Christian Kowalski and Miranda Romano participated in the 2015 Naylor Workshop on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies at York College.
Christian Kowalski and Miranda Romano participated in the 2015 Naylor Workshop on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies at York College, held Sept. 25-27.
The Naylor Workshop for Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies is an opportunity for students of any experience level to grow as skilled researchers. Students submitted applications in May to attend the intensive workshop, and 25 undergraduates were accepted for this year’s event.
Over the course of this weekend-long workshop, students develop their own research projects by engaging in seminars on writing studies research, collaborating with themed teams of experienced scholars and peer researchers, and crafting research artifacts during independent time.
Dominic DelliCarpini, the inaugural Naylor Endowed Professor in Writing Studies, oversees the conference. “We are fortunate to have a stellar group of students who are interested in diverse topics, ranging from Chinese rhetoric to the grit factor in service learning courses,” he said. “They are passionate about their topics, and over the three-day workshop, they move from research question to poster presentation.”
Kowalski developed a research questions and methods to examine what informs how students assign value to different types of writing genres, including multimodal genres. Romano’s project examines the visual rhetoric of feminist posters from three waves of the feminist movement in the United States.
“We invited leaders in the field of writing and composition studies to serve as mentors for these outstanding students,” DelliCarpini said. “The mentors invest a tremendous amount of time and expertise in advising these students.”
The Elon students were accompanied by Jessie L. Moore, associate professor of professional writing and rhetoric in the Department of English and associate director of the Center for Engaged Learning. Moore co-mentored four workshop participants and facilitated a seminar on quantitative research methods in writing studies. Moore was the plenary speaker for the 2014 inauguaral Naylor Workshop.
For more information about the Naylor Workshop and to consider application for the 2016 event, see this website: http://www.ycp.edu/offices-and-services/center-for-teaching-and-learning/writing-center/naylor-workshops/. This workshop is suitable for undergraduate students of any major who are interested in developing and conducting research projects to expand knowledge and improve practices in writing studies.