Past Weekly Doings

	ENG 202 - Research Writing – Fall 2005 Past Weekly Doings
Sherwood@iup.edu Office: Sutton 340 \| Hours T/Th 8am \| Sec.028: CRN 13221 T/Th 9:45 \| Sec. 030: CRN-13223		Doings - Week 01 Tuesday 1. Introduction of the "everyday" as a concept \| Relation of everyday to research process, emphases on inquiry, discovery, first-hand knowing, and self-reflection \| Family of everyday themes: gender, work, consumerism 2. "Stepping out" - an exercise in making the familiar strange. See Rosaldo's observation. What is the everyday subject? What makes it seem strange? If this is a research document, what does it tell us? How do the perspective and language add to its effect? 2. Review of Syllabus and Calendar \| 3. Can you "write-up" a scene from the first day of class in a way that show's you stepping out of it? For our next class: Do #3 above if we don't have time in class. Read Miner's "Body Ritual Among..." (a password protected e-text available as a course Document) \| Check your IUP network LoginName and Password. \| Bring any additional syllabus questions. Thursday 1. Receive syllabus questions. 2. Discuss observations of "first day of class" scenes. 3. Discuss "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" Notebook: What is strange or noteworthy in the "Body rituals" described? How accurate are the descriptions? What questions does the approach raise? 4. Review: How to Create a Blog. For Next Week: Follow the guidelines to create your blog, posting your first "MicroEssay" - (250 words) observation of some everyday occurence, with detailed description or precise analysis. (Use Rosaldo or Miner as models). Read Betty Friedan's "The Problem" (web) Doings - Week 02 Tuesday 1. Verify functioning of blogs, remind that MicroEssay 1 is due to be blogged; will help setup blogs during office hours; Gordon Help desk can resolve IUP network problems. 2. Discuss Miner's Body Ritual. This essay aims to be humorous and revealing at once. Anthropologists traditionally studied "Other" cultures, whose practices were seen as foreign, strange, or in need of explanation. The Nacirema are observed as a culture with irrational practices based in tradition and magic. Quickly answer the following questions (one each group) for whole-class discussion: A - How does the "distanced" perspective of the writer effect what he/she observes and how it is understood? B - Might a true outsider really perceive some of these things in this way? C- Do we find the "founding myths," or the "fundamental belief ... that the human body is ugly" as accurately described or misunderstood? D - Do descriptions of bathroom wall "shrines" or the supersitions about "holy-mouth men" and the oral/moral link have some truth to them? E - How do we view the "latipso" and its medicine men? F - What alternative descriptions could one offer of Nacirema attitudes toward body size and shape? Or towards natural reproductive functions? What overall effects does this essay aim to achieve; does it cause us to reflect upon the "weirdness" of some of our own everday practices; does it make you wonder if some others' practices seem quite normal and sensible to them? *Read Eric Schlosser, excerpts from Fast Food Nation* for next class. See document; Post a freewrite to the blog- (5 minutes) What is "the problem" indicated by the title of the Friedan selection? Thursday 1. Friedan's "Problem That Has No Name." A - Discuss freewrite - What is "the problem" indicated by the title of the Friedan selection? B - How does the perspective of this description differ from those of Miner or Rosaldo? C - Does Friedan discern something in "everyday" life of women that is strange, stressed, or artificial? What does this suggest about the nature of the everyday things? What does she gain (rhetorically?) from introducing the problem as something "buried," "unspoken," and "strange"? D - How does the explanation of a "subjective" problem benefit from all the "objective," researched information in the piece? E - What does Friedan mean when she says "In the fifteen years after the Second World War, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary American culture"? Armstrong Flooring \| School of Human Ecology Centennial U Wisconsin \| 2. Schlosser - Introduction A - How does the author seek to call our attention to strange aspects of the everyday which have become to familiar to notice? B - What are some of the various "research questions" looking at this everyday subject raise? For Tuesday: Finish Schlosser. Read two short handouts: Ben Highmore, On The Everday John Fiske, Everyday Life, then post a summary (in your own words) of what it would mean to write about the everday. Note: Micro-Essay 2 (Participation/Interview) will not be due until Thursday, though you may begin to brainstorm an appropriate everyday opportunity to reflect on an activity in which you participate or to discuss such a topic with