Program Anthologies, Classbooks, and Zines an Examination of Approaches to Publishing First-Year Students' Work Ormond Loomis
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2006 Program Anthologies, Classbooks, and Zines an Examination of Approaches to Publishing First-Year Students' Work Ormond Loomis Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES PROGRAM ANTHOLOGIES, CLASSBOOKS, AND ZINES AN EXAMINATION OF APPROACHES TO PUBLISHING FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS’ WORK by ORMOND H. LOOMIS A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Ormond H. Loomis All Rights Reserved The Members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of Ormond H. Loomis defended on 05 April 2006. John Fenstermaker Professor Directing Dissertation John Simmons Outside Committee Member Bruce Bickley Committee Member Jerrilyn McGregory Committee Member Approved: Hunt Hawkins, Chair, Department of English The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study owes a profound debt to numerous individuals and institutions who supported the project with funds, time, and wisdom as the work evolved. The project relies heavily on the interest and cooperation of many teachers and administrators in writing programs across the United States. Respondents to my initial inquiries are too numerous to name individually, nevertheless I gratefully recall their contributions. In addition, I am indebted to the people with whom I corresponded and talked at some length: Margaret Barber, University of Southern Colorado; Deborah Bruno, George Washington University; Cynthia Cox, Belmont University; Eileen Donovan-Katz, Boston College; Peter Elbow, University of Massachusetts--Amherst; Ruth Fischer, George Mason University; Alfie Guy, New York University; Gordon Harvey, Harvard University; Gary Hatch, Brigham Young University; Van Hillard, Duke University; Robert G. Howard, University of Oregon; Will Hochman, Southern Connecticut State University; Jeffrey Klausman, Whatcom Community College; Donald C. Murray; Patricia Y. Murray, California State University--Northridge; Thomas Newkirk, University of New Hampshire; Randall Popkin, Tarleton State Univeristy; Janice Radway, Clemson University; Martha Sims, Ohio State University; Ladd Tobin, Boston College; Joseph Trimmer, Ball State; Sue Willens, George Washington University; Peggy Woods, University of Massachusetts--Amherst; Kenneth R. Wright, University of Oregon; Patricia Zukowski, University of Massachusetts--Amherst; and especially Marvin Diogenes, Stetson University; Eileen Donovan-Katz, Boston College; Greg Glau, Arizona State University; and Charles Moran, University of Massachusetts who generously gave their time and shared their thoughts in extended telephone interviews as well as in correspondence. Their perspectives on pedagogy and their enthusiasm for my study greatly fueled the project. In working on the interviews, I was buoyed by the help of Marta Hagan and her assistants at Words Wizards transcription service. Archivist Ellen Swain and her assistant Kate Meehan in the University Archives at the University of Illinois deserve thanks as well for iii providing information about and sample copies of The Green Cauldron. At Florida State, many people in the English department deserve thanks. Among the writing students who showed me the value zines had for improving their skill with composition, Kim Burke, Tanekka Cunningham, and Natalie Woodward stand out. I fondly remember the help of fellow teaching assistants, especially Jennifer Ahern, Matt Bondurant, Patricia Hendricks, and Charlie Lowe, and Paul Reifenheiser for discussions that sharpened my thinking and comments on drafts that showed me where I could to sharpen my prose. I am grateful to Carolyn Hall and other administrative assistants who kept me moving toward completion in spite of distractions. I also thank Deborah Coxwell Teague and Kathleen Yancey, faculty in the rhetoric-composition program, who offered keen insight into the relationship of pedagogy to publishing and the relationship of my project to composition studies. I owe a special debt of gratitude to former members of the English faculty Rick Straub, one of my initial committee members who led me to consider early compositionists use of publications of students' writing, and Wendy Bishop, my initial project director who championed the need for my research and first helped me shape the study. Certainly not least among the faculty, the members of my dissertation committee, Chairman John Fenstermaker, Bruce Bickely, Jerrilyn McGregory, and John Simons have my gratitude for the excellent feedback and encouragement they offered. I look forward to a continuing association with them. Last, I thank my children, Anne and Ross, and my wonderful wife, Claudia Hunter Johnson. Their encouragement, sacrifice, support, and understanding enabled me to launch the project, navigate it, and successfully bring it to a conclusion. The study would not have been possible without them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables . vi List of Figures . vii Abstract . viii 1. JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COMMITMENT . 