Wayne C. Booth

Bio: Wayne C. Booth is an academic researcher from University of Chicago. The author has contributed to research in topics: Rhetoric & Irony. The author has an hindex of 26, co-authored 79 publications receiving 7215 citations.

The rhetoric of fiction

Abstract: How do novelists communicate with their readers and involve us with their characters? In this book, the author answers this question with analyses of many kinds of narrative - from Homer to Hemingway, from the Book of Job to James Joyce. He considers, for example, how Henry James uses "unreliable narrators" (who reveal far more than they are aware of), how Jane Austen controls our sympathy and judgement and how "objective" novelists such as Flaubert convey their beliefs and values as clearly as prophets like D.H.Lawrence.

The craft of research

Abstract: Since 1995, more than 150,000 students and researchers have turned to "The Craft of Research" for clear and helpful guidance on how to conduct research and report it effectively. Now, master teachers Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams present a completely revised and updated version of their classic handbook. Like its predecessor, this new edition reflects the way researchers actually work: in a complex circuit of thinking, writing, revising and rethinking. It shows how each part of this process influences the others and how a successful research report is an orchestrated conversation between a researcher and a reader. Along with many other topics, "The Craft of Research" explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of thoughtful yet critical readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, "So what?" This popular book retains its five-part structure. Part 1 provides an orientation to the research process and begins the discussion of what motivates researchers and their readers. Part 2 focuses on finding a topic, planning the project and locating appropriate sources. This section is brought up to date with new information on the role of the Internet in research, including how to find and evaluate sources, avoid their misuse and test their reliability. Part 3 explains the art of making an argument and supporting it. The authors have extensively revised this section to present the structure of an argument in clearer and more accessible terms than in the first edition. New distinctions are made among "reasons", "evidence", and "reports of evidence". The concepts of "qualifications and rebuttals" are recast as "acknowledgement and response". Part 4 covers drafting and revising, and offers new information on the visual representation of data. Part 5 concludes the book with an updated discussion of the ethics of research, as well as an expanded bibliography that includes many electronic sources. The new edition retains the accessibility, insights and directness that have made "The Craft of Research" a useful guide for anyone doing research, from students in high school through advanced graduate study to business people and government employees. The authors demonstrate convincingly that researching and reporting skills can be learned and used by all who undertake research projects.

A Rhetoric of Irony

Abstract: Perhaps no other critical label has been made to cover more ground than "irony," and in our time irony has come to have so many meanings that by itself it means almost nothing. In this work, Wayne C. Booth cuts through the resulting confusions by analyzing how we manage to share quite specific ironies-and why we often fail when we try to do so. How does a reader or listener recognize the kind of statement which requires him to reject its "clear" and "obvious" meaning? And how does any reader know where to stop, once he has embarked on the hazardous and exhilarating path of rejecting "what the words say" and reconstructing "what the author means"? In the first and longer part of his work, Booth deals with the workings of what he calls "stable irony," irony with a clear rhetorical intent. He then turns to intended instabilities-ironies that resist interpretation and finally lead to the "infinite absolute negativities" that have obsessed criticism since the Romantic period. Professor Booth is always ironically aware that no one can fathom the unfathomable. But by looking closely at unstable ironists like Samuel Becket, he shows that at least some of our commonplaces about meaninglessness require revision. Finally, he explores-with the help of Plato-the wry paradoxes that threaten any uncompromising assertion that all assertion can be undermined by the spirit of irony.

