Jim Purdy, PhD

My favorite part about coaching is helping writers bring order to the messiness of their writing, particularly organizing body paragraphs, transitioning between ideas, integrating and analyzing source material, constructing cohesive and persuasive arguments, and meeting expectations for genre features. I like assisting writers with the nitty gritty of citation and formatting and have experience with multiple styles, including APA, MLA, and Chicago. I learn so much from the writers I work with and enjoy coaching them in finishing and publishing their scholarly work. I have also directed and served on multiple academic position search committees—and successfully navigated the job market myself multiple times—so can work with writers on crafting application materials and preparing for interviews. If you would like support in any of these areas, please request me when you contact Defend & Publish.

ABOUT: Jim Purdy earned his PhD in English with a specialization in writing studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is an award-winning teacher-scholar with a demonstrated history of excellence in higher education. As a writing center director, he brings experience working with graduate students completing theses and dissertations across disciplines, and as a faculty member he has had the privilege of serving on dissertation committees, including directing a dissertation for which the writer received a national award and published a chapter in a peer-reviewed journal.

His books include The Effects of Intellectual Property Law in Writing Studies: Ethics, Sponsors, and Academic Knowledge-Making (Routledge, 2020), co-authored with Karen J. Lunsford, and Are We There Yet? Computers and the Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education: 20 Years Later (Utah State University Press, forthcoming), co-authored with Jennifer Marlow. He has co-edited four volumes, including Making Space: Writing Instruction, Infrastructure, and Multiliteracies (University of Michigan Press, 2017) with Dànielle Nicole DeVoss, and his scholarship has been published in the peer-reviewed journals College Composition and Communication, Computers and Composition, First Monday, Kairos, Pedagogy, and Profession. He is currently working on projects that investigate the roles of expertise in writing as well as the writing practices in Wikipedia articles.

Languages: English; Spanish reading

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

Marlow, Jennifer, and James P. Purdy. Are We There Yet? Computers and the Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education: 20 Years Later. Utah State University Press, forthcoming.

Lunsford, Karen J., and James P. Purdy. The Effects of Intellectual Property Law in Writing Studies: Ethics, Sponsors, and Academic Knowledge-Making. Routledge, 2020.
*2021 CCCC Advancement of Knowledge Award Nominee

Edited Volumes

Purdy, James P., and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss, editors. Making Space: Writing Instruction, Infrastructure, and Multiliteracies. University of Michigan Press, 2017, www.digitalculture.org/books/making-space/.
*Linked to from California State University’s MERLOT II: Multimedia Education Resource for Online Teaching and Learning, https://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=1356405

McClure, Randall, and James P. Purdy, editors. The Future Scholar: Researching and Teaching the Frameworks for Writing and Information Literacy. Information Today, 2016.

Purdy, James P., and Randall McClure, editors. The Next Digital Scholar: A Fresh Approach to the Common Core State Standards in Research and Writing. Information Today, 2014.
*Winner of the Bronze Medal in the Education Theory/Commentary Category, Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2015

McClure, Randall, and James P. Purdy, editors. The New Digital Scholar: Exploring and Enriching the Research and Writing Practices of NextGen Students. Information Today, 2013.
*Winner of the Silver Medal in the Education Theory/Commentary Category, Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2014

Journal Articles

Purdy, James P. “A Decade of Writing on Wikipedia: A Comparative Study of Three Articles.” First Monday, vol. 25, no. 9, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v25i9.10857.

Lunsford, Karen J., and James P. Purdy. Webtext design by Erika Carlos. “Mapping the IP Landscape: Reflections on Ownership, Authorship, and Copyright for Writing Instruction.” Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, vol. 24, no. 1, 2019, http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/24.1/topoi/lunsford-et-al/index.html.

Purdy, James P. “What Can Design Thinking Offer Writing Studies?” College Composition and Communication, vol. 65, no. 4, 2014, pp. 612–41.

Purdy, James P., and Joyce R. Walker. “Liminal Spaces and Research Identity: The Construction of Introductory Composition Students as Researchers.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Language, Literature, Composition, and Culture, vol. 13, no. 1, 2013, pp. 9–41.

Purdy, James P. “Why First-Year College Students Select Online Research Resources as Their Favorite.” First Monday, vol. 7, no. 3, 2012, www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/4088/3289.
*Reprinted in Brigham Young University Library’s YSearch online tutorial for first-year students, https://ysearch.lib.byu.edu/module-5/tool/

Walker, Janice R., Kristine Blair, Douglas Eyman, Bill Hart-Davidson, Mike McCloud, Jeff Grabill, Fred Kemp, Mike Palmquist, James P. Purdy, Madeleine Sorapure, Christine Tulley, and Victor J. Vitanza. “Computers and Composition 20/20: A Conversation Piece, or What Some Very Smart People Have to Say about the Future.” Computers and Composition, vol. 28, no. 4, 2011, pp. 327–46.

