WRA 453 Grant & Proposal Writing Fall 2005 Bill Hart-Davidson hartdav2@msu.edu Session 7: Lines of Argument for P1

Let’s review… In her article, Tardy argues for a particular perspective on proposal writing. She uses two writers’ process to validate the perspective first by illustrating it, and second by showing how the success of the more experienced of the two writers can be attributed to acting on this perspective.

Tardy’s Questions What genres and communities interact to form the genre system of grant funding? What are the roles and functions of this genre system? What type of knowledge does participation in the text genres and genre system require of grant writers and how do these writers develop such knowledge? Take a moment, here, to jot down what your questions were…

Seeing action in action I asked you to add one method of inquiry for your project Interviews with writers Analysis of documents – samples of the various genres used Observations of writers doing “proposing”…creating, using, or coordinating genres

What did you watch for? Evidence of… The specialized knowledge required to use genres and act in genre systems. Individual moves Community rules what genres are used? in what sequence? for what purposes? in what situations? what genres are required or optional? what patterns of use lead to success?

What did you watch for? Evidence of… The specialized knowledge required to use genres and act in genre systems. Individual moves Community rules List your data here List your data here

Your deliverables… A written report of your genre system investigation, 4-6 pages in length not including any attachments. A 10 minute presentation, for the class, based on your report Process documents: #1 and #2 require a line of argument…

Tardy’s line of argument, 1 “grant proposals function within a larger system of documents with which writers interact as they navigate through the grant-writing process. Documents such as letters of intent and grant-writing guidelines, as well as face-to-face interactions with program officers, are all interconnected genres within the grant-writing process.” Tardy, p. 11 Note how this is related to the research questions.

Tardy’s line of argument, 2 It is becoming increasingly evident (based on studies X, Y, Z) that the best way to understand proposal writing is to take a genre system approach A genre system approach is ___________; it differs from common sense/prevailing way of explaining proposal writing in that__________ Close examination of proposal writers’ activity reveals the descriptive power of a genre system approach – examples from Case 1 & Case 2 demonstrate X, Y, Z aspects of a genre-system view. Those who’s proposing work is consistent with a genre system view are more successful; examples taken from the more experienced writer in Case 1 showing success; examples taken from the less experienced writer in Case 2 showing breakdowns attributable to not following a genre-system view

Broadhead & Freed’s Argument Discourse communities exist in compositional studies In regards to compositional studies, discourse communities exist/are valid because: They create standardization. They maintain the focus on process (rather than product). They allow for the study of social codes and artifacts. Lessons learned from examining other discourse communities (in this case Alpha and Omega) can be applied to compositional studies The norms in a commmunity define that commmunity - how members act and react. Policies and sacred texts govern behavior within a discourse community, including compositional studies.

B&F’s line of argument (bhd) A promising, but to this point underutilized subject of inquiry for rhetoric and composition is “the discourse community” In addition to helping to establish our field as a credible one, studying discourse communities would permit us to extend our inquiry of the writing process beyond the classroom (where it has almost exclusively focused before now) What is a discourse community and how does one go about studying one? It’s ____definition_____ and here are some examples & history/development of methods for studying them. But to really understand…allow us to give you an example… Proposal writers at X and Y firms, while nominally engaged in the same writing task, must learn to negotiate this task in very different ways due to the differences in the discourse communities which characterize their workplaces (pattern here is: trend noticed, note contrast with opposite firm, explain how/why) Pedagogical implications: For our students to be successful writers, they must learn the rules of the discourse communities they will eventually enter. How can we prepare them if we don’t understand these ourselves?

Knoblauch’s line of argument (bhd) There is widespread agreement that a writer’s purpose is an important concept for understanding both the meaning and structure of discourse. But there is a difference in the way some theorists use the term “purpose” and the way others use it. Some refer to generic purposes, usually inferred from a post-hoc analysis of the resulting text. Others mean operational purpose, or those immediate influences on a writer at the time of composing. My experience working with and studying proposal writers tells me that focusing on operational purpose is the more accurate view. Proposal writing is especially interesting to study in this regard, as it frequently requires writers to balance competing operating purposes. In fact, this is a crucial skill for proposal writers (many examples here). If we didn’t consider operational purpose, we would have missed this skill entirely. Our current theory of purpose therefore requires revising, as may any pedagogical practices we have developed that rely on this outmoded view.

Now you try… Reconstruct Knoblauch’s 1. research questions 2. line of argument And then… Give us yours!