James McDonald’s research covers
the history of rhetoric and literacy, composition faculty labor
issues, writing centers, and composition theory and pedagogy,
with articles on
topics like Cicero, Hugh Blair, adjunct faculty working conditions,
the undergraduate research paper, writing center tutoring manuals,
and student
metaphors of themselves as writers. He is the author of the textbook
The Reader (Longman, 2009), the editor of
The
Allyn & Bacon Sourcebook for College Writing Teachers (2nd
ed., 2000), and co-editor of
Mardi
Gras, Gumbo, and Zydeco: Readings in Louisiana Culture. His articles
and reviews have appeared in such journals as the
Writing Center Journal,
the
Writing Lab Newsletter,
English Journal,
Kairos,
Forum,
and the
Journal for College Writing and in collections such as
Reforming
College Composition (Heinemann, 2000),
Teaching the Research Paper (Scarecrow,
1995),
Realms of Rhetoric (Rhetoric Society of America, 1991),
and
Visions of Rhetoric (RSA, 1987). He and co-author Valerie Balester
received the International Writing Centers Association Outstanding
Scholarship Award for Best Article in 2001 for “A View of Status
and Working Conditions: Relations Between Writing Program and
Writing Center Directors,” in
the journal
WPA. They are keynote speakers for the International
Writing Centers Association Conference in Houston in 2007.
