For your first project, you will be asked to observe a person, place, or event from the public sphere that deals directly with Lincoln or Nebraska. As such, the first aspect of your project will be to choose a subject matter & perform a detailed, first-hand observation (If you selected a subject matter & performed a preliminary observation of it for last week’s assignment, you will probably want to conduct a second observation to more fully develop your original material). THIS IS NOT A REMEMBERANCE; YOU MUST BE ACTIVELY TAKING NOTES WHILE YOU ARE OBSERVING YOUR SUBJECT MATTER. Keeping the following practices in mind will enable you to produce the best results:
1. Set up a tentative schedule for your observation & interview visits. Figure out first the amount of time you have to complete your essay, then determine the scope of your project—a onetime observation, an interview with follow-up, or multiple observations & interviews. Decide what visits you will need to make, whom you will need to interview, & what library or internet work you might want to do to get background information about your subject. Estimate the time necessary for each, knowing you might need to schedule more time than anticipated.
Make phone calls to schedule visits. When you write down your appointment, be sure to include names, addresses, phone numbers, dates & times, & any special arrangements you have made for each visit.
2. During your visit, take notes on what you observe. Do not try to impose order on your notes at this stage; simply record whatever you notice. Pay special attention to visual details & other kinds of sensory perceptions (sounds & smells, etc.) that you can draw on later to describe the place & people.
3. Prepare for the interview by writing out some preliminary questions. But do not be afraid of abandoning your script during the interview. Listen carefully to what is said & ask follow-up questions. Take notes; if you like & your subject agrees, you may also tape-record the interview.
Once you complete you observations, you will need to take some time to reflect upon the thoughts & feelings you have initially developed on or about your subject matter. To explore your ideas about the subject, try an invention called cubing. Based on the six sides of a cube, this activity leads you to turn over your subject as you would a cube, looking at it in six different ways. Complete the following activities in any order, writing for ten minutes on each one (five minutes of thinking, five minutes of writing). Your goal is to invent ways of considering your subject.
1. Generalizing: consider what you have learned from the event or experience that will be the occasion for your reflections. What ideas does it suggest to you? What does it suggest about people in general or about the society in which you live?
2. Giving examples: illustrate your ideas with specific examples. What examples would best help your readers understand your ideas?
3. Comparing & contrasting: think of a subject that could be compared with yours & explore the similarities & the differences.
4. Extending: take your subject to its logical limits & speculate about its implications. Where does it lead?
5. Analyzing: take apart your subject. What is it made of? How are the parts related to one another? Are they all of equal importance?
6. Applying: think about your subject in practical terms. How can you use it or act on it? What difference would it make to you & to others?
After your cubing exercise, you will need to consider your purpose. To do so, ask yourself the following questions: What do I want my readers to think about the subject after reading my essay? Your answer to this question may change as you write, but thinking about your purpose now may help you decide which of your ideas to include in the essay. Use the following questions to clarify your purpose: Which of your ideas are most important? Why? How do your ideas relate to one another? If your ideas seem contradictory, consider how you could use the contradictions to convey to readers the complexity of your ideas & feelings on the subject. Which of your ideas do you think will most surprise your readers? Which are most likely to be familiar? Is the subject matter that is the impetus for your reflections likely to resonate with your readers’ experience & observation? If not, consider how you can make the particular subject matter vivid or dramatic for the readers.
At this juncture, you will want to form a tentative thesis to guide you in the construction of your first draft; it is a tentative thesis because, once you start writing, you may find that some of your ideas may alter as you begin to more concretely organize & write your essay. Your tentative thesis should accomplish two tasks though: it should bring into focus the main person, place, or event on which you are writing, as well as inform the readers of what you think is most important & interesting about the subject matter you observed & how those elements will develop & inform your reflection.
Once your observations & reflections are complete & you have constructed a tentative thesis statement, you will almost be ready to write your first draft. But, before you begin, the following questions MUST be considered if you are to develop an essay that is properly structured & entertaining: How can I help my readers envision the subject? How can I engage my readers? How can I present & distribute the information so that readers do not become either bored or overwhelmed? How should I organize my observations, presenting them vividly & in a way that anticipates my reflections? How can I best develop my reflections? How can I maintain topical coherence? How can I convey the impression I want to leave with my readers?
