ENC blog 4

• Genre: The genre you are writing a progress report. In “real life”, progress reports are written for a variety of reasons: researchers write progress reports to update grant committees on the progress of the research the committees are funding; engineers and/or scientists write progress reports to update their supervisors or the government on the progress of the research and any additional resources that might be needed; or teams within a company may also write them to update CEOs or board members of the status of a major initiative. Progress reports are polished documents that are meant to convince your reader that you have made effective progress on your research, that you are on track to finish the project, and that you have a firm understanding of what the next steps are for your project. Here’s a student sampleActions. This is a progress report on a scientific research,Actions which is a little different. While neither of these examples are a perfect match to the assignment, they’ll give you an idea of what’s expected and what progress reports can look like.
• Purpose: You will want to update your instructor on the progress of your research and how the process of writing the research log has impacted your understanding of the issue and of the focus of your research project. You want to convince your instructor that in Unit 2 you explored effectively, demonstrated intellectual curiosity, and read rhetorically and with an open mind.
• Audience: Your instructor.
• Skills learned/practiced: synthesis, reflection, writing/revision.

Important notes about progress reports:

• • • Center your report on your project. In other words, the progress report should reflect that you thought about what you want to say about your learning/insights and that you organized the report in a way that best communicates those ideas to a supervisor. Your progress report should not be a bulleted list of answers to the questions below.
    • Progress reports are usually short, but dense. You have 1-2 pages to convince your reader of all the progress you’ve made and all that you’ve learned. Be wise with what you include. Avoid “fluff”. Use specific details/language throughout (if you are speaking only in vague terms, you will not convince your reader you’ve effectively researched).
    • Progress reports allot space based on importance. Something that took you 10 hours of work may only add 1-2 sentences to the progress report. Conversely, something that didn’t take as long could end up being hugely important and merit an entire paragraph. Give space to the important ideas and don’t waste space on things that aren’t important to your progress and thinking, even if they took time.
    • If you refer to a source, cite it–and be specific about your information. Instead of “the article I used for log 1”, say “In ‘Is AI Helping Writers?’, by Diego Jackson…”
    • Make the report as polished as possible. Part of convincing your reader that you are an effective researcher is speaking about that research intelligently and in a polished way. Revise before you submit.

Below I’ve provided guiding questions to help you write an effective reflection, but you do not have to answer every question and you should not answer it in bullet form. Instead, write the progress report like an essay–though you can use subheadings, if that helps you.

Guiding Questions

Here is the link to the guiding questions you should use for your research progress report. You must consider these questions as you write and address both of the categories in the guiding questions.

Submission

Unlike your first three research logs that were submitted through discussion board, you will write your Research Progress Report on a separate document. Research Progress Reports are public facing. In order to mirror that process, you will submit the progress report as a separate, polished document intended for a wider audience.

Guiding Questions

Idea 1: In at least 250 words, consider the research you’ve done. Specifically, in this section of your progress report, discuss your understanding of your topic now that you’ve spent some time researching the topic.

• • Now that you have explored more about this topic, how can you make your research topic more specific and/or more focused? Revisit your initial statement of research to remind yourself of how you thought about the topic at the beginning of this unit. You’ve narrowed since then. How can you narrow your focus further moving forward?
  • How have your ideas about your topic shifted and changed as a result of conducting this research?
  • Now that you’ve read about the topic, what background information do readers need in order to follow the conversation you are writing about? In your opinion, why should people care about this issue? On what points do your sources generally agree or disagree? What do you now understand about the larger conversation surrounding this topic as a result of listening to various voices and perspectives?
  • How will you move from here to a thesis on the topic? What holes exist in your research, what perspectives have you not fully considered?
  • Now that you have explored more about this topic, how will you make use of your sources?
    • • Which of the sources from your logs will you most definitely use in your research and why? Which of the sources in your logs are you less likely to use and why? Connect your use of these sources (and your answer here) to the ideas that most interest you about your topic.

Idea 2: In at least 150 words explain how your thinking changed throughout this project (and the course more generally).

• • How did your ideas on your topic shift and change?
    • What are some of the misconceptions you had about your topic before beginning? Or, what did you not understand about your topic before beginning this research? How have your opinions, thoughts, feelings, understandings, of the topic shifted throughout this process?
  • How did your ideas about research shift or change?
    • Is there anything about the way you conducted your research or the kinds of sources you found that is different from the way you’ve conducted research in the past?
    • What are some of the research methods that you used for this project that you found particularly effective/ineffective?
    • Look back on the initial statement of research or what you wrote when you first proposed this topic. In what ways has your thinking changed since then?

Idea 3: Explain your progress and process.

• • Where are you in your research?
  • Where are you in writing about your research?
  • What have you observed about your writing and research process?
  • How might you improve your working process as you complete this assignment?
  • What are your plans for successful completion of this project? Think about your timeline?