Paper Handout / 1 Page Summary on Research

ENG 489: Research Summary

            I wrote my paper on how textbooks have evolved from the mid-1800’s to modern day. Within this topic I focused on how popular culture (i.e. printing technology improvements, changes in teaching methods, and American cultural diversity) has influenced the modifications which have been made in textbooks over the years. Overall, I am relatively happy with how my paper turned out, and the process of research and writing I used while developing it.

            The biggest challenge I faced while writing this paper, in regard to research, was simply knowing where to look for information and determining if the information I had gained was creditable enough. A lot of the research I found was not wholly pertinent to my topic so I had to do a lot of digging to find usable quotes. After my mid-quarter conference, I had a few more leads which definitely helped develop my paper. But even then, I struggled to find a solid field conversation to work with. Additionally, I had some difficulties in finding historic schoolbooks to use in my case examples that were from different parts of America. As I live in Cincinnati, I mostly used local bookstores to find historic schoolbooks. The common books that they had were published in Cincinnati. Since I wanted the paper to be more broad (textbooks from Northeast America) I had to look around a lot to find books from Baltimore, New York, Boston and Philadelphia as well.

            Next time, I would improve the research process by searching with more appropriate keywords, such as “schoolbook” over “textbook”. Also now that I have a better understanding of how to use the more advance search options, especially on JSTOR, I believe my future research will progress more smoothly.

Abstract

My new abstract/summary of my paper is very similar to my older one. However, I do feel as though I have a stronger point of view and clearer focus.

        When looking at American schoolbooks over the last 150 years, it is obvious that modifications have been made to the average textbook's look and content. I would argue that textbooks have been forced to evolve with American popular culture in order to stay relevant to current teaching trends. In order to prove this, I have analyzed several popular schoolbooks to determine how textbooks have changed, and I have also looked at technological advancements, changes in American culture (for example, the increasing desire for equality among diversity), and a variety of teaching styles used during this time period. All of my research has agreed with my thesis.

Reflection on Peer Review

Unfortunately, my group had a few people missing today. That said, I did gain some useful feedback that I plan to incorporate into my paper. Mostly, the feedback had to do with expanding a few specific paragraphs to highlight my thesis and transition smoothly from the first section of my paper, to the second. I completely agree with this suggestion and will try to write a more detailed transitioning paragraph.

The rest of my feedback was positive, so I'm not sure if I gained a whole lot of help from this peer review, but I will try and edit my paper based off of these comments and those left to me on Google Docs.

Paper Update

I feel like I am on the right track with my paper. I still have some more research to do after having my conference and I definitely need to do some editing and rearranging but I still have plenty of time to get that done. The biggest area that I am putting my time/energy into right now is determining where I want my focus to be. During my conference, we discussed narrowing my focus to Cincinnati textbooks alone but I have to admit that I am unsure if I want to move in that direction with my paper. Honestly, what drives me to research and write more is the desire to learn how American culture as a whole transformed textbooks. If I look into Cincinnati solely, I feel as though I am narrowing my audience way too far. Plus, I feel as though Cincinnati would be a bad case example for modern day texts. During the 1800's Cincinnati was a center of culture and advancements. Many schoolbooks were published here. However as time progressed publishers moved away and printing houses left as well. So I have little to no modern examples of Cincinnati published school-age textbooks. I could look at textbooks used in Cincinnati school's curriculum, but that changes so much from school to school.  Because of this, I think I am going to focus more on general school books. I believe with the right research I can adequately explain my reasons for using a variety of books.

So again, I am feeling pretty good about my paper. I definitely need to sit down and spend several hours straight simply researching more and writing down my findings. However, I think I have a pretty good timeline set up in my head, and I should have no problems getting this paper done.

