ENG 202 - Research Writing – Fall 2005

Description

T/Th 8am | Sec.028: CRN 13221
T/Th 9:45 | Sec. 030: CRN-13223 

The "Everyday" as a Theme Inviting Discovery

Avoiding the usual "research topics" that send too many students first to Google and then WorldBook, we will start our research closer to home--scanning our daily lives (through the lenses of some key critical concepts) for what at first seems too ordinary, normal, unproblematic to research.  We'll think about the systems, routines, institutions, habits, and games that we play each day and which inform our "subjectivity" (a term you will come to understand). The readings, web media, and documentary films we will consider together this semester will serve several purposes. You will learn something about the working lives of maids, waitresses, and Wal-Mart clerks from Barbara Ehrenreich.  Barrett Seaman will provoke you with his parental investigation into college life.  With Morgan Spurlock and Eric Schlosser, you'll explore the history and consequences of the rise of Fast Food.  But the specific information you encounter will be almost incidental; as models of investigation, discovery, and reporting, they will help us think about the fundamental research activities that you too will practice: gathering, assimilating and presenting ideas and information.    Through fieldwork (primary) as well as traditional (secondary) research, you will inquire into everyday topics related to work, gender, or consumerism, and produce an informative, persuasive essay that conveys your deepened knowledge.

Courses | Sherwood |IUP English | IUP

Last Updated: 09 December, 2008