If you ask an Elon PWR student what they love about their program of study, they will almost always bring up the amazing faculty that make the PWR program what it is. Besides developing intriguing and practical curricula for their classes and going out of their way to help students achieve their goals, the PWR professors also work on a variety of research projects that contribute to national and international discussions in the fields of writing and rhetoric. One of these faculty members is Dr. Li Li, an Assistant Professor of English and the PWR Major Coordinator, who had an article published about her research earlier this year. Dr. Li’s rhetorical analysis appeared in the journal Technical Communication Quarterly in January 2020 and is cited at the end of this post, and she offered more insights into her research process and results here:

How did you develop the idea for your recent article?

This article is a rhetorical analysis of the visual representation of Chinese immigrants in the Statistical Atlases of the United States. It all started when I accidentally encountered a population graph from the Statistical Atlases produced by the U.S. Census Bureau in the late 19th century.

Total Population, Selected Classes: 1880 (Gannett & Hewes,1883 Atlas Plate 22)

The American population was classified as follows: native/foreign, colored/white, males/females, and Chinese. Standing alone at the very top of the bar chart, “Chinese” immediately caught my eye. It was intriguing to me why “Chinese,” with a very small population size, was selected and represented as a major population category in this graph produced in the late 19th century. In order to understand the rhetorical decisions behind this graph, I started researching population graphs based on census data in the late 19th century and early 20th century and the historical context of the time period. And I decided to write an article about this.

What methods did you use to study your topic?

I used rhetorical analysis, archival research, and cultural studies methodologies in this study. I collected my data from the historical Statistical Atlases in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of the atlases are available electronically from the Library of Congress website, but some can only be read in the archival section in the library. Touching and turning the pages of the 200-year-old atlases was a memorable experience for me. Archival reading was also a kind of directed ramble, but by reading through several thousand graphs in the atlases, I did find the information I set out to discover.

What was the most interesting thing (in your opinion) that you found in your research?

As my research progressed, I began to see the relationship that historical events, especially the Chinese Exclusion Act, had with the designer’s political agenda and the rhetorical choices made in the data displays. Data visualizations like population graphs could function as an exercise of state disciplinary power and social control over citizens and non-citizens, especially the undesirable and unproductive “others.”

Do you think this research will influence your studies of writing and rhetoric further?

Definitely. I have always been interested in the study of visual rhetoric. In future studies, I would like to examine more broadly how power and authority work in data designs and study inequities, such as racism and xenophobia, in visual communication practices. The project also contributes teaching materials to my classes on the discussion of history and conventions of data visualization, and ethics in creating and using data displays. This project can be used as a case study in my class to foster critical thinking and help students to become more ethical designers of data displays.

What do you hope that your research will accomplish, or what do you hope people take away from your research?

As I stated in my article, I hope the study will “raise critical awareness of the invisible politics and ideologies present in the visual language of historical data displays.” I also hope communicators will be informed on what visual strategies can be used to advance rhetorical purposes today.

If you want to read Dr. Li’s article, this is the citation to search:
Li Li (2020). Visualizing Chinese Immigrants in the U.S. Statistical Atlases: A Case Study in Charting and Mapping the Other(s), Technical Communication Quarterly, 29:1, 1-17, DOI: 10.1080/10572252.2019.1690695

To continue Preregistration week, today I’ll be introducing Elon’s newest PWR Professor, Dr. Li.

Dr. Li completed her bachelor’s degree at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou, China; followed by her master’s degree, which she completed at University of Edinburgh in the UK; and finally her doctorate, which she completed at the University of Iowa. She has experience teaching in China, the UK, and the US in a variety of courses, including topics such as intercultural communication and rhetoric & composition. Dr. Li’s research focuses on data visualization, visual rhetorics, and intercultural rhetorics, which she says is inspired by her cross-cultural academic journey.

As I mentioned Monday, this fall, Dr. Li will be teaching a PWR special topics course on Data & Information Visualization.  This course is designed to help students develop a rhetorical understanding of information graphics. Dr. Li notes that English majors today are expected to have “hybrid-identities” and be more than just a writer.  Through this new course, Dr. Li plans to work with students to cultivate skills that will help them become effective information designers, and reach beyond “just” writing.

I hope you all will join me in welcoming Dr. Li to the PWR department, and don’t forget to register for Dr. Li’s ENG 313 Topics: Data & Information Visualization!

Ever wonder what happens when faculty members leave for a conference? Where do they go? What do they do?

