Week 9

Good Evening.  

Today we will discuss topics and means of researching and developing the short research essay and review and practice source integration and citation, which is required of the short research essay assigned.   

The research process begins with your having identified a topic that intrigues you, and with questions:  the who, what, where, when, and why of any story is a start.   You are to be guided by your questions about the topic and its essential significance.  

Discovery Checklist: 

• What recent personal experience or observations–at school, on the job, in the culture at large– raise intriguing questions in your mind?  
• What stories or events have garnered much attention locally, nationally, or globally that speak to your concerns and interests as a young adult today?
• What problems confront a particular set of individuals or the world today?   What in terms of media coverage is reported of them?
• Who are the people making an impact or shaping our perspectives on issues or events?
• What have you read about recently that seems a subject interesting and important enough to merit closer study and understanding?

Browse the Internet to discover the issues and themes of a subject you find interesting.  Prepare a working list of articles and associated images and voices that speak to your particular questions and concerns.  

Establish your purpose and audience as you consider what you would like your research to accomplish. Your curiosity and interest and focused intent will provide a means for engaging an audience and provide direction to the course of your research work.  In the end, you may find yourself doing one or more of the following in bringing the paper to completion:

• Introducing readers to an interesting new field of study, a long-standing issue or an emerging issue.
• Analyzing a situation, event, or issue and identifying its key components and significance.
• Offering a new perspective on some matter that you have come to understand well.
• Supporting a position or substantiating a conclusion.
• Solving a problem or making a decision.
• Advocating for change.

Generate ideas by or brainstorming the topics and questions that come to mind, and then list those that appear promising leads.  Use the terms and questions to proceed with your search for information and answers.

Identify key words and links to use in your search of the literature available online or in the library.

Survey your resources and identify those that will provide enough ideas, opinions, facts, statistics, and expert testimony to address your needs and purpose in writing the paper.

Keep a detailed list, in MLA format, of the sources you might use in the paper, for all sources cited in the paper will be itemized alphabetically on the Works Cited page of the paper.

Sort the research items in terms of relative strength, timeliness, and specificity.  

Avoid looking for information that only serves to support a preconceived notion.  In so far as possible, examine as many perspectives on your subject as fairness and integrity allow so that your comprehension of the subject and your eventual coverage of it have scope and balance.

Keep copies of the sources used in the research paper, and mark those passages used in direct quotation or summary inclusion.  Plagiarism is to be avoided, and I ask that you be prepared to show me copies of your sources.

Citing Sources in MLA Style:  Read the following carefully:

To document your research sources, whether from an article in print or online, an encyclopedia or dictionary item, an interview source, a film, photograph, illustration or other visual material– there is a standard means.  The primary reference is the author of the source, whose last name provides the key or first word to an itemized alphabetical list on the last page of the report (called the Works Cited page) that contains the full bibliographic information of all the sources referenced or cited in the text.  An author's name and the title of the work referenced must also appear in the body of the essay.  Thus, any directly quoted, paraphrased or summarized information should be referenced or cited in text and included on the Works Cited page.  The author’s name and the title of the piece should be included in the essay text along with whatever item you have borrowed or used.    Sometimes an article or source may have no author credit; in such instances, use the title as the key term.

  

Checklist:

• Double-check to that you have acknowledged all material from a source.
• Identify the author of each source in text or in parentheses following the information item.
• Use the title as a source reference for works without identified authors.
• Follow the basic pattern for creating entries on the Works Cited page, and be sure to alphabetize them.

The following URL displays the MLA guidelines and illustrations for integrating sources:

   http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

Below, the Works Cited format is illustrated for some commonly used sources:

Individual Author of a Book

Hazzard, Shirley.  The Great Fire.  New York.  Farrar, 2003. Print.

Article from a Printed Magazine

Jenkins, Lee.  “He’s Gotta Play Hurt.”  Sports Illustrated. 26 Oct. 2009:  42-3. Print.

