This past weekend I was at a party

At that party someone asked me about my research and what my project was about. Now, at this point, one should always approach cautiously. I've found that people seem to think that because I am in an English department I should be able to give a facile explanation of what my research is about. Now people in physics or computer science never face this issue. If they meet a non-specialist, then they just can say it's too technical to explain, and that's the end of it. Not so with me. I usually end up making an effort to explain things. Now I know people in my field who make it a point to avoid getting trapped into such situations. One researcher I know, when asked what she does, says she is a professional learner. In her words, "that usually shuts 'em up."

Well, I didn't take that route. And, actually, the conversation was pleasant enough. But I never did communicate to the person -- an engineering professor -- what my current research project is all about. So, here's an attempt.

What My Dissertation Is All About -- in 500 Words or Less

I am looking at what role plays in a research lab in computer science. More specifically, I am following five writers, four second language writers and one native speaker, and seeing what role writing plays in their professional lives. A big part of my project has been collecting their literacy autobiographies, that is, seeing what role writing has played in their lives up to now. Those literacy autobiographies include such things as technologies that relate to writing (paper, pencils, computers, printers, software), attitudes these people have toward writing (easy or hard and why), the role reading plays in their lives, and so on. In addition, I look at how these five people are moving from being graduate students to being independent researchers and what role writing plays in that transition.

This weekend I will be presenting the results of my research with two of these people at the national writing across the curriculum conference . One thing that I have found out is that both of these writers have really struggled with finding an appropriate mentor to supervise their work, and that this is one of the most important things one needs to do early in a PhD program. I have also found out that one of my subjects excels at giving oral explanations of things, but hates writing. As he says, some people think in whole sentences -- I don't. This, as you can imagine, has an effect on the writing has done over his life.