The Craft of Research

Abstract: Since 1995, more than 150,000 students and researchers have turned to "The Craft of Research" for clear and helpful guidance on how to conduct research and report it effectively Now, master teachers Wayne C Booth, Gregory G Colomb and Joseph M Williams present a completely revised and updated version of their classic handbook Like its predecessor, this new edition reflects the way researchers actually work: in a complex circuit of thinking, writing, revising and rethinking It shows how each part of this process influences the others and how a successful research report is an orchestrated conversation between a researcher and a reader Along with many other topics, "The Craft of Research" explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of thoughtful yet critical readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, "So what?" This popular book retains its five-part structure Part 1 provides an orientation to the research process and begins the discussion of what motivates researchers and their readers Part 2 focuses on finding a topic, planning the project and locating appropriate sources This section is brought up to date with new information on the role of the Internet in research, including how to find and evaluate sources, avoid their misuse and test their reliability Part 3 explains the art of making an argument and supporting it The authors have extensively revised this section to present the structure of an argument in clearer and more accessible terms than in the first edition New distinctions are made among "reasons", "evidence", and "reports of evidence" The concepts of "qualifications and rebuttals" are recast as "acknowledgement and response" Part 4 covers drafting and revising, and offers new information on the visual representation of data Part 5 concludes the book with an updated discussion of the ethics of research, as well as an expanded bibliography that includes many electronic sources The new edition retains the accessibility, insights and directness that have made "The Craft of Research" a useful guide for anyone doing research, from students in high school through advanced graduate study to business people and government employees The authors demonstrate convincingly that researching and reporting skills can be learned and used by all who undertake research projects

Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry

Abstract: Although narrative inquiry has a long intellectual history both in and out of education, it is increasingly used in studies of educational experience. One theory in educational research holds that humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and socially, lead storied lives. Thus, the study of narrative is the study of the ways humans experience the world. This general concept is refined into the view that education and educational research is the construction and reconstruction of personal and social stories; learners, teachers, and researchers are storytellers and characters in their own and other's stories. In this paper we briefly survey forms of narrative inquiry in educational studies and outline certain criteria, methods, and writing forms, which we describe in terms of beginning the story, living the story, and selecting stories to construct and reconstruct narrative plots. Certain risks, dangers, and abuses possible in narrative studies are discussed. We conclude by describing a two-part r...

The Rhetoric of Economics

Abstract: In this revised second edition, Deirdre McCloskey demonstrates how economic discourse employs metaphor, authority, symmetry and other rhetorical means of persuasion. ""The Rhetoric of Economics"" shows economists to be human persuaders and poets of the marketplace, even in their most technical and mathematical moods. It is further enhanced by three new chapters and two new bibliographies.

Grounded Theory in Management Research

Abstract: Introduction PART ONE: SITUATING THE DISCOVERY OF GROUNDED THEORY Situating the Discovery of Grounded Theory within the Tradition of Qualitative Methods Situating Grounded Theory within Its Philosophical, Sociological and Personal Contexts PART TWO: THE GROUNDED THEORY RESEARCH APPROACH Distinguishing Characteristics of Grounded Theories Grounded Theory's Research Operations Evolution of Grounded Theory's Research Operations PART THREE: THE GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH IN MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION STUDIES Grounded Theory in Studies of Management and Organization Writing Grounded Theory

Narration as a human communication paradigm: The case of public moral argument

Abstract: This essay proposes a theory of human communication based on a conception of persons as homo narrans. It compares and contrasts this view with the traditional rational perspective on symbolic interaction. The viability of the narrative paradigm and its attendant notions of reason and rationality are demonstrated through an extended analysis of key aspects of the current nuclear war controversy and a brief application to The Epic of Gilgamesh. The narrative paradigm synthesizes two strands in rhetorical theory: the argumentative, persuasive theme and the literary, aesthetic theme.

Combining IS Research Methods: Towards a Pluralist Methodology

Abstract: This paper puts forward arguments in favor of a pluralist approach to IS research. Rather than advocating a single paradigm, be it interpretive or positivist, or even a plurality of paradigms within the discipline as a whole, it suggests that research results will be richer and more reliable if different research methods, preferably from different (existing) paradigms, are routinely combined together. The paper is organized into three sections after the Introduction. In §2, the main arguments for the desirability of multimethod research are put forward, while §3 discusses its feasibility in theory and practice. §4 outlines two frameworks that are helpful in designing mixed-method research studies. These are illustrated with a critical evaluation of three examples of empirical research.