March 2010 Archives

Exercise 3 is a three-page essay that demonstrates your ability to apply, analyze, and evaluate the ideas you have encountered in the readings so far, with a special focus on any reading of your choice from Unit 3 (print culture). 

Submit your exercise by uploading it to Turnitin.com.

Review the feedback and suggestions I gave you on earlier assignments.  Feel free to quote from or build on anything you've written in class; cite those earlier papers when appropriate, but Ex 3 is not designed as a revision of any earlier work.

As was the case with the other exercises, I am looking for your ability to come up with a clear thesis statement, organize your argument around a blueprint, and how to integrate brief quotations from your sources.

Write for a reader who already knows the readings well, and has a copy in reach.  Quote brief passages, or consider simply referring in passing to "Havelock's treatment of Plato (24)" rather than attempting to repeat Havelock's ideas in detail.

If you have the paperback, read from "Looks down..." to "In a network..."

Letterpress Documentary

Exercise 2 is a three-page essay that demonstrates your ability to apply, analyze, and evaluate the ideas you have encountered in the readings so far, with a special focus on any reading of your choice from Unit 2 (manuscript culture). 

Submit your exercise by uploading it to Turnitin.com.

Review the feedback and suggestions I gave you on Ex 1.  Ex 2 is not designed as a revision of Ex 1, but please feel free to quote from your papers or blog entries if you would like to build on (or question) any statement you have already made.

As was the case with Ex 1, I am looking for your ability to come up with a clear thesis statement, organize your argument around a blueprint, and how to integrate brief quotations from your sources.

Write for a reader who already knows the readings well, and has a copy in reach.  Quote brief passages, or consider simply referring in passing to "Havelock's treatment of Plato (24)" rather than attempting to repeat Havelock's ideas in detail.

Using the paper that I passed out in class, give a 7-minute presentation that involves a manuscript -- a text that you write out (and, optionally, illustrate) by hand. (Manus = hand, script = writing.)

Use those papers for the goal statement that you hand out before you start your presentation, as a teaching aid during your presentation, and also for the reflection you write afterward.  You may divide the pages however you wish.  You may ask students to supply their own scrap paper during your presentation.

• These pages are meant to simulate the scarcity of writing materials. Take care of them.
• You may cut and paste the pages however you like.
• Limit yourself to two colors of ink (again, to simulate scarcity).
• Do not use any technology (photocopying, an inkjet printer, etc.) when you create your manuscript.
• The general topic of your presentation is "In Defense of Manuscript Culture," but other than that, the topic is wide open.
• We will use the same criteria (engagement, depth, and professionalism) as the first creative presentation.

Note that Ex 2 is coming up.  The topic is "Of Scarcity and Knowledge in the Medieval Era."  Keep that in mind as you plan your CP2 presentation.

As always, I am happy to answer questions.

When writing a paper in MLA style, use brief quotations from your sources, in order to emphasize the complex connections you can make between the sources, and to emphasize how the quotes you choose support your original argument.

	In the essay "The Full Title of an Essay Fills Lots of Space" by Maxwell Wordsworth Fuller, it talks about how easy it is to bury your own thoughts when you introduce quotes in inefficient ways. In a passage on page 128, Fuller writes, "Keep in mind that your instructor wants to evaluate your own thoughts, not your ability to quote somebody else's thoughts, so quote just the juiciest, most meaning-laden passages from your sources, and use the brief MLA style parenthetic citation, rather than spelling out the full title and the full name of your source."  This quote shows how important it is to cite your sources efficiently.
	The author of the above passage uses a wordy, wasteful formula that includes the full name of the source the full name of the author an introduction phrases that awkwardly highlight the mechanics of reading, interpreting, and arguing: "it talks about" or "this quote shows" (it's better to keep all that behind the curtain) a long quote (a full sentence or more), and an explanation of the quote. The author has managed to churn out about 110 words, but where do you see any evidence of original thought?
	Citing your sources in proper MLA style can help you focus tightly on making an argument.  Because "your instructor wants to evaluate your own thoughts," you can "quote just the juiciest, most meaning-laden passages from your sources" (Fuller 128).  Efficient citations will let you "spread your intellectual wings a little wider" (Jones 213), because you'll have more room to make "the kind of connections your instructor expects to see in successful academic writing" (Lee 43). While learning the details of MLA style may feel like a pain, the space it saves gives you room to demonstrate your true strengths as a writer.
	In about 102 words, the author of the above passage has introduced brief quotes from three different sources, using those brief quotations to help present a claim about MLA style.  The quotations exist in order to support a claim that is related to the readings.  Even though the author's claim draws on those readings, the author's point cannot be found, in its full form, in any one source; therefore, this revision highlights the author's ability to draw connections between sources, in order to support an original argument.    The second passage uses sources to support an argument, while the first passage simply cites sources mechanically, as part of a formula that produces a lot of words.

In Writing Materials.

In Writing Materials.

Paper 1 is a 5-page research paper, demonstrating your ability to do outside (academic) research that further investigates a topic that arises from our discussion.

For the Paper 1 Draft, I'm asking for at least 3 pages, with at least one source from our assigned readings (that source can be historical or scholarly), and at least two academic sources. (You are welcome to include additional sources, be they popular, historical, personal, etc.)

Upload a copy to Turnitin.com (for me to evaluate).
Bring a printout to class (for peer review).

Evaluation:

Topic: Any aspect of oral culture (with some specific connection to our readings).
Length: 7 minutes (but a pair of students can have 14 minutes).
Format: Any (so long as it involves oral culture).
Submission:

1. When you start your 7 minutes, hand me a one-page statement of:
   
1. your goals for the project (how does it demonstrate your ability to think critically about the subject you've chosen? Consider using Bloom's Taxonomy, with a focus on the highest level, "assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write")
2. the strategies you are employing to meet those goals.
2. After you finish, collect feedback from classmates.
3. Before class on March 4, e-mail me a brief (150-word) self-assessment, that uses feedback you gained from the class.

Evaluation (based on our in-class discussion... see below)