Article from an Online Magazine

Bowden, Mark.  “Jihadists in Paradise.”  The Atlantic.com.  Atlantic Monthly Group, Mar. 2007.  Web. 8 Mar. 2007.

Article from an Online Newspaper

Richmond, Riva.  “Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay.”  New York Times.  New York Times, 19 May 2010.  Web.  29 May 2010.

Selection from an Online Book

Webster, Augusta.  “Not Love.”  A Book of Rhyme.  London, 1881.  Victorian Women Wrtiers Project. Web. 8 Mar. 2007.

  

Organization Web Page

“Library Statistics.”  American Library Association.  Amer. Lib. Assn.  2010 Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

Film

Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King.  Dir. Peter Jackson.  New Line Cinema, 2003. Film.

Program on Television or Radio

“The Wounded Platoon.”  Frontline.  PBS.  WGBH, Boston, 18 May 2010.  Television.

Advertisement

Feeding America.  Advertisement.  Time.  21 Dec. 2009:  59.  Print.

Comic or Cartoon

Adams, Scott.  “Dilbert.”  Comic Strip.  Denver Post 1 Mar. 2010:  8C. Print.

Personal, Telephone, or E-mail Interview

Boyd, Dierdra.  Personal Interview. 5 Feb. 2012.

Class Exercise:  read the following article posted at Slate: 


 http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/05/epa_coal_rule_why_the_fuel_won_t_be_replaced_anytime_soon_.html 


Next:


1.  Compose an informal list of associated topics or key words that come up in this piece.
2.  Summarize in your own words the thesis of the article and quote a key item of fact or information used to support the thesis.  Include the necessary in text source information required by the MLA format, and the source information as it would appear on a Works Cited page.
3.  Using the topic or key words generated from the reading, find two related articles in a search of the Internet.  Identify by author and title the two or three that appear interesting, and the MLA information for each.
4.  Submit the exercise to me for review.

Week 8

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

                                                                                          –John Masefield (1878-1967), British poet.

Good evening, class.  I hope you enjoyed the film last week!  Tonight we will look at the reviews you have put together as well as work previously assigned, namely the field report and some of the writings on images. We will review the documentation of primary and secondary source material and discuss the individual report that will be due week 10 or 11(your call) and that is described here below.

After tonight we should be well on track.  Please consult with me about grades and any missing or late assignments.  We are fast approaching the final week of class and we want to be completely clear about what is due or outstanding.  See you then.

 Final Project  (#8) :  A short research project  (1000 words minimum, with in-text references to sources and a bibliographic source list, i.e. a "Work Cited" list) is due week 10 or 11.  This essay should address some subject about which you can make an arguable claim or assert an opinion that can be supported by the various sources you pull together to develop and prove the claim.  In the humanities, which includes the study of art, film, literature, philosophy, and religion, students often analyze some primary source, a literary work or historical document, a painting, film, or other work of art.  In the social sciences, which includes business, economics, education, criminal justice, psychology, sociology, and more, researchers study the behavior of individuals and groups, seek to understand and explain causes and trends, suggest appropriate policy responses, and so on.  Whatever the subject you address, provide at least three to four sources to help you make your case, including published articles or book material that provide commentary, history, etc. and other sources such as personal experience and eye-witness accounts, documentary photographs available on the web or elsewhere, cartoons, reader responses, information or insights gathered through personal interviews, surveys, etcetera.  You should provide clear summary of context and important details, and direct quotation of experts or authorities whose reports of fact and opinion matter to your argument.  You are to have both in-text references and a Works Cited page, and you are to title and double space the essay.