another. Doings - Week 03 Tuesday* 1. Schlosser & "The Everyday" A - Everyday (brief in-class blogging) What's the relation between the modern "shock of the new" and the boredom we may experience when confronted with everyday things? How does Sherlock Holmes become a model researcher (for Highmore) in his act of defamiliarizing? Suppose that our everyday lives are shaped by encounters with systems, institutions, rules (written/unwritten), and internalized routines; what is the significance of tactics of resistance like trickery, shoplifting [hacking, music piracy?], la perruque etc. (for Fiske/ De Certau)? Discuss in-class and homework blogging (on everyday) B - Fast Food: Introduction: How does the author seek to call our attention to strange aspects of the everyday which have become too familiar to notice? For Thursday: Blog Micro-Essay 2 (Participation/Interview): write-up an everyday incident in a way that shows your involvement or by directly discussing it with a participant. Try to inflect it with ideas from Highmore/Fiske. Thursday** 1. Questions and Conversations The need for a "topic" in order to do research is common sense; but we can consider the research question(s) and work with disciplinary conversations as the true engines of good research. Let's use Schlosser as a means of learning about RQs and conversations. A. Groups of 2 or 3: Brainstorm a list - What are some of the various "research questions" that looking at the everyday subject of "fast food" raise for Schlosser in the two body chapters we read? (His Topic is "fast food," but each chapter probably has a handful or more of important questions it wants to pursue. The RQs in popular writing can be explicit or only hinted towards.) B. Class: Identifying Conversations: Where and among whom might we find folks thinking about the listed questions? What are the broad interest groups or perspectives that might be relevant? Name them. C. Topic Brainstorming: Potential everyday research topics should involve themes such as work, gender, or consumerism. Let's come up with a group list of 100 possible topics! *For Next Class: Draft at least 2 paragraphs about two potential everyday research topics; post to your blog; read 100 pages of Seaman's Binge. Doings - Week 04 Tuesday 1. Everyday Topics A. Open discussion - sharing of most promising topic blog related to the everyday themes (gender, work, consumerism). B. (Examples) What are some of the main (and some of the marginal) conversations intersecting the topic? How can one use an awareness of the discrepancies between conversations to defamiliarize, or to generate a research question worthy of Sherlock Holmes? C. Blog (verb) a list of conversations relevant to your topic, give them names and group them if you can think of many. D. Using a search engine of your choice, perform some simple searches and see what kinds of materials you generate. Have you encountered the conversations you expected? We've fallen a bit behind in the assignment calendar. But MicroE3: Object/ Image Ana. (static) should be posted by this friday. Select a simple object or image, relevant to your topic; you must choose something static, then describe it visually, its function, and/or its parts with as much analytical detail as you can. Reading Quiz on Seaman's Binge next class. Thursday Quiz** Discussion of Barrett Seaman, Binge: What Your College Student Won't Tell You (Campus Life in an Age of Disconnection) A. Discuss introduction: choice of colleges, claim that nothing in it will surprise today's college students, and that issues are comparable everywhere. B. Chapter One: What are some of the motivating research questions? How are they answered and how well? What conversations does he access in providing the answers? Group Work - Chapters 2, 3, and 4; in a given sub-section try to identify: - The important Research Question(s) (explicit or implied); discuss whether questions and answers are satisfying - Choose two observations or facts you find surprising (one which seems persuasive, one which does not); - What conversations are accessed? Successfully? In what ways do Seaman's uses of various conversations dictate his results? Post Micro E3 (description above) by Friday; For Tuesday, Read Seaman Chapters 5-8; be ready to begin identifying conversations relevant to your chosen topic. Collaborative Brainstorming List 69 Possible Everyday Topics Doings - Week 05 Tuesday This week we will settle upon research topics--and engage in some preliminary searching and conversation identification--in order to produce a working research question. 