EvalG1ssArtF2008

Evaluating Secondary Literature (Article)

Writing to Learn by Learning to Write in the Discipline Michael Carter, Miriam Ferzli and Eric N. Wieb //Journal of Business and Technical Communication// 2007; 21; 278 **Publishing Sources** All journals have an editor and manager listed on the website. Sage is also a highly regarded publisher of textbooks for courses in research, teaching and the social and life sciences disciplines. Publication circulation is not listed, although the societies for which Sage publishes journals often have world-wide memberships numbering in the tens of thousands. The market for JBTC is technical and professional communications personnel across the business and academic fields. SAGE is not a ‘vanity’ publisher. ||
 * ** Publishing Source: ** || The Sage Publications website calls itself an independent international publisher of journals and books. The primary focus of journals and books published by Sage is research, whether in the life sciences (Journal of Clinical Pharmacology) or in social sciences (the journal cited here, JBTC).

Professor of English – NC State Associate Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program at NC State Teaching Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at NC State Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at NC State || All three authors are employed by NC State University. Founded in March 1887, NC State is the largest 4-year institution in the state, and a member of the North Carolina Research Triangle. NC State is classified by Carnegie as RU/VH – Research University/Very High Research Activity. ||  Ph.D. English, Purdue University, 1986 Ph.D. Science Education, NC State University ** Ph.D. Ergonomics, NC State University, 1996 * Co-author of three textbooks: //Fundamentals of Graphics Communications, Technical Graphics Communication, Engineering Graphics Communications.// All three textbooks were published by McGraw-Hill. || As mentioned in the article, the three authors worked together to create Lab Write, a web tool to help students, instructors and professors enhance the lab experience through improving the lab report process, helping students think critically and improve their scientific literacy. The Lab Write process was proven through a control-group study to improve students’ science learning. To learn more about Lab Write, visit http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/index_labwrite.htm. After evaluating the educational background, professional experience and extensive authorship of Dr. Carter and Dr. Wiebe in the subject matter, it is reasonable to consider both authors as subject matter experts. While the authorship and experience level of Dr. Ferzli is not as extensive, her experience and education indicate that she is an emerging subject matter leader. ||
 * Authors and Experts Cited **
 * ** Authors: ** || ** Michael Carter **
 * Miriam Ferzli **
 * Eric N. Wiebe **
 * ** Academic Institution Information: ** || ** North Carolina **** State University **
 * ** Author Credentials: ** || ** Michael Carter **
 * Author of //Where Writing Begins: A Postmodern Reconstruction// (Southern Illinois University, 2003)
 * A uthor or co-author of numerous articles concerning areas of rhetoric, writing and education. These articles have appeared in academic journals including: Language and Learning Across the Disciplines, Technical Communication Quarterly, International Journal of Engineering Education, College Composition and Communication, and Rhetoric Society Quarterly, etc.
 * Dr. Carter has also authored or co-authored chapters, encyclopedia articles, a review, and a teacher’s manual.
 * Dr. Carter is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Rhetoric Society of America, and the Writing Program Administrators
 * Miriam Ferzli **
 * Co-author (with Eric Wiebe, et.al.) of “In Support of Pair Programming in the Introductory Computer Science Course,” Computer Science Education, 2002
 * Eric N. Wiebe
 * Author or co-author of numerous articles concerning areas of technology, graphics and visualization. These articles have appeared in academic journals including: Engineering Design Graphics Journal, NCCTTC Technology Education Journal, Journal of Educational Computing Research, Journal of Science Education and Technology, Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, etc.
 * Dr. Wiebe has served as the Editor of Engineering Design Graphics Journal and Chair, Publications Committee, Engineering Design Graphics Dvision, ASEE
 * ** Author Evaluation: ** || In addition to the education and credentials of the authors outlined above, Eric Weibe and Miriam Ferzli are also co-founders of the Visualization in Technology Education (VisTE) project – a project concerned with graphics and their role in technology and engineering education.

** Content ** || || The article was published by Sage Publications. Sage Publications is an independent academic publisher of books, journals, and databases. The article can be found in the Journal of Business and Technical Communications, which is an academic journal. Academic journals are peer-reviewed periodicals that focus on a particular discipline. The dates of the works cited range from 1987-2007. The author has conducted a thorough search on determining how writing in a discipline encourages socialization in the discipline. The study was designed to produce results that were not found in previous studies. The works listed in the article are from various publications. ||
 * ** Article Publication: ** || The content presented in this article is recent as it was published in July 2007. This is not a topic that would become dated as there will always be researches interested in how writing in a discipline helps one to learn the discipline.
 * ** Content Comparison: ** || The three studies that the author mentions in the article all seem to conclude that writing helps one to become more engaged with the subject that they are writing about. However, the previous studies fail to show specifically how writing in a discipline encourages one to learn that discipline or promotes learning.
 * ** Author and Article Reliability: ** || The authors of works cited are qualified as they have conducted studies and research in how writing relates to learning. The authors that are mentioned several times throughout the article (Ackerman, Hilgers, and Hawthorne) have all conducted several studies that demonstrate how students see writing as a way to understand the discipline.

** Methodology ** If proven, their theory might change the way educators and teachers work with students in a variety of situations. A number of previous studies were cited by the authors in the text. The references led the authors to work on how writing help students learn. ||
 * **Hypothesis:** || The authors wished to investigate the idea that writing as part of classes in a discipline (in this case an undergraduate level biology class) might encourage students to synthesize the teaching and lab portions of a class better than traditional lecture and lab reports.
 * **References to Other Research:** || In this article, references are integrated within the item as the previuos studies show writing from students' perspective. However they fail to show how writing in a discipline promotes learning in that discipline.

Here are the conclusions of previous studies conducted that were referenced in the article. || Students were placed in groups of four for the lab section of the class, and wrote four traditional lab reports, three individual and one in collaboration with the other members of the respective group. The questions were designed to elicit responses on students experience with and attitudes about writing the reports after the end of the class. Responses were categorized into the following list: || ||
 * 1) Higlers (1995) - Students stated that writing helped them to understand and retain course information as well as improve problem solving skills.
 * 2) Hawthorne (1998) - Students stated that writing helped them to be more involved in the course and reflect and organize material.
 * 3) Hilgers (1999) - This was a follow up study to the one that he conducted in 1995. In this study, the students stated that writing helped them to be more involved in a course, synthesize information, clarify ideas, and organize thoughts.
 * **Research Method:** || In order to study their hypothesis, the authors designed a questionnaire to be given to students in Biology 183, a required introductory course for students in the life sciences. Participation was voluntary and approved by the NCSU human subjects IRB, as required by federal law. The questionnaire was given to randomly selected students in the lab sections of the course at the end of the class.
 * 1) Learning by writing
 * 2) Learning by writing in the genre
 * 3) Learning by enhancing understanding
 * 4) Learning by using reports for future experience
 * 5) Learning in other contexts
 * 6) Learning in contrast to other modes of learning
 * ** Results and Conclusions: ** || Because of the low sample number, results were not critically analyzed. However, the authors acknowledge the limitations of a small sample size and posited that additional research would be required and would back up their premises.