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Citing Sources in MLA Style

To document your research sources, whether from an article in print or online, an encyclopedia or dictionary item, an interview source, a film, photograph, illustration or other visual material– there is a standard means.  The primary reference is the author of the source, whose last name provides the key or first word to an itemized alphabetical list on the last page of the report (called the Works Cited page) that contains the full bibliographic information of all the sources referenced or cited in the text.  Any directly quoted, paraphrased or summarized information should be referenced or cited in text and included on the Works Cited page.  The author’s name and the title of the piece should be included in the essay text along with whatever information item you have borrowed or used.  This in-text reference may appear as a parenthetical citation (i.e. a set of parentheses like the one I am using now) containing the author's last name and perhaps a page number or text title.  Sometimes an article or source may have no author credit; in such instances, use the text title as the key term.  

The following URL displays the MLA guidelines and illustrations for integrating sources:

   http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

Checklist:

*Double-check to that you have acknowledged all material from a source.

*Identify the author of each source in text or in parentheses following the information item.

*Use the title as a source reference for works without identified authors.

*Follow the basic pattern for creating entries on the Works Cited page, and be sure to alphabetize them.

The Works Cited format is here illustrated for some commonly used sources:

Individual Author of a Book

Hazzard, Shirley.  The Great Fire.  New York.  Farrar, 2003. Print.

Article from a Printed Magazine

Jenkins, Lee.  “He’s Gotta Play Hurt.”  Sports Illustrated. 26 Oct. 2009:  42-3. Print.

Article from an Online Magazine

Bowden, Mark.  “Jihadists in Paradise.”  The Atlantic.com.  Atlantic Monthly Group, Mar. 2007.  Web. 8 Mar. 2007.

Article from an Online Newspaper

Richmond, Riva.  “Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay.”  New York Times.  New York Times, 19 May 2010.  Web.  29 May 2010.

Selection from an Online Book

Webster, Augusta.  “Not Love.”  A Book of Rhyme.  London, 1881.  Victorian Women Wrtiers Project. Web. 8 Mar. 2007.

  

Organization Web Page

“Library Statistics.”  American Library Association.  Amer. Lib. Assn.  2010 Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

Film

Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King.  Dir. Peter Jackson.  New Line Cinema, 2003. Film.

Program on Television or Radio

“The Wounded Platoon.”  Frontline.  PBS.  WGBH, Boston, 18 May 2010.  Television.

Advertisement

Feeding America.  Advertisement.  Time.  21 Dec. 2009:  59.  Print.

Comic or Cartoon

Adams, Scott.  “Dilbert.”  Comic Strip.  Denver Post 1 Mar. 2010:  8C. Print.

Personal, Telephone, or E-mail Interview

Boyd, Dierdra.  Personal Interview. 5 Feb. 2012.

Week 7

                                                                 On the Gulf of Mexico

Tonight's Tuesday class will be meeting at the Gateway theater between 6:45 and the start of the film, 7:30 p.m.  (1820 East Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL - (954) 763-7994)  I have papers to return and then we can watch the film, Dark Shadows.

 We will watch and form our own conclusion, and then write the essay with precision and expressive detail.  Remember to use specific examples–scenes, images, lines of dialogue–to recreate certain aspects of the film and to support your various points.  If you use material from published reviews, reference the author and source or site where published.  Be careful not to plagiarize material.

Essay 7:  A Film Review:  The essay should be 450-600 words, titled, and doubled spaced.  Introduce the film by title, director, and release date and provide plot overview as needed for context.  Advance a clear point (thesis) and supporting examples.  You might also use quotations and document references from reviewers, if you borrow their ideas.

Enjoy the show!

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Reminder:  the field reports you were to write sometime over the last several weeks are due tonight or next week.  The field report involves primary source research, including eye-witness observations, statements or testimonials taken in informal conversation, and documentary photography.   Also considered primary research are your original interpretations of art works, including film, of course, formalized interviews of people whose knowlege and opinions may be germaine to your work (or the point of the work entirely), questionaires and surveys.

