The Multigenre Paper
Tom Romano
Department of Teacher Education
McGuffey Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056
romanots@muohio.edu
513-523-3871
MULTIGENRE RESEARCH PAPER
EDT 427
FALL 2001
This is a chance to pursue a passion you have in Integrated Language Arts. Or you might
research and write about an area in ILA that you simply want to know more about. One former
student, for example, didn’t know anything about teaching ESL students, but knew she wanted to
teach in NYC, so she researched ESL. Research extensively and then communicate your learning
through a multigenre research project, where you meld the factual, emotional, and imaginative.
Use anything available to you for creation, discovery, and communication. Try the untried. Be
expansive. Your multigenre research paper is due at our exam time.
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Required Research Sources Of Your Inquiry:
Articles from professional journals or book chapters: at least 10 sources that you cite in the
Bibliography and directly use in the paper.
Internet sources
Primary material: interviews, testimony, observations
The Internet contains the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is democratic, but there is no screening
for quality as there is in journals and books. So gauge the quality of what you find in cyberspace.
I definitely don't want you to simply paste material from the Internet into your paper. I want to
see an original mgp from you, one grounded in a thorough research understanding of your topic.
I want to see you expand your learning and content knowledge about some subject; I want to see
you stretch and refine your writing skills and powers of communication. I want to read your
paper and be informed, but even more, I want to be moved.
Think of Amy Wilson’s “Finding Strength in Our Differences” in Blending Genre, Altering Style.
Amy had experienced going to a high school with a multicultural population, but as her Note
Page explains, many of the pieces that she produced and the language that she used came out of
the articles and book chapters she read during her research.
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Genres or pieces your multigenre project must contain:
Brief informational essay, 250-350 words. Make this vivid, informational, straight-ahead
writing. Boil your topic down to essentials.
Preface/Introduction
Prose Poem/Flash Fiction/Sudden Fiction
Poetry in contemporary free verse style
A visual element
Bibliography
Note Page
Unifying elements (repetend, repeated images, genres answered, fragmented narrative, a
detail mentioned on one crot exploded and illustrated in a longer piece)
You must include in your paper all eight bulleted items. But you’ll need to write more genres than
these if you want to create a fully realized mgp. Wherever else you go in the writing is up to you.
You range as far and as wide as you want. You go for this.
One tip: begin your research soon, make it part of your academic life, take notes and gather
bibliographic information. Immerse yourselves in your topic so the writing comes easy.
Requiring students to write a “Research Design” has been
helpful for my students and me in teaching and writing
multigenre research papers. Creating a Research Design
forces students to think about their topics in a
concentrated way. They talk with others about their ideas.
They do preliminary thinking with words on paper. Because
of the writing, students come to think things they probably
would not have if they just mused about their topic. I also
want to get students to the library early in their research
so they what kind of information is out there. I can also
suggest sources to them.
EDT 427
Fall Semester, 2001
Tom Romano, Professor
This assignment must be typed. It can be single-spaced.
Make the margins spacious enough so that I can write
comments in them.
The multigenre research paper is worth 20% of your course
grade. This portion of the assignment (The Research
Design) is worth 1/4 of that 20%.
Multigenre Research Design
1) What is your topic?
2) Describe what you know about your topic.
3) Tell what you want to learn about.
4) Describe the origins of your research. What sparked your
interest in the topic? Why do you want to know more about it?
5) List at least a dozen questions you have about your topic.
6) Describe your plan for collecting information about your
topic.
7) Provide a preliminary bibliography
Laura Strandberg, EDT 427 Sec. A, October 25, 2001, Multigenre Research Design
My multi-genre research paper topic
My topic for the multi-genre research paper is motivation in reading. I want to explore
why students so often do not read the materials teacher assign for them to read, what
factors influence students who do read verses students who don’t read, and what a teacher
can do to motivate students to read.