1.) Based on your working topic, conduct searches looking to identify the relevant conversations: Conversations - Identifying Perspectives on a Research Topic 2.) Reflect on the breadth of the topic and consider ways to narrow it, looking for more specialized conversations which you identify through Advanced Web Searching. (This worksheet may be of use: Evaluating Open-Web Sources) For Thursday: Blog a topic paragraph that clearly indicates the conversation(s) with which you want to engage and the narrow issue upon which you intend to focus. Thursday** 1) Discussion of theme, topic, and research questions in Binge (ch3) Exercise with Binge Chapter 3 2.) Work on Narrowing toward a Research Question. Post your own sequence (from theme to RQ) to your blog. For Friday: Blog the focusing sequence (theme, broad topic, conversations, Topic Paragraph, Preliminary RQs) following the model above. Next week we'll begin following chosen conversations and gathering initial sources as we define a single, working RQ. Doings - Week 06 Tuesday With an RQ in hand, we'll begin to seeking relevant topic information in earnest this week. Remember though that your RQ is open to revision and your source gathering will not cease just be cause you accumulate X number of references. 1.) Oral review of topic and preliminary RQ(s). (Blogged version will be graded before we meet Thursday). 2. ) Seeking Sources A.) Brief overview of source scope and breadth B.) Four things you won't find on the web: monographs, bound periodicals, microform, and reference volumes \| Introduction to library-based searching \| l IUP Pilot (catalog)\| IUP Library Home C.) Guided searching in class; ( group sources via conversation and/or type; save results in MS Word to your H:/drive) For Thursday: Identify (titles and reference data) for at least 4 in-library references which you would like to check out. Blog a list of library and web sources identified so far and print out, along with your working RQ. Thursday Meet in the library, 1st floor, at the coffee tables. 1.) Consulting books, periodicals, and bound references. Check out relevant materials. 2.) Consult with professor about your RQ and encountered sources. For Tuesday: Update Blog – post should include 1) current version of your RQ; 2) list and citation information (title, author, location, type: book, webpage, etc) of 5 potential sources including at least two from the library (such as: book, photocopy from a bound periodical or microform). Bring – 2 physical sources to class Doings - Week 07 From Last Week: Update Blog – post should include 1) current version of your RQ; 2) list and citation information (title, author, location, type: book, webpage, etc) of 5 potential sources including at least two from the library (such as: book, photocopy from a bound periodical or microform). Bring –2 physical sources to class Tuesday. Tuesday - (In class) Today we'll explore two avenues for grouping and evaluating sources as you identify them. You'll find ongoing reflection helps direct you towards additional sources that complement, extend, or balance what you already have. 1. Grouping Sources 2. Evaluating Individual Sources For next class: please complete and blog the two exercises above; continue with open-web, database, and library searching. Print and read Goffman's "Front and Back Regions of Everyday Life." Thursday - (In class) 1. This selection from Erving Goffman's book reminds us of the broad research theme; indicates how primary research (fieldwork) can complement secondary sources (library, web); and invites us to consider what kinds of unexplored "back regions" might be relevant our topics. A. Discuss Goffman: the concept of the front and back region; importance of back to main action; significance of having two regions for relations and roles of groups involved; potential contradictions or discrepancies between different regions. B. What are some hypothetical back regions for everyday topics relating to gender, consumption, or work. 2. Let's review the basic guidelines for Documenting Sources in the MLA style. You will create a Bibliography (or list of Works Cited) that includes information sufficient for a reader to relocate the materials. The MLA style format is specific for each kind of source, and you MUST use a guidebook or the online style guide. 8am - Project Directory 028 \| 9:45 - Project Directory 030 For Next Week: Blog and bring 2 print copies of your Working Bibliography, which should list at least 12 sources of varying types and drawing from a range of conversations. Week 08 Hacker Online Guide to MLA-style Source Citation MLA.Org - on citing Electronic Sources Tuesday - (In class) We'll continue the review the basic guidelines for Documenting Sources in the MLA style. You will create a Bibliography (or list of Works Cited) that includes information sufficient for a reader to relocate the materials. The MLA style format is specific for each kind of source, and you MUST use a guidebook or the online style guide. 1. Check group exercises on sample sources. 2. Discuss fieldwork - the uses of primary research, and the nuts and bolts. 