Secondary source material is the research conducted and composed by others, and  upon which we often rely for our understanding of a subject.  When writing about the work of others, as in summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation, it is important to identify the source by author, title, and publication source.  The MLA guidelines are a specific set of rules governing how the various source, primary and secondary, you may use in your work are to be documented.  We will look at the conventional rules next week, in preparation for the short research report to be completed by week 10 (or at the latest week 11).

Week 6

Today we will review some of the narrratives, and your short reports on anxiety or whatever related topic you settled on for assignment #4.    Most of class will involve writing with a focus on images, specifically still photography or cartoon illustration.   The world of images obviously exceeds these genre, and if you have some  alternative image example you may choose to work with it.  We will refer to last week's assignment #6 description for this paper.   

 Below is information on using primary and secondary sources and the requirements for documenting sources.   I will repost the section week 8.  We will begin practice exercises week 8 on the MLA formatting of sources.  

Next week is the date of our Gateway Theater field trip. We will settle the details today, and I'll have you sign the release forms.  The film review will be paper #7.  Here is the URL for film selections and showtimes:  https://www.facebook.com/GatewayTheatreFL/app_201454109945226

Note:  The field report is due no later than week 8.

...................................................

  Essay work should always advance a point, that is, a thesis, always an arguable claim, and one that tries to convince readers of the truth or soundness of some position,  or perhaps to do something, take a stand, too.  Essayists may explore a topic so that readers are in a position to make an informed decision, without themselves insisting on a single position or interpretation of events. The thesis may address an issue that has no ready or absolute answer, nor one readily verified by resort to factual report, but one that must be grappled with and that challenges readers to define their values and beliefs.

Argument or fact?

     *Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

     * Van Gogh’s work is that of a madman.

     * Plastic bags are polluting the seas.

     *Consumers must reduce their carbon footprint.

     *The average temperature of the earth has risen over the last century.

     *Glaciers are melting at a rate unprecedented in modern times.

 The argument is to be built around an arguable claim, that is one about which reasonable people could reasonably disagree.  It should be supported with reference to your readings, expert or authoritative findings, factual support and logical analysis.  First-person experience and appeals to common sense and human values count, too. 

Consider the following thesis:  The use of plastics worldwide must come under closer scrutiny and regulation.

   Readers may now want to know why, and how the issue affects them and, indeed, if there is anything they might do to help resolve the issue. Your sources provide background information, demonstrate your knowledge of the topic, provide authoritative support and perspective, and show the range of perspectives possible, in fairness to differing opinions.

  Our ideas, whether commonly held or no, are rooted in traditional areas of study reflecting the history of human thought, values, attitudes, and tastes, and conduct.  These study areas include philosophy, religion, nature, aesthetics, science, ethics, education, etcetera.  Our most closely held beliefs and attitudes reflect very often our unexamined ideas about the nature of love, faith, trust, loss, betrayal, goodness and evil, freedom, sanctity, the very meaning of life.  Whether we focus on Washington and the shenanigans that make the nightly news, bioengineering, Facebook, legal injustices, or the most recent individual or "hero" making  a positive difference in the world, our beliefs, associated ideas, and feelings define us as human beings.  In choosing a research topic you will tap into some subject about which you feel strongly and have clear enough knowledge to put across a cogent argument or position, as supported also by fact and opinion gathered from your reading of available literature.  

*Select material for quotation on the following bases:

1)        -the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not easily paraphrased

2)        -it expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that you want to emphasize

3)        -it provides example of the range of perspective

4)        -it provides a constrasting or opposing view

*See http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/1/ for MLA formatting rules and examples of direct quotation.   The OWL site offers fairly comprehensive discussion and examples of presenting and documentaing primary and secondary source material.

You must soon begin to explore a subject or idea, begin finding and reading material relevant to whatever line of inquiry you intend.  Week 10 or 11 you will have due a 1000-word length essay in which you put across a claim made persuasive and credible by virtue of supporting facts, expert opinion, testimonials, logical inquiry, visuals, and perhaps emotional appeals to the reader's values.

