Researching Writing

My current research is focused on understanding the experiences of dissertation writers across the disciplines.   Co-investigator Terry Zawacki and I are currently engaged in an IRB approved, mixed methods study of dissertation writers and their supervisors.  After completing a survey of dissertation writers, we are now in the process of conducting interviews with dissertation supervisors.  Following these interviews we will begin interviewing dissertation writers and conducting focus groups with dissertation writers in a variety of disciplines. For more information on this study please contact me.

My overall research program is aimed at understanding the development of writing abilities across the lifespan.  My positions as a parent of a 3 year old, Director of the Northern Virginia Writing Project (where I work with teachers from K-College), as a composition instructor, as a teacher of upper division undergraduate writing courses, graduate seminars in the teaching of writing, composition theory, and research methods in professional writing, as well as my work conducting workshops for teams of professionals gives me a broad view on writing development.  I am primarily interested in longitudinal methods of research with a special focus on how social interaction facilitates writing development at all levels.