3. Take notes on sources, make sure you have evaluated them (worksheet); don't forget to Blog your work. For Thursday: Read fieldwork Guide-1 & fieldword guide-2. Blog and bring a printed copy of your working bibliography in MLA format. It should probably include 10-12 sources of varied types and media. Remember that quality, relevance and diversity are more important than sheer numbers. Grouping Sources \| Evaluating Individual Sources Thursday - (In class) Please submit your Working Bibliography at the end of class. You may print it from the laser printer. If you do not have it ready, you should email it to me and leave a hard copy in my Leo110 mailbox before 4pm Friday. 1. Review fieldwork possibilities: A.) Pairs Exercise: Look at one of the kinds of fieldwork explained and exemplified in the reading (Questionaire, Oral History, Ethnographic Interview, Observations (space, classroom, work). Fieldwork Guide-1 & Fieldword guide-2. What purposes does each serve, what are limitations and benefits? Was the fieldwork method well chosen and executed? What kinds of preparation and follow-up are shown? B.) Class: Briefly brainstorm kinds of fieldwork. How would these general methods be used by Eric Schlosser or Barret Seaman? C.) Individual Freewrite: Post two possible avenues for fieldwork for your research, naming and briefly describing goals, means, and challenges for each. 2. Review guideline for the research proposal. (Appropriate material may be drawn from the Blog and revised/edited as needed. If time allows, begin drafting research proposal in class.) Doings - Week 09 Hacker Online Guide to MLA-style Source Citation MLA.Org - on citing Electronic Sources Research Proposal Due (Blogged and on paper) - 10/27.* (This is already an extension, so I cannot give full credit for late work.) Thursday - (In class) Today we'll think further about fieldwork and how a research question may evolve (as well as how a sequence of questions can help organize your research writing). As we watch an exemplary documentary -- Frontline's Wal-Mart--I want you to ask several questions: What's the primary research question? What are the relevant conversations? (Of whom are answered asked and why?) What aspects of the question are answered well? (And what makes a good answer?) What aspects of the question are left partially unanswered? (Why? And is this effective or problematic?) For Tuesday: Read the introduction and first chapter of Ehrenreich's Nickled and Dimed. Think about how the author uses fieldwork to provide kinds of information she could not gather by googling it! Doings - Week 10 Tuesday - Using Ehrenreich as a model for field research 5 min. free write - to blog: What questions is B.E. interested in answering? What does she expect to gain from researching it in the manner proposed? What are some of the key aspects of her "planning"? And does the plan seem likely to produce the answers she seeks? Discuss how Ehrenreich makes "research" so lively - ways of teaching us painlessly. How could ENGL 202 Research imbibe something of her spirit? For Thursday, Read one later chapter (choose either Maine or Minnesota) and the concluding "Evaluation." Thursday Discuss Ehrenreich's "Evaluation" - how she moves from fieldwork to observations, inferences, and conclusions about work. In-Class: Fieldwork preparation - interview or survey questions, observation rubric, etc. Upcoming: Next Thursday - Outline; following Thursday - fieldwork report. Doings - Week 11 Tuesday Proposals. Quick review: the ideal process -- from proposal to final draft. Fieldwork questions and suggestions: - survey sample1 - sample 2; - interview guide; Purpose and format of an outline; - using the MSWord outline builder; - in-class writing. Thursday In-class presentation of outlines - 2minutes apiece! 1+ page outline due Thursday (blog it and print 2 copies). Doings - Week 12 This week we need to move from plans and outlines to the incorporation of sources in a draft. Tuesday Finish class outline presentations. Digesting Sources - we'll spend some time in class synthesizing sources and plans. Comments on fieldwork report. Thursday Discuss drafting to incorporate sources: three types of use Pairs exercise on a type of source use; whole-class exercises. Guide to MLA Citation Blog Fieldwork Report - This will form a part of your portfolio, for the end of the semester (as will everything on your blog.) A draft (min 5-7 pp) is due next Tuesday (11/22). Doings - Week 13 Tuesday 1. Drafts: Review, check bibliography and citation, edit and submit drafts. 2. Compose and attach a brief cover letter: explain what you've done and what you know you've left undone. HW: Read Frankfurt, On Bullshit over break; we'll begin discussing it next Tues. or Thurs. Doings - Week 14 Tuesday 1. Review essays and comments; 2. Compose and post a revision plan to blog (listing steps) Finish Frankfurt for Thursday (quiz?) Thursday Discuss Frankfurt. [Bring clean copy of revised draft for Tuesday]


		Courses \| Sherwood \|IUP English \| IUP Last Updated: 09 December, 2008