At this point, you are ready to begin drafting. But, keep in mind all the steps that have led up to this point are not just extraneous to the essay, but ARE INTREGAL PARTS OF THE ESSAY ITSELF & necessarily writing in-&-of-itself.
The minimum requirements for Writing Project 1 are as follows: a 5-page (approximately 1200 word) essay to be posted in an aesthetically pleasing manner on your blog. I will not accept hard-copies or emailed essays. In addition to the word count, you will need to incorporate any combination of the following visual elements—5 images, 4 images & 1 video, or 3 images & 2 videos. Also you will need 7-10 relevant hyperlinks that direct the reader to authoritative, external sites. The project is DUE on Sunay 03.02.07 @ midnight.
*************************************************************************************
1. Set up a tentative schedule for your observation & interview visits. Figure out first the amount of time you have to complete your essay, then determine the scope of your project—a onetime observation, an interview with follow-up, or multiple observations & interviews. Decide what visits you will need to make, whom you will need to interview, & what library or internet work you might want to do to get background information about your subject. Estimate the time necessary for each, knowing you might need to schedule more time than anticipated.
Make phone calls to schedule visits. When you write down your appointment, be sure to include names, addresses, phone numbers, dates & times, & any special arrangements you have made for each visit.
2. During your visit, take notes on what you observe. Do not try to impose order on your notes at this stage; simply record whatever you notice. Pay special attention to visual details & other kinds of sensory perceptions (sounds & smells, etc.) that you can draw on later to describe the place & people.
3. Prepare for the interview by writing out some preliminary questions. But do not be afraid of abandoning your script during the interview. Listen carefully to what is said & ask follow-up questions. Take notes; if you like & your subject agrees, you may also tape-record the interview.
Once you complete you observations, you will need to take some time to reflect upon the thoughts & feelings you have initially developed on or about your subject matter. To explore your ideas about the subject, try an invention called cubing. Based on the six sides of a cube, this activity leads you to turn over your subject as you would a cube, looking at it in six different ways. Complete the following activities in any order, writing for ten minutes on each one (five minutes of thinking, five minutes of writing). Your goal is to invent ways of considering your subject.
1. Generalizing: consider what you have learned from the event or experience that will be the occasion for your reflections. What ideas does it suggest to you? What does it suggest about people in general or about the society in which you live?
2. Giving examples: illustrate your ideas with specific examples. What examples would best help your readers understand your ideas?
3. Comparing & contrasting: think of a subject that could be compared with yours & explore the similarities & the differences.
4. Extending: take your subject to its logical limits & speculate about its implications. Where does it lead?
5. Analyzing: take apart your subject. What is it made of? How are the parts related to one another? Are they all of equal importance?
6. Applying: think about your subject in practical terms. How can you use it or act on it? What difference would it make to you & to others?
After your cubing exercise, you will need to consider your purpose. To do so, ask yourself the following questions: What do I want my readers to think about the subject after reading my essay? Your answer to this question may change as you write, but thinking about your purpose now may help you decide which of your ideas to include in the essay. Use the following questions to clarify your purpose: Which of your ideas are most important? Why? How do your ideas relate to one another? If your ideas seem contradictory, consider how you could use the contradictions to convey to readers the complexity of your ideas & feelings on the subject. Which of your ideas do you think will most surprise your readers? Which are most likely to be familiar? Is the subject matter that is the impetus for your reflections likely to resonate with your readers’ experience & observation? If not, consider how you can make the particular subject matter vivid or dramatic for the readers.
At this juncture, you will want to form a tentative thesis to guide you in the construction of your first draft; it is a tentative thesis because, once you start writing, you may find that some of your ideas may alter as you begin to more concretely organize & write your essay. Your tentative thesis should accomplish two tasks though: it should bring into focus the main person, place, or event on which you are writing, as well as inform the readers of what you think is most important & interesting about the subject matter you observed & how those elements will develop & inform your reflection.
