates with) writers beyond the campus—in prisons, retirement communities, after-school programs, etc., and as editor of Reflections she enjoyed working with established and emerging scholars to foster the "the public turn" in composition. In fact, Goucher College now teaches a full college curriculum in several nearby prisons. Her dissertation focused on the construction of authority in Goucher's peer-staffed writing center, and her early research focused on writing assessment and literacy and gender. She finds there is nothing quite like the excitement of developing a research question, choosing a methodological approach, and beginning to see patterns and meaning in one's data. Barbara is the author of Reading, Writing and Gender (2002), Writing and Community Engagement (2010), and Turning Teaching Inside Out (2013).

Professor Leigh Ryan, University of Maryland

Leigh Ryan has directed the University of Maryland Writing Center for many years. In addition to articles and presentations on tutoring writing and tutor training, she wrote The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, now co-authored with Lisa Zimmerelli and in its 6th edition. She is especially interested in writing centers in high schools and in international settings, as well as in centers as sites for research. Recent work includes looking at professionalism in the writing center, exploring and evaluating tutoring/teaching techniques (like peer review), and considering students’ rights to their own language. Other research focuses on the antebellum south, especially archival research looking at slave resistance and literacy.

Professor Sam Waddell, York College of Pennsylvania

Sam Waddell teaches in the writing program and has presented at regional, national, and international conferences. He enjoys research that is quantitative in nature (or mixed qualitative and quantitative) because he believes that numbers are powerfully persuasive at this moment in academic time. Included in areas of research that he is most interested in are student engagement, writing centers/tutor impact in the classroom, and assessing writing.

Professor Lisa Zimmerelli, Loyola University of Maryland

Lisa Zimmerelli is Assistant Professor of Writing and Writing Center Director at Loyola University Maryland. In addition to publishing on tutor education, including the Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors with Leigh Ryan (6th edition forthcoming this winter), Lisa is currently involved in projects regarding religious identity in the writing center and writing center community engagement. Lisa has served in writing centers for 20 years, as a tutor, graduate assistant, and administrator, and is currently the Vice President of the Mid Atlantic Writing Centers Association. Lisa was the recipient of the Loyola University Maryland 2015 Faculty Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship.

Both the students and mentors attending the workshop found many benefits, as each learned more about both their own work and the work of others. A national network of undergraduate researchers and their benefits was starting to form. Some typical comments included:

• The mentoring was most definitely the biggest benefit for me. It was amazing to work one-on-one and in group settings with the mentors. I arrived at Naylor thinking my project just needed to be expanded a bit but I left with plans to take it in a completely new (and better) direction. I think one of the best parts about the mentoring was how excited the mentors got about our projects and how invested they were in helping us improve them. Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about the mentors I was fortunate enough to work with at Naylor.
  
   
• Not only have I learned new ways to research -both in general and for my project in particular- but I have learned how to explore and expand the arguments that emerge from research. I've also realized just how valuable talking things through with a mentor can be which has helped me become more open to the idea of using the wonderful resources of professors and mentors rather than trying to figure it all out myself.
  
   
• I am transforming my project into a senior thesis for next semester and I am applying to present at CCCC. In order to attend CCCC I have applied for a SEARCH grant (and been accepted) which means I will also be presenting at UMKC's symposium for undergraduate research in April. In order to prepare for all this my first step (apart from applying) is to conduct research for the new direction my project is headed in, then work on organizing my findings into an argument that will add to scholarship and -in broad terms- matter to those who learn about it. After this I will work on transforming my argument and evidence into a senior Theseus paper and a poster for CCCC and the Undergraduate Research Symposium.
  
   
• Naylor is a crash-course in how to improve your research project. All the skills and knowledge you pick up at Naylor can be applied to any research you do in your academic careers, not just the project you work on throughout the weekend. You'll sit next to an important scholar who wrote articles you read in a Writing class, and you'll chat with some of the students who will grow into those scholars one day. It’s a weekend of bubbling intelligence and enthusiasm about what we all love most: writing.
  
   
• Networking is the greatest benefit of engaging in undergraduate research. Furthermore, undergraduate research is a low-stakes way to practice a skill that will be very high-stakes in our futures.
  
   
• I am more willing to experiment with different research methods, and I'm no longer seeking a determinate answer to my research question. Rather, I recognize that research is a never-ending process of reflection and revision.
  
   
• My attendance has changed the way that I approach my research by blending quantitative and qualitative methods into a mixed method approach.
  
