Composition Studies Synthesis Posts

This is research as conversation. Instead of a research paper, students enter the scholarly discussion about writing in a discussion thread, where their classmates are sources too.

How it runs

1. Claim an article. Around Week 7 of a 15-week course, each student claims a scholarly article in composition studies, so no two students start from the same source.
2. Post a synthesis. The initial post puts the article in conversation with the course readings.
3. Reply to two peers, citing their posts along with their articles.
4. Reply again to the follow-up posts later in the unit.

The three posts are graded equally with the major projects. Students can revise them through Week 12.

Why it works as Stage 3

When the multimodal project and the research project use the same method (collect samples, code them, report patterns), students can feel like they’re doing the same assignment twice. These posts are a different kind of research. They also give students sources for a final autoethnography or portfolio.

In an 8-week asynchronous course, the posts feed the final portfolio. Students write a reflective commentary on what they posted.