Blog Post 5: Final Post about Research Proposal

My research proposal is completely finished! As I look back to this full project, I would like to note everything that I have learned about designing a sound research study. First of all, I didn't know what writing a research proposal would like. I have written plenty of proposals before, but what makes this research proposal different is that there is an extensive literature review. Lots of research has to be done to make sure that one can propose, and others can conduct research successfully, even if the proposer don't get the answers they were expecting or wanting. I have also learned that it takes a lot of time, and everything has to be written completely in order for it to be sound and thorough. 

I also wanted to mention what these processes have taught me about my future roles as a technical and professional communicator. As stated previously in other blog posts, it was extremely difficult for me to find research from PTW journals and apply it to my topic, but I made it work! Now that the research proposal is complete, I have learned that I can take just about any topic and apply it to a rhetoric point of view because everything has some kind of rhetoric involved. This project has also taught me that it is a lot of work, but also that the hard work pays off! I look forward to doing more projects like these in the future! 

Blog Post 4: Plans for Revision & Peer Response

 After completing the rough draft of my proposal, which was a simple outline of what content I want to add in my final draft, I got some helpful feedback. The feedback given regarded my research questions and research methods section. My peer reviewer said that I have a great start for my final draft, but I do have a few plans for revising. First, I want to move my extensive literature review into my final draft. My literature review has some feedback from my professor, so once I make some corrections and adjustments, I will be able to add it into my final draft. I also plan on moving my introduction from my literature review to the very beginning of my proposal and then creating a new introduction for my literature review that specifies the layout of what readers can expect before reading the review. Next, and most important, I want to add more of a rhetorical analysis. By adding a specific rhetorical theory when looking at case briefs, the audience will get more of the PTW emphasis feel to my proposal. With these edits, and the other minor grammatical edits I plan on making throughout my paper, I believe I am on the right track!  Plus, it will go right along with my current capstone research! 

Blog Post 3: Research Gap

Since I have narrowed down my topic, I created a literature review titled "The Rhetoric in Advocacy within Law." I decided to explore how advocacy is rhetoric, and I am using the office of Guardian ad Litem (a specific branch of family law) as an example of advocacy because the attorneys are advocates that use rhetoric every single day. As I narrowed down my research, I have found that there is a research gap between the PTW (Professional and Technical Writing) journals and my topic itself. For example, I found plenty of sources in the PTW journals that relate to advocacy and others that relate to rhetoric, but I had a hard time finding sources that related to advocacy being rhetoric. I also could not find any PTW journal articles on the office of Guardian ad Litem, so connecting all my ideas together has been a bit difficult. However, as I continue writing and forming an outline, I see that things are starting to connect. Connecting this research gap hasn't been easy, but I know in doing so, research will be formed on topics that haven't been written about before. 

Blog Post 2: Research Methods

Out of all the research topics I have previously considered, I finally decided my topic! I took information from my third idea, “Examine the way technical writing is used in legal writing,” and information from my capstone to explore the idea I have come up with. I have decided to explore the rhetoric in advocacy between ASFA and Family First in Family Law, specifically Guardian ad Litem. By doing this, I am going to be exploring the rhetoric within court documents and personal one-on-one interviews. I will use this research to describe how rhetoric is used throughout ASFA and Family First individually, since they explain two completely different ways of solving a case. Because they are so different, they also use different ways to persuade judges, and that is where I will be looking at the specific documents, and other information mentioned previously. I will see how rhetoric within the Professional and Technical Writing department plays a role in this specific law. Below are ten secondary sources I will be using to start my research! The first two are my priority. One is a book given by an attorney I intern for, and another is a website that includes tons of forms that I will be analyzing. The rest of the sources could change, but I am hoping to use at least the first two sources.

1. Gupta-Kagan, Josh, et al. Child Welfare Law and Practice: Representing Children, Parents, and Agencies in Neglect, Abuse, and Dependency Cases. 4 ed., National Association of Counsel for Children, 2022

2. Utah Office of Guardian ad Litem Forms (utcourts.gov)

3. Ideology and Rhetoric Replace Science and Reason in Some Parental Alienatio...: EBSCOhost

Ideology and Rhetoric Replace Science and Reason in Some Parental Alienation Literature and Advocacy: A Critique Written by Madelyn S. Milchman, Robert Geffner, and Joan S. Meier

4.   viewcontent.cgi (columbia.edu) Reforming Family Court: Getting it Right Between Rhetoric and Reality

5. Examining the Intentional Use of Rhetoric in Legal Argumentation to Advocate for Foster Care Reform (msstate.edu)

6. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572259209359493 Between Efficiency and Politics Rhetoric and Ethics in Technical Writing

7. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651920932198 Legally Minded Technical Communicators: A Case Study of a Legal Writing Course

8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651908315980 Making Academic Work Advocacy Work: Technologies of Power in the Public Arena

9. https://doi.org/10.1177/10506519211044195 Curricular Efforts in Technical Communication after the Social Justice Turn

10. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047281616639472 The Technical Communicator as Advocate: Integrating a Social Justice Approach in Technical Communication

Blog Post 1: On Topic Interests & Peer Response

 Hey everyone! So here are a few different ideas that I have! They are in no particular order. 

1. Gender roles in technical writing jobs. 

• I am thinking of looking at the treatment of male versus female technical writers and specifically looking at their salary differences and education differences. I would also use the data as a way to advocate for woman in the workforce.

2. Reporting on how different forms of AI affect technical writers. 

• The specific forms of AI would be things like Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, ProWriting Aid, Rytr.me, etc. I haven't done a lot of research on this subject, but I think this could be interesting due to how many people are currently invested in AI. 

3. Examine the way technical writing is used in legal writing. 

• This topic would specifically go over how legal writing uses technical writing objectives. As someone who has work experience in the legal field, I am able to see how it is used in summarizing cases, drafting contracts and letters, and writing other legal documents. 

I am really uncertain on what to write about. I am currently taking capstone so I want to relate what I research in this class to my capstone. I would love to have something relate to law because that is the field I want to go into, but I am unsure.