Purdy, James P. “Three Gifts of Digital Archives.” The Journal of Literacy and Technology, vol. 12, no. 3, 2011, pp. 24–49, www.literacyandtechnology.org/uploads/1/3/6/8/136889/jlt_v12_3_purdy.pdf.

Purdy, James P., and Joyce R. Walker. “Valuing Digital Scholarship: Exploring the Changing Realities of Intellectual Work.” Profession, 2010, pp. 177–95.
*Winner of the Ellen Nold Award for the Best Article in Computers and Composition Studies, 2011

Purdy, James P. “The Changing Space of Research: Web 2.0 and the Integration of Research and Writing Environments.” Computers and Composition, vol. 27, no. 1, 2010, pp. 48–58.

Purdy, James P. “When the Tenets of Composition Go Public: A Study of Writing in Wikipedia.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 61, no. 2, 2009, pp. W351–73, www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/CCC/0612-dec09/CCC0612When.pdf.

Purdy, James P. “Anxiety and the Archive: Understanding Plagiarism Detection Services as Digital Archives.” Computers and Composition, vol. 26, no. 2, 2009, pp. 65–77.

Purdy, James P., and Joyce R. Walker. “Digital Breadcrumbs: Case Studies of Online Research.” Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, vol. 11, no. 2, 2007, kairos.technorhetoric.net/11.2/binder.html?topoi/purdy-walker/index.htm.
*Winner of the Kairos Best Webtext Award, 2008

Purdy, James P. “Calling Off the Hounds: Technology and the Visibility of Plagiarism.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, vol. 5, no. 2, 2005, pp. 275–95.
*Reprinted in Johnson, T. R., editor. Teaching Composition: Background Readings, 3^rd edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008, pp. 305–24.

Book Chapters

Purdy, James P. “The ACRL and WPA Frameworks in Conversation for Tomorrow’s Researcher-Writer.” Teaching Information Literacy and Writing Studies: Volume 2, Upper-Level and Graduate Courses, Purdue Information Literacy Handbooks Series, edited by Grace Veach, Purdue University Press, 2019, pp. 51–64.

Purdy, James P. “Duquesne University Writing Center.” Writing Program Architecture: Thirty Cases for Reference and Research, edited by Bryna Siegel Finer and Jamie White-Farnham. Utah State University Press, 2017, pp. 303–18.

Purdy, James P. “Going Digital: Ideas for Updating the Statement for a Digital World.” Labored: The State(ment) and Future of Work in Composition, edited by Randall McClure, Dayna Goldstein, and Michael Pemberton, Parlor Press, 2017, pp. 225–43.
*One of two chapters used as models for other contributors

McClure, Randall, and James P. Purdy. “Ever Mindful of the Changes: What We Know About Student Use of Emerging Technologies as They Move Closer to College and Career.” The Next Digital Scholar: A Fresh Approach to the Common Core State Standards in Research and Writing, edited by James P. Purdy and Randall McClure, Information Today, 2014, pp. 21–34.

Purdy, James P. “Scholarliness as Other: How Students Explain Their Research-Writing Behaviors.” The New Digital Scholar: Exploring and Enriching the Research and Writing Practices of NextGen Students, edited byRandall McClure and James P. Purdy, Information Today, 2013, pp. 133–59.

Purdy, James P., and Joyce R. Walker. “Scholarship on the Move: A Rhetorical Analysis of Scholarly Activity in Digital Spaces.” The New Work of Composing, edited by Debra Journet, Cheryl E. Ball, and Ryan Trauman, Computers and Composition Digital Press and Utah State University Press, 2012, ccdigitalpress.org/book/nwc/chapters/purdy-walker/.
*This book received the Best Book in Computers and Composition Award in 2013.

Purdy, James P. “Wikipedia Is Good for You!?” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, volume 1, edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press, 2010, pp. 205–24, writingspaces.org/essays/wikipedia-is-good-for-you.
*Reprinted in Barry, Terri Trupiano, et al. A Student Guide: Reading, Writing, Researching in the Sciences, Great River Technologies, 2012.

Lovett, Maria, James P. Purdy, Katherine E. Gossett, Carrie A. Lamanna, and Joseph Squier. “Writing with Video: What Happens When Composition Comes Off the Page?” RAW (Reading and Writing) New Media: A Collection of Essays and New Media, edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Jim Kalmbach, Hampton Press, 2010, pp. 287–304.
*One of four sample chapters sent to publishers to secure a book contract.