Conferences are professional meetings of faculty with specific interests. Most academic conference include keynote addresses from leaders in the field, numerous presentations by attendees about research and pedagogical subjects, opportunities to meet with publishers and check out the latest texts in the discipline, and networking opportunities. We catch up with old friends and colleagues, while making connections with our peers.

Three of the PWR faculty will be attending what’s known as 4Cs, Conference on College Composition and Communication, this week in Las Vegas. This is the largest professional conference of writing, rhetoric, and professional communication instructors in the country. Follow me, Dr. Moore, and Dr. Rosinski or follow #cccc13 on Twitter to see what’s happening.

RPR

You write papers for your classes all the time, but have you ever wondered how a professor writes the papers that s/he publishes in academic journals? When I was a student, I just assumed my professors were very smart and got automatically published. Not true.

We go through the same types of planning, procrastinating, drafting, revising, seeking out and implementing feedback, procrastinating, and revising some more processes that you do. Like your instructors evaluate your papers, editors and peer reviewers review our articles to offer feedback and determine if the piece should be published. I’ve had articles accepted on the first try and articles that got four revise-and-resubmits before I gave up.

All writers work on their craft and depend on their communities for feedback to help them grow.

I’ve been thinking about, outlining, and avoiding an article I want to write for three months now. My hold up is the literature review because that’s the most time-intensive part of the piece..but also one of the most important because it situates the points I want to make in what people have already said. This shows my peers that I’ve looked at what they’ve have said, understand it, and have something new to offer.

Because I know I’m procrastinating (I make that Calvin face when I have to write a lit review), I’ve set a goal of completing the first draft of the lit review by November 30th and am using two methods to hold me accountable. First, I’ve promised my writing group (Dr. Moore) that I’ll have the draft for our next meeting on November 30. And secondly, I’m using Twitter accountability. I read an article once about a professor who knew he procrastinated when he was writing, so every time he needed motivation to stop and write, he would put a terribly embarrassing picture of himself as his Facebook profile picture and have a friend change his password until he met his writing goal. I’m not that brave (and I’ve burned all the embarrassing pictures), so I’m tweeting my process instead.

For the next two weeks, I’ll be reading and rereading articles about service-learning, client-project pedagogy, and Agile methodology. As I read, I’ll tweet the titles of the articles, the main point and key ideas, and the aspects that I agree or disagree most with. You can follow me at @RPR_Elon and hold me accountable by tweeting me when you don’t see any article posts that day. Hopefully you’ll also get to see how a professor reads articles in the field and interrogates the arguments made in the pieces. At the very least it will be interesting to see if you can help me stay on task!

Professional Writing and Rhetoric Professor Dr. Jessie Moore is spending this semester on sabbatical, during which she has taken advantage of developing her research in second language writing in a great way. While on sabbatical, Dr. Moore is spending time extending research she conducted almost 10 years ago on second language writing. Returning to this research has provided Dr. Moore with the opportunity to explore the developments of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and second language writing in a new way. Dr. Moore’s intriguing study, titled “Mapping the Geographies of Second Language Writing” focuses primarily on three very significant points on second language writing- the lack of cohesion between ESL and foreign language writing, the disconnect between the R1 institutions where research on second language writers is conducted and the educational contexts where these second language writers are actually learning, as well as global developments in second language writing studies.

It was her research on global context that led Dr. Moore to Cambodia. Generally, texts on second language writers come from first world countries like the United States, Japan, Western European countries, and Australia. Dr. Moore noticed a gap around developing countries, and that many countries in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia were not getting appropriate attention. When conducting research, Dr. Moore noticed that there were publications on second language writing coming out of Cambodia, which really interested her. Dr. Moore attended the CamTESOL conference in Cambodia during her 10 day visit, a conference for professionals involved with English Language Teaching (ELT). The conference aimed to create a forum for open discussion about ELT, as well as discussion about ways to expand the network of ELT teachers in Cambodia and internationally. It is important that ELT professionals in Cambodia to have connections in other nations, and this conference helped to do so.

Along with attending the CamTESOL conference, Dr. Moore had the opportunity to visit two language schools that offered English classes. These schools were Beltei International Institute and the New York International School in Phnom Penh. When visiting these private institutions, Dr. Moore was given the opportunity to view formal presentations about the schools, as well as interact with students. She was even able to sit and have a full length discussion with Cambodian students in their intermediate level of learning English.

There is no question that the trip to Cambodia, the CAMTESOL conference, as well as the visits to schools that Dr. Moore was able to take part in during her sabbatical are wonderful examples of the ways that Professional Writing and Rhetoric can take shape in so many different forums and experiences. Please enjoy a few pictures from Dr. Moore’s visits with Beltei International Institute and New York International School.