ENGL 489 Research Paper Outline

I.                    Introduction – A one page summary of the research project as a whole. The intro will address the concept that textbooks have changed since the mid-19^th century. Additionally textbooks are used differently as well. Why? Changes in printing/publishing technology, new family and class structures that encourage diversity, changes in teaching philosophies, and the influence of the internet culture. Possible thesis: Textbooks have changed and evolved drastically since the mid 1800’s due to the influence of popular culture on teaching philosophies and styles.

II.                  Body – 14 + pages of research, data, and inferences

A.      Conventions in Textbooks- 3 + pages of comparison between historical textbooks and modern ones looking only at conventions. This includes font style and size, format, lesson progression, images, line spacing, headings, chapter format, number of pages in the book. While this is different for every textbook, I will analyze several and respond based on average findings. 

B.      Technology Advancements- 1+ page of the history of printing and publishing technology. What new inventions helped textbooks become available in mass quantities and cheaper to buy? Did these advancements affect the conventions listed above?

C.      Changes in family & class structures- 3+ pages looking at the changes in class structures and family dynamics. How did this promote diversity? How did textbooks respond? Changes in images, names in word problems, themes of word problems, etc.

D.      Development of teaching styles/philosophies- 6 + pages on national movements in teaching methods. A look into rote learning, progressivism, essentialism, and social constructivism and how each affected the look and content of textbooks. Also a short look into how government set standards has changed content and focus areas within different grades.

E.       Internet culture and digital teaching- 2+ pages on technology in the classroom and youth participation within the internet culture. How has this changed teacher’s use of textbooks? Look into how technology in classrooms promotes social constructivism and therefore encourages teachers to not use textbooks. Research use of e-books as well.

III.                Conclusion – 1 page or less of summarized proof for the thesis. Possible conclusion: Popular culture highly affects the way schools are run and the teaching methods teachers use. This has a direct correlation to how textbooks are written and used.

research assignment- first attempt at using 750words.com

    So far in this assignment I have really been working on assembling my "soup" of research. This is mostly done through web searches and a few trips to the library. There is a lot of information on the subjects that I want to incorporate into my paper, but not much on the actual theme. The theme being the evolution of textbooks and the subjects being changes in teaching styles, methods, and theorists. Also, I want to touch on changes in popular culture as well. This includes advances in printing technologies, paper making, and cultural shifts. I imagine that the most obvious of these shifts will be in the movement away from rote learning during the early to mid 20th century and the interesting "fluffy" teaching methods that came out in the 1970's. Obviously, I will word that better for the final paper.
    Within my "soup" so far I am slowly gathering the different teaching methods that I wish to look into. For example, the teaching philosophy Progressivism. During the early 20th century up until WWII, there was a huge push toward a Progressivist style of teaching, as many believed that students were not gaining the experiences they needed to become active citizens in a democratic society.
    Another philosophy I would like to discuss would be Essentialism which began in the 1930's. Many believed that academic and moral standards were on a decline within the U.S. educational system, so Essentialism was a reaction to that. No Child Left Behind has some basis within Essentialism. This style of teaching and especially assessment has caused some serious changes in how textbooks are formatted and written. If one must teach to the test, then the textbook better give assessment guided examples and questions.
    Also, I definitely want to analyze Social Reconstructivism. Not only because it seems to be the teaching philosophy that CECH endorses, but also because it seems to have a lot of impact on curriculum and instructional methods. Both of which will highly change how textbooks are written.
    In addition to teaching philosophies I also want to look at how the basic structure/format of textbooks have change. Which conventions have lasted through time? Which have fallen off? Even simple things such as the amount of space given underneath each math problem should be studied. While this is of course different for every text book, I do believe I will find some strong changes that will show a relationship to teaching and popular culture effects.
    This is what I have so far. With some more research I believe it will be fairly easy to transition from the 1800's textbook to modern-day ones. While 20 pages is still a little daunting, I believe I have a good structure as to how to fill it.

  Clearly I did not write a full 750 words. I think I stopped at 461. I didn't want to go on and just ramble though. Writing these 461 words helped me define my process a bit more and jump-started my desire to go and do some more research. -So that is what I am going to go do.