@article{2009e185c0b244f5b2cfd9ff22f47ca5,
title = "Genre maps as a method to visualize engineering writing and argumentation patterns",
abstract = "Background: Graduate engineering students are required to write for academic audiences; however, very few engineering programs teach engineering academic writing, and similarly, little research has been conducted on graduate engineering student writing. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purposes of this study were to investigate the argumentation patterns employed in the research statements of graduate engineering students who won NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards as an example of authentic graduate engineering student academic writing and to introduce visual genre maps as a method of analyzing argument structure. Design/Method: This study employed genre analysis methods to investigate the argumentation patterns of a corpus of 50 winning engineering NSF GRFP research proposals, using a rhetorical move-step coding framework modified from prior genre work in English research. Results: The genre analysis resulted in nine rhetorical moves and subcategorical steps. The argumentation codes were graphed as a function of progress through the document to create maps of argumentation that can be compared across the corpus. Four resulting categories of genre maps emerged from the findings, indicating major patterns in argumentation structure. Conclusions: The study of rhetorical moves of engineering graduate student research proposals offers students and instructors a way to present engineering writing from a genre lens. Genre maps may be an effective way for writers to envision the shape of written arguments and craft stronger technical messages.",
author = "Berdanier, {Catherine G.P.}",
note = "Funding Information: I would like to acknowledge the help of my doctoral committee in their comments through the development of this method during the research phase of this project: Drs. Monica Cox, Joyce Main, Ruth Streveler, Michael Loui, and Jon Leydens. I also thank Drs. Monique Ross and Adam Kirn for their critiques as this article took shape, the reviewers for this article, and the participants. Funding Information: Linguistic analysis of grant proposals: European Union research grants Funding Information: This study presents a genre analysis based on 50 winning NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program research proposals, written by engineering graduate students across multiple disciplines of engineering. Situated in genre theory and academic literacies theory, this study sought to understand the ways in which engineers used their sentences as building blocks to construct overarching argumentation patterns. A nine‐move rhetorical schema for the genre was proposed and used to map the argumentation patterns within the documents. Findings indicate that many sentences in the restrictive engineering writing task negotiated multiple steps within a single move or even multiple moves at a time. In addition, the linguistic moves were plotted as a function of progression through the document to create visual representations of the genre patterns. These maps were sorted into four categories: Outcomes‐Oriented, Process‐Oriented, Methods‐Oriented, and Motivation‐Oriented. Recommendations stemming from this work include encouraging engineering students to understand the purposes of argumentation and arrangement of thoughts, even in a traditional research proposal, since a strictly linear progression may not make the most compelling argument. Further, genre maps might be a more intuitive way to introduce genre‐based engineering writing strategy to engineering students at all levels. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 ASEE",
year = "2019",
month = jul,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1002/jee.20281",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "108",
pages = "377--393",
journal = "Journal of Engineering Education",
issn = "1069-4730",
publisher = "American Society for Engineering Education",
number = "3",
}