	ENG 202 - Research Writing – Fall 2005 Past Weekly Doings
Sherwood@iup.edu Office: Sutton 340 \| Hours T/Th 8am \| Sec.028: CRN 13221 T/Th 9:45 \| Sec. 030: CRN-13223		Doings - Week 01 Tuesday 1. Introduction of the "everyday" as a concept \| Relation of everyday to research process, emphases on inquiry, discovery, first-hand knowing, and self-reflection \| Family of everyday themes: gender, work, consumerism 2. "Stepping out" - an exercise in making the familiar strange. See Rosaldo's observation. What is the everyday subject? What makes it seem strange? If this is a research document, what does it tell us? How do the perspective and language add to its effect? 2. Review of Syllabus and Calendar \| 3. Can you "write-up" a scene from the first day of class in a way that show's you stepping out of it? For our next class: Do #3 above if we don't have time in class. Read Miner's "Body Ritual Among..." (a password protected e-text available as a course Document) \| Check your IUP network LoginName and Password. \| Bring any additional syllabus questions. Thursday 1. Receive syllabus questions. 2. Discuss observations of "first day of class" scenes. 3. Discuss "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" Notebook: What is strange or noteworthy in the "Body rituals" described? How accurate are the descriptions? What questions does the approach raise? 4. Review: How to Create a Blog. For Next Week: Follow the guidelines to create your blog, posting your first "MicroEssay" - (250 words) observation of some everyday occurence, with detailed description or precise analysis. (Use Rosaldo or Miner as models). Read Betty Friedan's "The Problem" (web) Doings - Week 02 Tuesday 1. Verify functioning of blogs, remind that MicroEssay 1 is due to be blogged; will help setup blogs during office hours; Gordon Help desk can resolve IUP network problems. 2. Discuss Miner's Body Ritual. This essay aims to be humorous and revealing at once. Anthropologists traditionally studied "Other" cultures, whose practices were seen as foreign, strange, or in need of explanation. The Nacirema are observed as a culture with irrational practices based in tradition and magic. Quickly answer the following questions (one each group) for whole-class discussion: A - How does the "distanced" perspective of the writer effect what he/she observes and how it is understood? B - Might a true outsider really perceive some of these things in this way? C- Do we find the "founding myths," or the "fundamental belief ... that the human body is ugly" as accurately described or misunderstood? D - Do descriptions of bathroom wall "shrines" or the supersitions about "holy-mouth men" and the oral/moral link have some truth to them? E - How do we view the "latipso" and its medicine men? F - What alternative descriptions could one offer of Nacirema attitudes toward body size and shape? Or towards natural reproductive functions? What overall effects does this essay aim to achieve; does it cause us to reflect upon the "weirdness" of some of our own everday practices; does it make you wonder if some others' practices seem quite normal and sensible to them? *Read Eric Schlosser, excerpts from Fast Food Nation* for next class. See document; Post a freewrite to the blog- (5 minutes) What is "the problem" indicated by the title of the Friedan selection? Thursday 1. Friedan's "Problem That Has No Name." A - Discuss freewrite - What is "the problem" indicated by the title of the Friedan selection? B - How does the perspective of this description differ from those of Miner or Rosaldo? C - Does Friedan discern something in "everyday" life of women that is strange, stressed, or artificial? What does this suggest about the nature of the everyday things? What does she gain (rhetorically?) from introducing the problem as something "buried," "unspoken," and "strange"? D - How does the explanation of a "subjective" problem benefit from all the "objective," researched information in the piece? E - What does Friedan mean when she says "In the fifteen years after the Second World War, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary American culture"? Armstrong Flooring \| School of Human Ecology Centennial U Wisconsin \| 2. Schlosser - Introduction A - How does the author seek to call our attention to strange aspects of the everyday which have become to familiar to notice? B - What are some of the various "research questions" looking at this everyday subject raise? For Tuesday: Finish Schlosser. Read two short handouts: Ben Highmore, On The Everday John Fiske, Everyday Life, then post a summary (in your own words) of what it would mean to write about the everday. Note: Micro-Essay 2 (Participation/Interview) will not be due until Thursday, though you may begin to brainstorm an appropriate everyday opportunity to reflect on an activity in which you participate or to discuss such a topic with