What I already know
I do not know very much about this topic, but I do have some knowledge from personal
experience. I know that I am unmotivated to read when I feel I have no purpose for
reading, when I do not think that I will gain anything from the text, when I will not be
held accountable for the material, when I am bored or uninterested in the topic of the text,
and when I am overtired or extremely busy. I imagine most of these, as well as many
other factors, influence all readers at some point. I also know some of the factors that
influence students who do the assigned reading, because I am one such student. Some of
these factors are self-motivation and discipline, a desire not to disappoint teachers, a high
level of interest in the topic of the text, and a positive attitude towards reading.
Besides what I know from personal experience, I have gained some knowledge of the
topic of motivation in reading through my education at Miami University and through
research I have done previously. I know that some of the key elements of motivating
students under any circumstances are getting students attention, giving them a purpose
for completing the assigned task, and making the topic relevant and applicable to the
students’ lives. I also know of a few strategies that teachers can use to try to motivate
students. These include reading portions of a high-interest text aloud, providing reading
incentives, setting goals, and letting students select reading materials that they are excited
about.
What I want to learn
There are several key areas involved with motivation in reading that I want to learn more
about. First, I would like to learn about characteristics of students who are unmotivated
to read. I want to know if there are common characteristics among unmotivated students
that either contribute to or indicate apathy towards reading. I think that students’ abilities
to comprehend texts probably highly influence their motivation to read. I would like to
find out more about this connection. I would also like to learn about some of the ways
that students are able to get by without reading assigned texts. I am interested in finding
out how to eliminate this problem in the classroom and get students not only to do the
assigned reading, but also get excited about reading. I want my future students to think
of reading as something they enjoy and something from which they can gain valuable
insights and knowledge. I want to find out how to motivate students to read, so that they
will become successful lifelong readers, and hopefully come to this conclusion.
The origins of my research
There is not one incident or experience that sparked my interest in this topic. I have been
interested in the role of motivation in achievement in any domain, since I first started
competing in swimming. Motivation always was a very prominent topic in all of the
sports I participated in throughout my grade school and high school experience. Since
this topic was introduced to me, I have been interested in how motivation works, where it
comes from, and how it can be fostered. I have always been a very motivated person, but
even in myself, I often wonder where my motivation comes from. I have also observed
many of my peers throughout my schooling, in high school especially, who have
expressed a lack of motivation. I remember feeling that I was unusual for completing all
of the reading assignments, because most of my friends and many of my peers acted as if
it were absurd to think that they would actually read the assigned novels or texts. I
wonder why people are unmotivated. The problem of students lacking motivation has
always been a concern of mine when I think about teaching. This was the first thing that
came to mind when I started to think about a research topic for my multi-genre paper.
Some
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questions I have about motivation in reading
Where does motivation come from?
Can all students be motivated to read, and enjoy reading?
What factors or student characteristics influence motivation?
What are some motivational strategies for getting students to read?
Are there wrong ways to motivate students to read and what are they?
How is reading comprehension ability related to motivation?
How can a teacher turn a student into a life-long reader?
How can a teacher get students to take responsibility for motivating themselves?
How can motivational factors be incorporated into everyday lessons in the
classroom?
10. How can a teacher get unmotivated students to think of reading as fun?
11. What are characteristics of teachers who are successful at motivating their
students to read?
12. How do students get away with not reading assigned texts and still get average to
good grades?
13. How can teachers prevent students from getting away with not reading?
My research plan
My plan for collecting information about my topic is to start by researching motivation
and reading in magazines, journals, and books. I think that reading through a lot of
different material in the beginning will give me more ideas about how I want to focus the
rest of my research. I think that most of my research will be from written sources, but I
also want to conduct interviews during my field experience to get personal perspectives
from students and teachers. During my research I will keep a notebook with facts that I
collect, ideas for genres, individual perspectives, ideas for characters, and any other
pieces of information that I come across and think might be useful.
A Preliminary bibliography
Bauer, Denise S.; Lupo, Jennifer L. Improving Attitudes in Reading through Multiple
Instructional Strategies in an At-Risk Environment. Illinois: Clearinghouse, 2001.
Danielson, Kathy Everts; Rogers, Sheri Everts. “You Can't Pass It On If You Don't Have
It: Encouraging Lifelong Reading.” Reading Horizons. 2000: 35-45.
