Dr. Nancy Penrose
Professor of Rhetoric and Composition
Department of English
penrose@ncsu.edu
Research interests include
My continuing research agenda examines the literacy conventions of academic disciplines and other communities and the processes through which new members learn those conventions and join those communities. Work to date has concentrated on two transitional periods: (1) the first year of college as students adapt to the literacy demands of the academy, and (2) students’ entrance into specific disciplinary communities as they join a major or a graduate research program. A current project expands the latter focus to include the development of disciplinary and pedagogical knowledge among new teachers, exploring socialization and professionalization in composition teaching communities.
My primary teaching includes courses in writing theory, composition pedagogy, and research methods for undergraduate English majors; M.A. students in our Composition Concentration; doctoral students in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media; and graduate teaching assistants in Composition. As time allows, I also teach courses in research writing for graduate and undergraduate students in the sciences. I serve as an undergraduate adviser in the English Department’s Language, Writing and Rhetoric Concentration.
Recent Course Websites
ENG 333 Communication for Science and Research
ENG 422 Writing Theory and the Writing Process
ENG 511 Theory and Research in Composition
ENG 513/798 Empirical Research in Composition
ENG 624 Teaching College Composition
ENG 626 Advanced Writing for Empirical Research