Stories We Live By: Convergences in Community Narratives of Mennonites and Pentecostals

This essay employs the art of narrative inquiry to explore points of convergence and divergence between Mennonites and Pentecostals. I recount three interrelated storylines constructed from my mennocostal experience: from memories of services and activities in my childhood Pentecostal church; from stories told by Mennonite family; and from writing and reflections of authors who share my Russian Mennonite heritage. These storylines are: (1) Pentecostal exuberance and Mennonite quiet; (2) Pentecostal soldiers and Mennonite peacemakers; and (3) Pentecostals and Mennonites as God’s chosen people. I assess how these stories blend together to create larger narratives that impact behaviours such as worship, separation from the world, and evangelism

Stories We Live By: Convergences in Community Narratives of Mennonites and Pentecostals

This essay employs the art of narrative inquiry to explore points of convergence and divergence between Mennonites and Pentecostals. I recount three interrelated storylines constructed from my mennocostal experience: from memories of services and activities in my childhood Pentecostal church; from stories told by Mennonite family; and from writing and reflections of authors who share my Russian Mennonite heritage. These storylines are: (1) Pentecostal exuberance and Mennonite quiet; (2) Pentecostal soldiers and Mennonite peacemakers; and (3) Pentecostals and Mennonites as God’s chosen people. I assess how these stories blend together to create larger narratives that impact behaviours such as worship, separation from the world, and evangelism

Mennocostal Musings: Poetic Inquiry and Performance in Narrative Research

My narrative research investigates the writing of two critically-acclaimed Canadian Mennonite authors. My methods include interviews with the authors and narrative analysis of their works. I also use a less conventional method, that of writing poetry. Through writing poems about my mennocostal (Mennonite and Pentecostal) background, I am coming to new understandings of my self, my past experiences, and my writing-research practices. In turn, these insights help me better understand some experiences and writing practices of my research subjects, as well as what the scholarly literature says about such practices. I research how writing personal narratives can be an act of inquiry—how it can help the writer construct new understandings about her self and her topic. While studying how writing can be inquiry, I practice writing as inquiry. I also perform the poetic data from my research. In this article, I perform some poems through audio files (http://natashagwiebe.googlepages.com/poeticperformances) and give examples of how writing them is making me a better researcher. Along the way, I mention how participating in poetic performances as a listener and performer has helped shape my poetic inquiry and engendered new insights into my narrative research. I conclude by situating my poetic inquiry as performative research. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs080242

Mennonites, the Apocalypse, and the Appeal of the Walking Dead

Over the past 15 years, the story of a world devastated by the walking dead has increasingly captured our attention through movies, television, and literature. The fictional narrative of zombie apocalypse has also shaped activities of government agencies, not-for-profits, and universities. Why is this narrative captivating? How might we be using it to navigate large-scale or personal challenges? This paper suggests some answers, bringing together zombie studies, narrative theory, and Mennonite studies to do so

Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness: Restorying the Russian Mennonite Diaspora

A literary critique is presented wherein the author examines the novel “A Complicated Kindness,” by Miriam Toew as a restorying of the Russian Mennonite diaspora. The prominence of the diaspora in Canadian Mennonite discourse is referenced, and the personal narrative approach used in Toew’s novel is discussed as a method of connecting readers to the Mennonite experience

More and Better Grant Proposals? The Evaluation of a Grant-Writing Group at a Mid-Sized Canadian University