Week 5

Good day!  Hope you are well.  Today we will pick up where we left off last week.  We will review the summary, use of quotations and proper source reference, and the expository essay.  We will also discuss the field report, introduced on last week's blog.  The field report must be done on your own, and requires you report from an eye witness perspective on some event or feature of our local community.

Today we will review the work in progress, specifically a short report on a subject rooted (however indirectly) in last week's article by George Makari, "In the Arcadian Woods."   We can use dictionaries to help us define, encyclopedias to get at the facts and history, the news media to learn of events large and small and the range of popular and expert opinion on any given matter.   And what of the artists whose works give us imaginative insight, and the personal stories that come to us by so many means?  What have the many who have weighed in on this (your) subject had to say?   You are to write informatively, with the express purpose of conveying information to your readers. There may be a personal story or basis to your writing, but reference to the work or ideas of others is necessary, in the form of description, summary and paraphrase or direct quotation. 

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The next writing assignment, which we will devote next week's class time to, will require you write about an image in such a way that readers see it in clear specific terms.  Images are all around, informing and influencing our lives in countless ways. 

We experience the world through our senses and mind, reading the meaning of color, shape, sound, texture, form, composition in the images endlessly playing in our perceptual fields.  The images that culture produces–photographs, films, commercials, drawings, paintings, cartoons, logos, graphics, etcetera–these may be “read” and elicit our response just as a written text might.   What can one learn from visual representations?  Can one analyze the particular messages or meaning conveyed, interpret the story told, point or theme illustrated?  Indeed, whether we want to understand the documentary value or the aesthetic appeal of a particular image, or the social, political, or economic interests and attitudes that an image represents, close study of visual representations can be fun and insightful activity.

How do advertisers get us to buy?  What makes a particular photograph resonate?  What storylines or themes implicit in images make us pause?  How to begin identifying or “reading” the source content?

The following guidelines should help you write cogently about visual representations:

Source, Purpose, Audience

*Identify the context of the image; that is where and how it has been published and distributed or exhibited.  To what end or purpose was it created, and by whom?

*What audience does the image address or appeal to?  How so?

*What is the most prominent element or figure in the image?  And the primary focal point? 

Objects, Figures, Story

*Identify the important objects and figures of foreground and background, consider the literal and expressive details of each, and their collective arrangement in the composition. 

*What story or event is depicted or implied?

*What mood or emotion or idea(s) are put in motion by the use of light and dark, color, balance or lack thereof, the use of white space, graphic text or other elements, etcetera?

Take Away Meaning

*To the extent the image persuades by feeling, mood, dramatic content, and so on, what is to be learned?

What do the uses of the image suggest about culture, politics, social life, art, history, the human condition?

Essay #6 (two alternatives): 

(1)  The following URL affords a fairly extensive photo archive that we will use for class practice in presenting and interpreting visual images.  You will choose one image for a short work of 400-500 words that describes the image and the idea(s) it serves to illustrate or the questions to which it gives rise, whether social, historical, political, philosophical, aesthetic, technological, existential . . . .  You must have a point to make in addressing the image and be as informative as you can.

http://lightbox.time.com/time-pictures-of-the-year-2011/

(2)  The online periodical Slate (slate.com) provides a fairly large archive of the work of cartoonists, who offer perspectives on matters making the news, in politics, sports, environment, etc.  Choose one from the daily offering or the archives, describe the image and any accompanyng text, the artist or author, and the story, matter, or issue it addresses.  You can google key words associated with the pictured material, and find recent news reports that may enhance your understanding of what is being depicted.  Humor is typically an important element in cartoon work and you may have fun presenting readers the material.  Avoid selecting any piece you do not get.  400-500 words, titled, double-spaced lines.

http://cartoonbox.slate.com/hottopic/?image=0&topicid=212