WR 511: The Teaching of Writing

Course Librarian
Course Instructor
Scholarly Books in Rhetoric and Writing

OSU Libraries Catalog
A catalog of the holdings of the OSU Libraries, including Guin Library in Newport and Cascades/COCC in Newport.

Summit (Orbis Cascades) Catalog
A catalog of the holdings of academic libraries in Oregon and Washington.  Request books not at OSU (or checked out) and have them sent here in 3-4 working days.

OCLC WorldCat
A catalog of the holdings of libraries worldwide.  Use to identify books not at OSU or in Summit and request through InterLibrary Loan. 

Scholarly Journals in Rhetoric and Writing

Print copies of most of these journals are located on the 4th floor of Valley Library.  Look for them by the call number. 

College Composition and Communication   PE1001.C6    College English  PE1.C6

Composition Studies   PE1404 .C6256 & online

Computers in Composition   LB1576.7 .C61 (1995-2005).  Online 1995 - present.

English Journal   PE1.E581

JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory  PE1001 .J681

Journal of Basic Writing   PE1404.J68

Language Arts     L11.E5   (5th floor)

Oregon English Journal  LB1576 .O755  (5th floor)

Research in the Teaching of English  PE1065.R4

Teaching English in the Two-Year College  PE1065.T4

TESOL Quarterly   PE1001.T3

Voices from the Middle  LB1631 .V65 (5th floor)

Written Communication    P211.W737 & online      
Articles in Scholarly Journals

The databases below index articles on composition and the teaching of writing, including those recommended by Professor Tolar-Burton. 

If the text of the article isn't online, use the Get this Item or WebBridge button to see if the journal is available here.  If it's not, use the InterLibrary Loan link to request the article from another library.

Note:  You will probably want to search more than one database since the dates of coverage vary. 

ERIC (education) 

Education Resarch Complete

MLA International Bibliography 

CSA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts  

 

Smart Searching

You will do most, if not all, of your research in online catalogs and databases.   When searching:

Be creative in the words you use; if one doesn't work, try something else.

Begin with key words and phrases and then use the subjects assigned to a book or article to find others.

Use quotation marks around phrases.

Use limiting features in the database or catalog to refine your search by date, language, publication type, etc.

 

Dissertations

MLA International Bibliography  has citations for some dissertations, but a better source for your project is Dissertation Abstracts.

Dissertation Abstracts
Citations and abstracts for masters' theses and dissertations in all disciplines, including rhetoric and writing.  The abstracts are written by the dissertation author and are very complete.

 

Using Web Sources

Before using a website as a source for an academic paper, be sure to check it for accuracy, authority and objectivity:

Purpose: To inform? persuade? sell? entertain?

Authorship & authority:  Who is responsible for the page?  What are their credentials?  Is the person or group creidible? An authority?

Objectivity: Does the site have a bias?

Accuracy: Are sources cited or acknowledged?

Currency:  Is the site current?  Is this important?

Completeness:  Is the information complete or just a summary of information found elsewhere? 

 

Citing web sources.  Record all the information you'll need to cite a webpage or website:

*Author (if available)        *Date of publication (or update)

*Date accessed              *Title or description

*Title of complete work (if part of a larger website)

*Other relevant information (volume, page, etc.)

*URL 

Style Guides MLA Style : a very good website, especially for help citing electronic resources.  

Citation Machine : an online bibliography maker that formats citations  in MLA and other styles.

See Keeping Current with Research for information about search alerts, RSS feeds, bibliography manager, and more.

Keeping Up and Managing Your Research

CompPile

Described as an "inventory of publications" in rhetoric and related disciplines, this website include recent books from major publishers, a place to read and submit reviews of books, and bibliographic information about journals. If you see a book the library should get, submit your recommendation here .

Ingenta

Register and receive tables of contents of selected journals and alerts of articles on topics you're researching. 

Keeping Current with Research

Information about Endnote and other bibliographic software, RSS feeds, social bookmarking and more.