another. Doings - Week 03 Tuesday* 1. Schlosser & "The Everyday" A - Everyday (brief in-class blogging) What's the relation between the modern "shock of the new" and the boredom we may experience when confronted with everyday things? How does Sherlock Holmes become a model researcher (for Highmore) in his act of defamiliarizing? Suppose that our everyday lives are shaped by encounters with systems, institutions, rules (written/unwritten), and internalized routines; what is the significance of tactics of resistance like trickery, shoplifting [hacking, music piracy?], la perruque etc. (for Fiske/ De Certau)? Discuss in-class and homework blogging (on everyday) B - Fast Food: Introduction: How does the author seek to call our attention to strange aspects of the everyday which have become too familiar to notice? For Thursday: Blog Micro-Essay 2 (Participation/Interview): write-up an everyday incident in a way that shows your involvement or by directly discussing it with a participant. Try to inflect it with ideas from Highmore/Fiske. Thursday** 1. Questions and Conversations The need for a "topic" in order to do research is common sense; but we can consider the research question(s) and work with disciplinary conversations as the true engines of good research. Let's use Schlosser as a means of learning about RQs and conversations. A. Groups of 2 or 3: Brainstorm a list - What are some of the various "research questions" that looking at the everyday subject of "fast food" raise for Schlosser in the two body chapters we read? (His Topic is "fast food," but each chapter probably has a handful or more of important questions it wants to pursue. The RQs in popular writing can be explicit or only hinted towards.) B. Class: Identifying Conversations: Where and among whom might we find folks thinking about the listed questions? What are the broad interest groups or perspectives that might be relevant? Name them. C. Topic Brainstorming: Potential everyday research topics should involve themes such as work, gender, or consumerism. Let's come up with a group list of 100 possible topics! *For Next Class: Draft at least 2 paragraphs about two potential everyday research topics; post to your blog; read 100 pages of Seaman's Binge. Doings - Week 04 Tuesday 1. Everyday Topics A. Open discussion - sharing of most promising topic blog related to the everyday themes (gender, work, consumerism). B. (Examples) What are some of the main (and some of the marginal) conversations intersecting the topic? How can one use an awareness of the discrepancies between conversations to defamiliarize, or to generate a research question worthy of Sherlock Holmes? C. Blog (verb) a list of conversations relevant to your topic, give them names and group them if you can think of many. D. Using a search engine of your choice, perform some simple searches and see what kinds of materials you generate. Have you encountered the conversations you expected? We've fallen a bit behind in the assignment calendar. But MicroE3: Object/ Image Ana. (static) should be posted by this friday. Select a simple object or image, relevant to your topic; you must choose something static, then describe it visually, its function, and/or its parts with as much analytical detail as you can. Reading Quiz on Seaman's Binge next class. Thursday Quiz** Discussion of Barrett Seaman, Binge: What Your College Student Won't Tell You (Campus Life in an Age of Disconnection) A. Discuss introduction: choice of colleges, claim that nothing in it will surprise today's college students, and that issues are comparable everywhere. B. Chapter One: What are some of the motivating research questions? How are they answered and how well? What conversations does he access in providing the answers? Group Work - Chapters 2, 3, and 4; in a given sub-section try to identify: - The important Research Question(s) (explicit or implied); discuss whether questions and answers are satisfying - Choose two observations or facts you find surprising (one which seems persuasive, one which does not); - What conversations are accessed? Successfully? In what ways do Seaman's uses of various conversations dictate his results? Post Micro E3 (description above) by Friday; For Tuesday, Read Seaman Chapters 5-8; be ready to begin identifying conversations relevant to your chosen topic. Collaborative Brainstorming List 69 Possible Everyday Topics Doings - Week 05 Tuesday This week we will settle upon research topics--and engage in some preliminary searching and conversation identification--in order to produce a working research question. 