The Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies

The Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies combines scholarly research with practical advice for practitioners of undergraduate research in writing studies, including student researchers, mentors, and program administrators. Building upon the 1998 Boyer Commission Report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education, this book provides insight into the growth of undergraduate research over the last twenty years. Contributors demonstrate how undergraduate research serves students and their mentors as well as sponsoring programs, departments, and institutions. The Naylor Report also illustrates how making research central to undergraduate education helps advance the discipline.

Organized in two parts, Part I focuses on defining characteristics of undergraduate research in writing studies: mentoring, research methods, contribution to knowledge, and circulation. Part II focuses on critical issues to consider, such as access, curriculum, and institutional support.

The Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies is both a toolkit and a call to action. It helps readers not only engage in undergraduate research but also develop and sustain undergraduate research efforts locally on their campuses and in their communities. The report is the product of conversations that began at the Naylor Symposium for Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies in York, Pennsylvania. It reflects the generosity of event benefactor Mr. Irv Naylor as well as participants’ shared desire to improve undergraduate research in writing studies along with prospective practitioners’ access to it.

Contributing scholars from a diversity of US colleges and universities include Sophia Abbot, Heather Brook Adams, Rebecca Babcock, Hannah Bellwoar, Ljiljana Coklin, Emily Murphy Cope, Cynthia Crimmins, Gabriel Cutrufello, Dominic DelliCarpini, Doug Downs, Andrea Rosso Efthymiou, Heather Falconer, Jenn Fishman, William FitzGerald, Jane Greer, Laurie Grobman, Michelle Grue, Eric E. Hall, D. Alexis Hart, Kristine Johnson, Joyce Kinkead, Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Alexandria Lockett, Shurli Makmillen, Michael Mattison, Laurie McMillan, Jessie L. Moore, Kim Fahle Peck, Patricia Roberts-Miller, Megan Schoettler, Jenny Olin Shanahan, and Field Watts.