   
• I would tell those interested in attending people that it is an opportunity to formally engage in mentoring in both a group setting and one-on-one with other professional researchers in writing center studies. It allows individualization yet flexibility in writing research.
  
   
• Even though I was a presenter/mentor, I always feel like I learn something/catch a new perspective on an idea for my own work.
  
   
• When I approach my research now, I have a better understanding of what it means to engage in a particular "conversation". I'm not merely saying what I think is correct and putting it out into the world, I am engaging with other real people who care about the topics I care about.
  
   
• I learn so much from the students and their projects. I love the informal aspects of just being able to talk and exchange ideas. I think I have much to contribute, too, not necessarily answers, but suggestions for ways of looking at things and approaches.

The Workshop Proceedings: At this second annual workshop, an extended model for working together emerged.  Students were matched in advance of the conference with mentors most likely to support their area of research, were given the opportunity to interact virtually before the workshop, and then met in working groups to move their research forward. In addition, students were encouraged to consider the ways in which their research might be circulated at conferences and in publications such as Young Scholars in Writing. Students were introduced to the goals of the workshop as follows:

A DESCRIPTION OF HOW WE’LL USE OUR TIME TOGETHER. . . .

For undergraduate researchers, we want the experience to be hands-on and for you to leave our days together with a more refined and thought-out project.  With that in mind, you should use each session to ask yourself “how might this apply to my project? How does it change my thinking? What new techniques/methodologies can I use to collect information or data?” At each session, make notes on what really strikes you as useful to your own work and how you could employ it, rather than trying to include everything.  And try to leave knowing a bit more about the diverse reasons we do research and the diverse ways we do it—as well as a feel for what things most interest you.

For mentors, this workshop is designed to be an idealized workspace, one in which you often have one-on-one or small group interactions, where you can meet undergraduate researchers where they are and both give them advice and learn from their wonderful new additions to the discipline’s work.

So, while we have a schedule, we’re o.k. with fluid and messy. We’re writers, after all.

Fluid and messy is how things get done sometimes.

Our days together proceeded as follows, as chronicled in this excerpt from the conference program:

2nd ANNUAL NAYLOR WORKSHOP

Friday, September 25th

Friday is all about getting into town safely, meeting one another, and allowing our plenary speaker, Dr. Joyce Kinkead, to get us started with her opening talk. We’re thrilled to be welcoming you to York.

Late Afternoon/Early Evening: Out of Town Guests Arrive in the afternoon / early evening. Hotel check-in.

York College Undergraduate Researchers  will be at the Yorktowne Hotel to greet guests, for informal conversation/orientation, and to distribute workshop packets/nametags. 

7:00–9:00 pm. (Lafayette Room, Yorktowne Hotel)

We’ll be joined by the York College undergraduate researchers and mentors. A welcome will be offered by Dr. Victor Taylor, Chair of the Department of English and Humanities. Then we’ll enjoy dinner, and conclude with an address and discussion led by Dr. Joyce Kinkead of Utah State University. 

Saturday, September 26th

8:00–8:30: Breakfast, opening remarks, and logistics (York College, Willman Building/Yorkview Hall)

8:45–10:00: Small Group Meeting 1: Designing a Research Question   (led by small group mentors)

10:15–11:25: Concurrent Research Workshops, Session 1: Qualitative Methods/Quantitative Methods    

11:35–12:45: Concurrent Research Workshops, Session 2: Qualitative Methods/Quantitative Methods

1:00–2:00: Lunch and discussion with mentors

2:00–2:40: Concurrent Mini-Workshops (Choose one)

2:50–3:30: Concurrent Research Mini-Workshops (Choose one)

3:45–5:30: Small Group Work Sessions: Drawing upon their work throughout the day, researchers will rough out a revised research question, a methodology that matches their question, and begin early drafting work on posters and presentations. This will give researchers something tangible to return to in the morning with fresh eyes.  Mentors will circulate to provide advice. 

6:00–7:30: Dinner, Yorkview Hall, York College

7:30: Return to Hotel for unwinding, informal conversations and thought sessions (but rest up—early start in the morning)

Sunday, September 27th

8:00–8:45: Breakfast and Informal Small Group Discussions: Reporting out, Critique, questions

9:00–11:15: We’ll move to the Humanities Center, lower level, where computer labs and other work spaces are available: Undergraduate researchers will complete posters; mentors will be available.

BY 11:30: Electronic file for mini-posters submitted for printing

11:30–12:30: Break and Lunch

12:30–2:00: Poster Presentations, Gallery Walk, and celebration

2:00: Workshop concludes