mental progress :)

I have been thinking a lot...Does that count as progress? :)

Dr. B suggested focusing on composition textbooks, which is good because I started out with history textbooks. Eric mentioned 19th century composition textbooks, which I have in my Bibliography. Eric also recommended two books: Archives of Instruction: Nineteenth Century Rhetorics, Readers, and Composition Books in the United States and The Young Composers: Composition's Beginnings in Nineteenth Century Schools. Alex suggested narrowing my scope and possible empirical studies I could do, such as looking at textbooks or surveying instructors. All of the feedback I received is very helpful.

After doing the Bibliography, I decided that I’m going to focus on first-year composition textbooks, categorizing them by basic writing, cultural studies, and I’m still looking for different categories.