1.) Based on your working topic, conduct searches looking to identify the relevant conversations: Conversations - Identifying Perspectives on a Research Topic 2.) Reflect on the breadth of the topic and consider ways to narrow it, looking for more specialized conversations which you identify through Advanced Web Searching. (This worksheet may be of use: Evaluating Open-Web Sources) For Thursday: Blog a topic paragraph that clearly indicates the conversation(s) with which you want to engage and the narrow issue upon which you intend to focus. Thursday** 1) Discussion of theme, topic, and research questions in Binge (ch3) Exercise with Binge Chapter 3 2.) Work on Narrowing toward a Research Question. Post your own sequence (from theme to RQ) to your blog. For Friday: Blog the focusing sequence (theme, broad topic, conversations, Topic Paragraph, Preliminary RQs) following the model above. Next week we'll begin following chosen conversations and gathering initial sources as we define a single, working RQ. Doings - Week 06 Tuesday With an RQ in hand, we'll begin to seeking relevant topic information in earnest this week. Remember though that your RQ is open to revision and your source gathering will not cease just be cause you accumulate X number of references. 1.) Oral review of topic and preliminary RQ(s). (Blogged version will be graded before we meet Thursday). 2. ) Seeking Sources A.) Brief overview of source scope and breadth B.) Four things you won't find on the web: monographs, bound periodicals, microform, and reference volumes \| Introduction to library-based searching \| l IUP Pilot (catalog)\| IUP Library Home C.) Guided searching in class; ( group sources via conversation and/or type; save results in MS Word to your H:/drive) For Thursday: Identify (titles and reference data) for at least 4 in-library references which you would like to check out. Blog a list of library and web sources identified so far and print out, along with your working RQ. Thursday Meet in the library, 1st floor, at the coffee tables. 1.) Consulting books, periodicals, and bound references. Check out relevant materials. 2.) Consult with professor about your RQ and encountered sources. For Tuesday: Update Blog – post should include 1) current version of your RQ; 2) list and citation information (title, author, location, type: book, webpage, etc) of 5 potential sources including at least two from the library (such as: book, photocopy from a bound periodical or microform). Bring – 2 physical sources to class Doings - Week 07 From Last Week: Update Blog – post should include 1) current version of your RQ; 2) list and citation information (title, author, location, type: book, webpage, etc) of 5 potential sources including at least two from the library (such as: book, photocopy from a bound periodical or microform). Bring –2 physical sources to class Tuesday. Tuesday - (In class) Today we'll explore two avenues for grouping and evaluating sources as you identify them. You'll find ongoing reflection helps direct you towards additional sources that complement, extend, or balance what you already have. 1. Grouping Sources 2. Evaluating Individual Sources For next class: please complete and blog the two exercises above; continue with open-web, database, and library searching. Print and read Goffman's "Front and Back Regions of Everyday Life." Thursday - (In class) 1. This selection from Erving Goffman's book reminds us of the broad research theme; indicates how primary research (fieldwork) can complement secondary sources (library, web); and invites us to consider what kinds of unexplored "back regions" might be relevant our topics. A. Discuss Goffman: the concept of the front and back region; importance of back to main action; significance of having two regions for relations and roles of groups involved; potential contradictions or discrepancies between different regions. B. What are some hypothetical back regions for everyday topics relating to gender, consumption, or work. 2. Let's review the basic guidelines for Documenting Sources in the MLA style. You will create a Bibliography (or list of Works Cited) that includes information sufficient for a reader to relocate the materials. The MLA style format is specific for each kind of source, and you MUST use a guidebook or the online style guide. 8am - Project Directory 028 \| 9:45 - Project Directory 030 For Next Week: Blog and bring 2 print copies of your Working Bibliography, which should list at least 12 sources of varying types and drawing from a range of conversations. Week 08 Hacker Online Guide to MLA-style Source Citation MLA.Org - on citing Electronic Sources Tuesday - (In class) We'll continue the review the basic guidelines for Documenting Sources in the MLA style. You will create a Bibliography (or list of Works Cited) that includes information sufficient for a reader to relocate the materials. The MLA style format is specific for each kind of source, and you MUST use a guidebook or the online style guide. 1. Check group exercises on sample sources. 2. Discuss fieldwork - the uses of primary research, and the nuts and bolts. 