Ford, Kim. “Bonding with Books.” Voices from the Middle. May 2001: 76-79.
Guthrie, John T.; Wigfield, Allan; VonSecker, Claire. “Effects of Integrated Instruction
on Motivation and Strategy Use in Reading.” Journal of Educational Psychology.
Jun 2000: 331-341.
Hill, Christine M.; Carlson, Chris; Sherman, Chris; Angier, Naomi; O'Dell, Katie; Diller,
Kelly. “New Routes from Books to Teens. Laurie Halse Anderson Speaks: An
Interview; Celebrate Reading: A Literature Festival for the Whole Community;
The Book Group behind Bars; Authors and Teens Online: Enhancing Book
Discussions with Technology.” Voice of Youth Advocates. Dec 2000: 325-335.
Hurst, Beth. “ABCs of Content Area Lesson Planning: Attention, Basics, and
Comprehension.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. May 2001: 692-693.
Jago, Carol. Beyond Standards: Excellence in the High School English Classroom. New
Hampshire: Clearinghouse, 2001.
Johnson, Nancy J.; Giorgis, Cyndi. “Keeping Kids Reading.” Reading Teacher. Feb
2001: 536-544.
Kramarski, Bracha; Feldman, Yael. “Internet in the Classroom: Effects on Reading
Comprehension, Motivation and Metacognitive Awareness.” Educational Media
International. Sep 2000: 149-155.
McInerney, Dennis M. and Shawn Van Etten. “Research on Sociocultural Influences on
Motivation and Learning, Volume 1.” ERIC document #ED453339.
Mollineaux, Bill. “Simply Irresistible: Letting Our Reading Inform Theirs.” Voices from
the Middle. May 2001: 80-82.
Romeo, William J. “Lighting Fires from a Spark in the Middle: Reading and Writing
Workshop Alive and Thriving at Green Intermediate School.” Ohio Reading
Teacher. Spring 2000: 45-48.
Wood, Susan Nelson. “Bringing Us the Way To Know: The Novels of Gary Paulsen.”
English Journal. Jan 2001: 67-72.
RUBRIC FOR MG PAPERS (EDT 427, FALL SEMESTER)
This is a rubric I developed for the fall 2001 semester in
my English Methods classes (EDT 427). It comes out of what
we had emphasized in producing and teaching writing. More
than helping me grade the multigenre papers, the rubric is
of most use to the students in writing their papers.
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Go for the Jugular/Speak the Rude Truth
Honesty, veracity, pull no punches
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Structure (50%)
Foreword/Preface/Introduction (10)
Note page (10)
Strong, grounded first genre (10)
Multitude of genres evident in paper (10)
No unnecessary pieces (5)
Formatting (5--All or nothing)
Original title
Pages numbered
Distinct separation of genres
12 point, readable font(s)
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Quality of Content (30%)
Absorbing reading (20)
Unity/cohesion evident (10)
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Vividness/energy of writing (20%)
Tight, sharp language (eschew wordiness)
Strong verbs
Strong beginnings to pieces
Strong endings to pieces
Appropriate punctuation
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR MULTIGENRE PAPERS
Books About Multigenre, Alternate Style, Related Issues
Allen, Camille. 2001. Writing Multigenre Research Papers: Voice,
Passion, and Discovery in Grades 4-6. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Bishop, Wendy (Ed). 1997. Elements of the Alternate Style: Essays on
Writing and Revision. Portsmouth, NH:Boynton/Cook.
Gardner, Howard. 1983. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences. NY: Bantam Books.
Macrorie, Ken. 1988. The I-Search Paper. Portsmouth, NH:
Boynton/Cook.
Rief, Linda. 1999. Vision and Voice. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Romano, Tom. 2000. Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre
Papers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook.
Romano, Tom. 1995. Writing With Passion: Life Stories, Multiple
Genres. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook [Chapters 7 & 8 are about
teaching multigenre papers in high school].
Weathers, Winston. 1980. An Alternate Style: Options in Composition.
Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Company.