Once your observations & reflections are complete & you have constructed a tentative thesis statement, you will almost be ready to write your first draft. But, before you begin, the following questions MUST be considered if you are to develop an essay that is properly structured & entertaining: How can I help my readers envision the subject? How can I engage my readers? How can I present & distribute the information so that readers do not become either bored or overwhelmed? How should I organize my observations, presenting them vividly & in a way that anticipates my reflections? How can I best develop my reflections? How can I maintain topical coherence? How can I convey the impression I want to leave with my readers?
At this point, you are ready to begin drafting. But, keep in mind all the steps that have led up to this point are not just extraneous to the essay, but ARE INTREGAL PARTS OF THE ESSAY ITSELF & necessarily writing in-&-of-itself.
The minimum requirements for Writing Project 1 are as follows: a 5-page (approximately 1200 word) essay to be posted in an aesthetically pleasing manner on your blog. I will not accept hard-copies or emailed essays. In addition to the word count, you will need to incorporate any combination of the following visual elements—5 images, 4 images & 1 video, or 3 images & 2 videos. Also you will need 7-10 relevant hyperlinks that direct the reader to authoritative, external sites. The project is DUE on Sunay 03.02.07 @ midnight.
*************************************************************************************
PLEASE BRING A COPY OF THESE QUESTIONS TO CLASS EACH DAY WE ARE CONDUCTING PEER-REVIEWS. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS IN DETAIL & SHOULD HAVE THEM ON HAND SO THAT YOU MAY REFER TO THEM WHEN NEEDED.
01) Does the essay commence with an observation that utilizes detailed & vivid description? If not, suggest ways in which this can be accomplished. What senses are (not) utilized or developed? Suggest alternative ways of framing &/or describing the observation that may be more beneficial. If the writer chose another way to open the essay, what form did it take? Is it effective or ineffective? Suggest an alternative introductory format.
02) Provide one example of where the writer utilized detailed & vivid description when writing about their subject matter. Why does it work? Provide at least one example of where the writer does not properly employ detailed & vivid descriptions when writing about their subject matter. Why does it not work?
03) Does the essay contain a clear thesis statement or focal point that effectively & logically connects the observation to a general subject &/or reflection? If not, suggest ways in which this can be accomplished. If so, suggest alternative ways of stating the focal point/thesis so as to be more effective/present the argument in a more logically coherent manner.
04) What type of organizational phrasing does the writer choose when structuring their essay? Temporal? Spatial? Other? Does (s)he remain consistent with their choice? Is their choice appropriate? Provide one example of where they could more appropriately incorporate such phrasing into the fabric of their essay. Additionally, does the writer find ways in which to meld content & form? How so? If (s)he does not, suggest ways that the writer could interweave these two aspects.
05) Does the writer incorporate dialogue into the essay? If so, where does it contribute best to the essay? The least? If there is no dialogue in the essay, make some suggestions as to where direct discourse would best serve the essay. What type of person/people should dialogue be attributed to?
06) Does the essay present examples that support the reflection that is presented? If not, suggest ways in which this can be done. If so, suggest ways in which these examples can more clearly demonstrate the subject matter that the writer is reflecting upon. Are the examples descriptive & detailed? Do the examples correlate directly to the material being reflected upon?
07) Does the essay contain a conclusion that effectively answers the “so what” question? In this regard, does the conclusion present for the audience a) some understanding of why this reflection is important & b) a direct connection to the audience so as to make these ideas relevant to the reader?
08) Are there any aspects of the essay that were difficult to understand?
09) What was the best aspect of this essay?
10) What aspect of this essay did you find least effective? Provide specific examples of how you would improve this aspect.
10) What aspect of this essay did you find least effective? Provide specific examples of how you would improve this aspect.
11) Suggest at least five specific places where hyperlinks could be inserted. When suggesting words that could be attached to links, ask yourself the following questions: What is the focal point of the essay? What secondary information would be helpful in understanding elements of the essay more thoroughly?
12) Suggest at least four specific images or videos that would be beneficial to the audience when visualizing the written material. Again, when suggesting multi-media additions, ask yourself the following questions: What is the focal point of the essay? What multi-media elements would make the written text more compelling or unique?
No comments:
Post a Comment