3. Take notes on sources, make sure you have evaluated them (worksheet); don't forget to Blog your work. For Thursday: Read fieldwork Guide-1 & fieldword guide-2. Blog and bring a printed copy of your working bibliography in MLA format. It should probably include 10-12 sources of varied types and media. Remember that quality, relevance and diversity are more important than sheer numbers. Grouping Sources \| Evaluating Individual Sources Thursday - (In class) Please submit your Working Bibliography at the end of class. You may print it from the laser printer. If you do not have it ready, you should email it to me and leave a hard copy in my Leo110 mailbox before 4pm Friday. 1. Review fieldwork possibilities: A.) Pairs Exercise: Look at one of the kinds of fieldwork explained and exemplified in the reading (Questionaire, Oral History, Ethnographic Interview, Observations (space, classroom, work). Fieldwork Guide-1 & Fieldword guide-2. What purposes does each serve, what are limitations and benefits? Was the fieldwork method well chosen and executed? What kinds of preparation and follow-up are shown? B.) Class: Briefly brainstorm kinds of fieldwork. How would these general methods be used by Eric Schlosser or Barret Seaman? C.) Individual Freewrite: Post two possible avenues for fieldwork for your research, naming and briefly describing goals, means, and challenges for each. 2. Review guideline for the research proposal. (Appropriate material may be drawn from the Blog and revised/edited as needed. If time allows, begin drafting research proposal in class.) Doings - Week 09 Hacker Online Guide to MLA-style Source Citation MLA.Org - on citing Electronic Sources Research Proposal Due (Blogged and on paper) - 10/27.* (This is already an extension, so I cannot give full credit for late work.) Thursday - (In class) Today we'll think further about fieldwork and how a research question may evolve (as well as how a sequence of questions can help organize your research writing). As we watch an exemplary documentary -- Frontline's Wal-Mart--I want you to ask several questions: What's the primary research question? What are the relevant conversations? (Of whom are answered asked and why?) What aspects of the question are answered well? (And what makes a good answer?) What aspects of the question are left partially unanswered? (Why? And is this effective or problematic?) For Tuesday: Read the introduction and first chapter of Ehrenreich's Nickled and Dimed. Think about how the author uses fieldwork to provide kinds of information she could not gather by googling it! Doings - Week 10 Tuesday - Using Ehrenreich as a model for field research 5 min. free write - to blog: What questions is B.E. interested in answering? What does she expect to gain from researching it in the manner proposed? What are some of the key aspects of her "planning"? And does the plan seem likely to produce the answers she seeks? Discuss how Ehrenreich makes "research" so lively - ways of teaching us painlessly. How could ENGL 202 Research imbibe something of her spirit? For Thursday, Read one later chapter (choose either Maine or Minnesota) and the concluding "Evaluation." Thursday Discuss Ehrenreich's "Evaluation" - how she moves from fieldwork to observations, inferences, and conclusions about work. In-Class: Fieldwork preparation - interview or survey questions, observation rubric, etc. Upcoming: Next Thursday - Outline; following Thursday - fieldwork report. Doings - Week 11 Tuesday Proposals. Quick review: the ideal process -- from proposal to final draft. Fieldwork questions and suggestions: - survey sample1 - sample 2; - interview guide; Purpose and format of an outline; - using the MSWord outline builder; - in-class writing. Thursday In-class presentation of outlines - 2minutes apiece! 1+ page outline due Thursday (blog it and print 2 copies). Doings - Week 12 This week we need to move from plans and outlines to the incorporation of sources in a draft. Tuesday Finish class outline presentations. Digesting Sources - we'll spend some time in class synthesizing sources and plans. Comments on fieldwork report. Thursday Discuss drafting to incorporate sources: three types of use Pairs exercise on a type of source use; whole-class exercises. Guide to MLA Citation Blog Fieldwork Report - This will form a part of your portfolio, for the end of the semester (as will everything on your blog.) A draft (min 5-7 pp) is due next Tuesday (11/22). Doings - Week 13 Tuesday 1. Drafts: Review, check bibliography and citation, edit and submit drafts. 2. Compose and attach a brief cover letter: explain what you've done and what you know you've left undone. HW: Read Frankfurt, On Bullshit over break; we'll begin discussing it next Tues. or Thurs. Doings - Week 14 Tuesday 1. Review essays and comments; 2. Compose and post a revision plan to blog (listing steps) Finish Frankfurt for Thursday (quiz?) Thursday Discuss Frankfurt. [Bring clean copy of revised draft for Tuesday]


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