Note: The entire November 2002 English
Journal (92, 2) is devoted to multigenre.
Multigenre Articles:
Cate, Timothy. 2000. “This Is Cool! Multigenre Research Reports.” The
Social Studies.
Gaughan, John. 1998. “Taking A Walk in the Contact Zone.” English
Journal, 87, 2 (Feb). [Not an article about multigenre, but
written in multigenre style]
Grierson, Sirpa. 1999. “Circling Through Text: Teaching Research
Through Multigenre Writing.” English Journal, 89, 1 (Sep): 5155.
Hamblin, Linda. 2000. “Voices in the Junior High School Classroom: Lost
and Found.” English Journal (September), 80-87.
Moulton, Margaret R. 1999. “The Multigenre Paper: Increasing
Interest, Motivation, and Functionality.” Journal of Adolescent
and Adult Literacy, 42:7 (April), 528-539.
Nicolini, Mary B. 1999. “Pictures of an Exhibition: Senior Graduation
Exit Projects as Authentic Research.” English Journal, (Sept):
91-98.
Shafer, Gregory. 2000. “Re-envisioning Research.” English Journal
(Sept): 45-50.
Slack, Delane Bender. 2001. "Fusing Social Justice with Multigenre
Writing,” English Journal, 90, 6 (July): 62-66.
Multigenre Novels:
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AVI. 1991. Nothing But The Truth. New York: Avon.
Appropriate for junior high school and above. We see what happens when a
school incident is blown out of proportion and different points of view act
upon half-truths and misinformation. Written in memos, letters, diary entries,
conversations, speeches, newspaper items . . .
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Draper, Sharon. 1994. Tears of a Tiger. New York: Atheneum.
Appropriate for junior high and above. Novel about urban African American
teenagers coping with the ramifications of drunken driving. Accessible and
readable. Draper, 1997 National Teacher of the Year, is a veteran teacher in
Cincinnati Public Schools. The story unfolds through letters, dialog,
newspaper accounts, poems, student homework assignments, even a five-paragraph
essay.
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Klise, Kate.
Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and
Leaks
Appropriate for students 9 to 12 years old. From on-line: "In letters,
postcards, telegrams, memos, newspaper clippings, and handwritten notes,
Regarding the Fountain tells the story of a school's attempt to replace an old
water-fountain and the discovery of a thirty-year-old mystery in the process."
Great reviews from kids and adults.
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Myers, Walter Dean. 1999. Monster. NY: HarperCollins.
Primarily in the genre of a screenplay, the story unfolds of a robbery
turned into murder involving African American youth. Amid the screenplay is
dialog, camera directions, narrative description. Also journal entries,
drawings, photos.
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Ondaatje, Michael. 1984. The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. New York:
Penguin. Original edition, Toronto: House of Anansi, 1970.
Violence and brief explicit sexual passages make this book appropriate for
mature high school students and adults. A complex and compelling book that is
all the more rewarding if contrasted with factual accounts of the life of Billy
the Kid. Readers see how Ondaatje takes historical material and writes about
it imaginatively.
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Yolen, Jane, and Coville, Bruce. 1998. Armageddon Summer. New York:
Harcourt Brace.
Appropriate for junior high and above. Compelling, sometimes humorous story of
two teenagers who follow their single parents to a mountaintop because their
religious leader claims the world will end July 27, 2000. Fanaticism,
responsibility, love, empathy, faith, courage, loyalty, family. Includes
sermons, FBI files, camp schedules, email, radio transcripts, and narration
with alternating points of view.
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Strasser, Todd. 2000. Give a Boy a Gun. New York: Simon and Schuster
Books For Young Readers.
A novel with no single narrator, but told instead through the voices of
students, administrators, teachers, parents, citizens who were in a community
in which two boys who are bullied take up arms and make bombs to assault the
school community. At the bottom of most pages Strasser deepens the issues by
including facts and quotations
about guns and violence in America. Strasser
also enters the text himself with a Postscript and Final Thoughts about the
issue of guns and violence.
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Wittlinger, Ellen. 1999. Hard Love. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.