THINKING AND THOBBING: USING ARCHIVAL RESEARCH IN WAC
by Faydra V. Womble
The use of archival research in a WAC hybrid was examined. Undergraduate students in first-year composition courses at Fayetteville State University, one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina, examined archival texts of James Ward Seabrook for definitions of thobbing and completed two online modules for Land Grant Universities in Research Ethics (LANGURE) core courses in Writing-to-Learn (WTL) exercises. Analysis of students’ written responses in focused summaries and response papers indicated they preferred instruction in documentary analysis of archival texts and cited self-preservation as a primary factor in ethical decision-making. The results indicate students are more likely to subscribe to self-taught ethics than to larger ethical systems in discourse communities across disciplines. Implications of the effects of archival research in a WAC hybrid are discussed.