1 2. PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER COMPOSITION PROGRAM LITERATURE . 21 3. PUBLISHING FOR SUBJECTIVE RHETORIC: TWO PROGRAMS IN THE EAST . 43 4. PUBLISHING FOR EPISTEMIC RHETORIC: TWO PROGRAMS IN THE WEST . 57 5. PUBLISHING FOR MULTIPLE AUDIENCES: A SYNTHESIS AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY . 72 6. DATES, APPLES, ORANGES, AND GUAVAS: COMPARING STUDENTS' WRITING . 88 7. CONCLUSION . 113 APPENDICES . 120 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 2 21 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH . 243 v LIST OF TABLES 1-1. First-Year Writing Program Publications Examined . 10 1-2. Non-First-Year Writing Program Publications Examined . 12 1-3. Contacts for Anthologies and Other Publications . 15 5-1. Number of Pieces per Edition of Our Own Words . 74 6-1. Focus of Texts in Selected Essays . 91 6-2. Genres of Selected Essays . 92 6-3. Analysis of Sentence Length for All Sentences in the Selected Texts . 95 6-4. Analysis of Sentence Length for the Sentences in the Sample Sections . 106 6-5. Analysis of Sentence Types in the Sample Sections . 108 6-6. Analysis of Verb Forms and Sentence Openings . 109 vi LIST OF FIGURES 6-1. Structure of the Five-Paragraph Essay . 93 6-2. Structure of Johnson's Essay . 96 6-3. Structure of Henderson's "Writing Project #3" . 97 6-4. Structure of Russell's "Technology: Harmful or Helpful?" . 97 6-5. Structure of Connor's "Works Well with Others" . 98 6-6. Structure of Daniel's "The Fire" . 100 6-7. Structure of Modzelesky's "Thwarting the Devil" . 101 6-8. Structure of Doggett's "Beginning Under the Stars" . 102 6-9. Structure of Lundi's "Travel: Color Me Caribbean" . 103 F-1. Structure of Clark's "River of Dreams" . 218 F-2. Structure of McPhee's "Swimming with Canoes" . 219 vii ABSTRACT This study examines publications of students' writing in first-year composition programs. Based on a survey of such publications in 1999, I review how program anthologies and classbooks are produced and used and analyze selected examples of the writing they contain. In addition I trace the development of the publications as the field of composition studies evolved. Research for the study indicates that, although composition instructors have recognized these publications as valuable tools in teaching writing since the mid-twentieth century, relatively few schools have them. The research shows considerable variety in the approaches that writing programs take to publishing students' writing. Moreover, it reveals a strong connection between the publications and the pedagogical orientation of the writing programs that produce them. To illustrate the relationship, I use data from questionnaires and personal interviews to sketch the evolution of approaches to publishing at five schools: two of them aligned with subjective rhetoric, two of them with epistemic rhetoric, and one bridging these rhetorical views. In chapter six of the study, I analyze eight selected students' texts from the publications. The results show surprisingly little difference in the quality of the compositions they contain. Nevertheless, the subjects the students choose and the structure of their papers suggests that the students' folk culture has a significant influence on their writing. Perhaps more important, the analysis suggests that student experiment with form and style more in their writing when they take responsibility for editing their published texts than when teachers assume that responsibility. The conclusion of the study calls for writing programs to increase their awareness of the range of possibilities for publishing students' papers in first-year composition and incorporate the publications in their curricula. Texts in program anthologies and classbooks constitute a significant resource for understanding how students write. The compositionists have not yet realized the full potential these publications have for helping students learn to write. viii CHAPTER 1 JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COMMITMENT If we are to accept the definition of a writer as one who writes, we must accept the fact that writers are not a special type of person. Those who write might be of any age, shape, background or interest. They may produce a technical manual or a provocative essay or a piece of artistic prose. The one thing they hold in common is the use of language. Perhaps writing,