Monday, November 17, 2008

cancellations - announcement of moved assignments

Dear Class,

I have already sent e-mails, notifying the cancellation of Monday, November 17's classes.
In that e-mail I have attached two worksheets. Below was the post that was to originally be posted once class began Monday, but is now going up a little earlier.

First: Some Homework / Assignment Announcements

1) Expanded Field Notes 2, originally due on Wednesday, November 19th at p.m. are now due five days late, to give both you and I extra time. I hope, though these are your only Expanded Field Notes, that you have made multiple visits to your culture. This is a trust issue. I trust you will have made at least 5 visits/observations on your own, in the last month and weeks to come.
Expanded Field Notes 2 is now due a week from today, after our last class before Turkey Day - Monday, November 24th.

2) Homework for Nov. 19th: Bring in 4-5 pages of your ethnography, typed, to be taken home for Peer Review by a coursemate.
Also, bring in 1 page of a your essay that uses a good amount of textual evidence from secondary sources that we can Workshop within the class time. Our goal is to get as many eyes on our drafts, and to get as much work on them before break!

Second: Worksheets attached to e-mails this morning:

1) In-text Citation Helpline: “!@#%@#$%” (stressed student).

Your final ethnography paper should include a very healthy dose of secondary source material used as textual evidence – as support – to help develop your own ideas found while doing fieldwork.

When providing such support – whether in summary, use of direct quotes, or in paraphrasing another author’s ideas – there are a couple of rules to follow in proper in-text citation. Those are as follows:

1) Acknowledge secondary source material using a couple of methods:
a. Within your writing you can introduce the author(s) and possibly their text,
before quoting, etc. If you choose this route, proper citation demands acknowledging page numbers. Example:

Jerry Angelo, author of Big Trucks are Manly, states that, “The idea that men must own the biggest, most powerful automobile is reinforced by a majority of American mass media” (14).

b. If you choose only to pull idea from source, you put author’s last name in parentheses:

“The idea that men must own the biggest, most powerful automobile is reinforced by a majority of American mass media,” and a stereotype of masculinity enacted by the brothers of Delta Upsilon (Angelo).

***Use this same kind of formatting and end of sentence citation when using summary or paraphrasing of a source, too.***

ONE MORE HUGE part of writing that will determine how well a writer incorporates secondary sources into their research papers is how one works to make the cited material their own; how much effort the writer puts in taking the quotes and explaining in the writing their relevance to their own essay.

1. Lead in to quotes/summary/paraphrasing by discussing your own ideas and projects
2. Lead out of citations before moving on to a new subject or a new point.
3. Never leave found material placed in your essay to speak for itself. Re-analyze and /or explain how the found quote/summary/paraphrasing is relevant to your ideas. Don’t end a paragraph on someone else’s idea!

4. Use “tags” to incorporate sources with a clear transition and understanding of how they’re to be used. Think of “tags” as the kind of clarification used by novelist when writing dialogue, where they write “Susie said with anger, “How dare you, Clarence. How dare you!”
A clearer example in terms of a scholarly tag, highlighted below:

The males of the fraternity exhibit a behavior of one-upmanship and uber-masculinty, “…reinforced by a majority of American mass media” (Angelo).

***Pay attention to where the end punctuation occurs in ALL citations. At the end of a citation, AFTER the parenthetical ( Ankney).  


2) Final Ethnography
             & presentation

The Final Essay is to be 15-20 (12-15 for Enhanced Sections) pages in length, double spaced, and should exhibit a thorough discussion of your chosen culture of study, using both the field work you’ve been doing the last month, prior knowledge and experience, and also secondary source material gathered during the entire process. Your essay should show an ability to discuss your culture in a well-rounded way, where various related issues on your culture are discussed – all painting a wider-but-focused picture of the culture.

The essay should also exhibit a clear organization of thought, with the audience able to easily follow along and comprehend the direction. Development of ideas and the essay’s structure will be intensely scrutinized by your final audience (the professor!).

Here is a list of things to be considered:
1) An overarching thematic viewpoint of the culture – “general thesis statement”
2) Reflective, analytical, detailed prose.
3) An objective and consistent point of view (1st person or 3rd person or ?)
4) Creative language that engages culture using good sensory details and as many
specifics as possible.
5) Use* of 7-10 secondary sources (books, articles, data analyzed by other authors)
- must cite at least three book sources within project
- may not use more than two Internet sites in counting towards minimum
- must use at least two published articles (those found on-line but from a
printed journal are considered print, not Internet sources!)

*Not only use, but proper citation of secondary sources within text and in Work Cited page, and inclusion of an appropriate amount of secondary source knowledge within essay. Lastly, explanation of secondary source material within essay . . .

6) Focused writing that thoroughly explores the ethnographer’s main points

Presentation:
Each of you is expected to give a 10-minute presentation on your culture, where you explain your main claims, give some support, and provide some kind of visual and/or audio proof. You are also expected to answer student questions, and will be graded both on your preparedness, ability to answer questions, and on the clarity and development of your discussion. Practice the length of your presentation, as rambling on past or stumbling short of the 10 minutes will affect grading of final ethnography.

Here are some possible routes to venture into for presentations:
- Videos: interviews and/or general example of culture
- Use of Internet – forums, community spaces, YouTube
- Powerpoint presentation
- Collage of photographs from culture
- Audio – music, interviews, etc.
- Props from culture – including people!
- Pamphlets from culture

*Those in need of media equipment should discuss their needs with professor in the classes PRIOR to the day of their presentation. Even if the equipment is backup.

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