Obtaining external funding has become increasingly difficult for Canadian researchers in the social sciences and humanities. Our literature review suggests that grant-writing groups and workshops make an important contribution to increasing both applications for external funding and success in funding competitions. This article describes an 8-month grant-writing group for 14 social scientists in a mid-sized Canadian university. The goal was to increase applications and successes in funding competitions. The group integrated several strategies perceived by Porter (2011b) to encourage more and better grant proposals: offering homegrown workshops that were ongoing rather than occasional, sharing successful proposals, coaching and editing, bringing together emerging researchers with established ones, and placing participants in reviewers\u27 shoes. These strategies were combined in a series of monthly sessions that required participants to write each section of a grant proposal and share it with others for feedback. Participants perceived this approach to work well; it appeared to provide useful feedback and examples, and develop a sense of accountability and community. The number of applications submitted for funding increased 80% from the funding cycle just prior to the group (2013-2014) to the funding cycle during or immediately after the group (2015-2016). The rate of success in obtaining funds from internal and external grant submissions increased from 33% to 50% over this same time period. The greatest increase in submissions and success were experienced by emerging and alternative academic researchers. From their program evaluation, authors conclude that grant-writing groups are a useful way to build researcher confidence and commitment to submitting proposals to funding competitions and contribute to success, especially for researchers with limited experience in such competitions

A paradigm for selecting an institutional software

This paper proposes a paradigm for selecting an institutional software. The proposed paradigm includes finding an applicable theoretical framework for guiding the integration of the software into the institution, customizing this framework to suit the institution, considering institutional guidelines and policies relevant to selecting proper software, selecting the appropriate software product according to specific evaluation criteria, and evaluating the entire selection process for future reference. This paper documents the use of the proposed paradigm using a Canadian university\u27s selection of an on-line courseware as a case study

A rationale for a correspondence version of a first-year university expository writing course.

My task here was to prepare Expository Writing (University of Windsor course #26-100) as a distance education course, which included developing a comprehensive study guide to take the place of classroom instruction (see Appendix A). This rationale justifies the approach I take in the study guide with references to literature in the fields of expository writing and distance education. Chapter 1 reviews the origins of expository writing and distance education courses in Canada. It also touches on the current delivery of these courses, particularly at the University of Windsor. Chapter 2 reviews the literature concerning the pedagogies of writing that gained prominence in Canada in recent decades (the natural process and environmental process approaches) and makes conclusions about what characterizes an effective expository writing course. Chapter 3 reviews the literature related to effective distance education, especially course design, and makes conclusions about what characterizes an effective distance education course. Chapter 4 synthesizes the literature reviews of previous chapters by suggesting features of an effective writing course delivered at a distance. It also recommends ways to implement these features within Expository Writing 01-26-100-91,an undergraduate course offered at a distance from the University of Windsor. Chapter 5 proposes course objectives, a course schedule, and a series of assignments for Expository Writing 01-26-100-91. It also introduces the topics that are explored in the appended study guide, and justifies the inclusion and presentation of these topics with reference to the literature. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1998 .W53. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 39-02, page: 0327. Adviser: Donald Laing. Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1998

Treatment in the pediatric emergency department is evidence based: a retrospective analysis

BACKGROUND: Our goal was to quantify the evidence that is available to the physicians of a pediatric emergency department (PED) in making treatment decisions. Further, we wished to ascertain what percentage of evidence for treatment provided in the PED comes from pediatric studies. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of randomly selected patients seen in the PED between January 1 and December 31, 2002. The principal investigator identified a primary diagnosis and primary intervention for each chart. A thorough literature search was then undertaken with respect to the primary intervention. If a randomized control trial (RCT) or a systematic review was found, the intervention was classified as level I evidence. If no RCT was found, the intervention was assessed by an expert committee who determined its appropriateness based on face validity (RCTs were unanimously judged to be both unnecessary and, if a placebo would have been involved, unethical). These interventions were classified as level II evidence. Interventions that did not fall into either above category were classified as level III evidence. RESULTS: Two hundred and sixty-two patient charts were reviewed. Of these, 35.9% did not receive a primary intervention. Of the 168 interventions assessed, 80.4% were evidence-based (level I), 7.1% had face validity (level II) and 12.5% had no supporting evidence (level III). Of the evidence-based interventions, 83.7% were supported by studies with mostly pediatric patients. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that a substantial proportion of PED treatment decisions are evidence-based, with most based on studies in pediatric patients. Also, a large number of patients seen in the PED receive no intervention

Correction to:Methods for identifying 30 chronic conditions: application to administrative data

Following publication of the original manuscript [1], the authors noted several errors in Table 1. Details of the requested corrections are shown below