Policies
|
Need to be in touch with me?
Lee Torda, PhD Interim Dean of Undergraduate Studies 200 Clement C. Maxwell Library 508.531.1790 Teaching Website: www.leetorda.com |
OFFICE HOURS: By appointment. Email me at [email protected] with times/days you'd like to meet, and I will respond within 24 hours.
OR Stop by: The Pride Center (RSU 109), Thursday's 12:30-1:30 LGCIE (RSU 101), Tuesday's 12:30-1:30 Commuter Student Center (RSU 007) Wednesday's Noon-1:00 |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores archival research as a qualitative research method and looks at how scholars in Writing Studies use archival research methods to learn about and tell the story of literacy—both of individuals and a wider public. While the course will be framed around archival research in writing instruction and literacy studies, students will be encouraged to think about archival research methods through their own interests, educational, and career goals.
Archives and archival research are not the sole purview of the field of Writing Studies. Humanists and fields in the humanities frequently ground scholarship with historical background information or make the artifacts of the historical record the object of study itself. In the field of Writing Studies, it is through rhetorical analysis that meaning is made, and that is what sets this course and this kind of usage of archival material apart.
Further, it is useful to think of archives not simply as something old. It certainly can be and often is. But an archive is a collection–a representative collection. Thus, the archive you might select may not be as dusty as you think it should be.
In this course, through a combination of theoretical discussions, case studies, and hands-on exercises, students will learn how to conceptualize research questions, locate relevant archival sources, and analyze these sources to generate new insights and interpretations. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills in critical thinking, historical contextualization, and narrative construction.
Students will also explore the ethical considerations of working with archival materials and engage with debates surrounding the use of archives in qualitative research. They will have the opportunity to develop and refine their own research projects, applying the principles and techniques learned in the course to their specific areas of interest.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
TEXTS
H is for Hawk
All other texts will be provided for you as embedded links in the syllabus (or as a handout when that’s not possible).
REQUIREMENTS
Attendance & Participation. While I am loath to require attendance to a 400-level course, experience tells me that I need to put in writing some manner of policy. This is particularly true when we only meet once a week and when there are only five people in our class. Class is a delicate operation this semester.If you miss more than two classes (or two weeks of class) your final grade can be affected. If you miss four classes (or a full month of class), it will be difficult not to fail the course. If life circumstances require you to miss enough class that it will affect your grade, see me. Finally, excessive late arrivals will accumulate to equal at least one absence.
There is an additional expectation that you will come to class prepared to do the thinking, writing, and discussion work that a 400-level class requires. If it becomes clear to me that you are not doing the required work, I will bring it to your attention. If your participation does not improve, it will seriously and adversely affect your final grade.
Deadlines. Work is due the day it is due as listed on the syllabus. Absence is not an excuse for late work. If you know you will not be able to be in class on a certain day that work is due, turn the work in before, not after, the deadline.
INFORMAL WORK
Reading Journals: For each class we will have a number of texts for discussion–readings, videos, podcasts, etc. You’ll produce one reading journal per class and that one journal should address all of the material I’ve asked you to cover for that class. Unless there are specific explanations for what I want you to write about, your job is always the same: briefly summarize the material, identify relevant/interesting ideas/themes, talk about what it tells you about doing research using archives and/or rhetorical analysis. Be aware that journals will be a live document in class. You’ll share them with your classmates as well as me. You’ll use them to think through projects, add to projects, get feedback from your classmates (and me). In other words, not having them for class will put us all at a disadvantage. Reading Journals will be 20% of your final grade (because I think they are that important).
A few other notes about reading journals: These are informal documents. So don’t sweat things like grammar and punctuation. Every journal either gets an A for acceptable or a U for unacceptable. The way you’ll earn an “A” grade for the full 20% is by doing all or nearly all of them at an acceptable level and not how perfect they are. Done is better than perfect. So is on-time. If you turn your reading journal in on time–even if it is lame or incomplete, you can always revise a “U” to an “A”. and, also, should you need to, you can revise any “U” as many times as you need to get an “A”. Also, no big secret, most people get an “A for acceptable” on their journals the very first time around.
Project presentations/workshops: When we get to the point in the semester when you are working on your own project, we will spend a portion of every class working through our projects together. So you’ll share something–might be just a conversation, might be a problem you are having, might be some actual writing–each class. Showing up prepared and serious about getting and giving feedback is how you’ll earn this part of your grade. You’ll either earn the full 10% for this part of the grade (an “A”)or you won’t (“F”).
FORMAL ASSIGNMENTS
There will be four, more formal kind of assignments scaffolded in increasing levels of complexity. Full explanations for each will be available on our class website.
Archive Story: This will be the first project of the semester. We will start it on the first day of class and you’ll turn it in during our third class meeting For the first day of class, I’ve asked you to bring 3 to five “artifacts” to make up a mini-archive of you. From that material, you’ll construct an introduction to the class–so keep in mind that what you write will be shared with class and on our class website. This exercise will help us think about using things (rather than texts) to make meaning. This assignment is worth 15% of your final grade.
Rhetorical Analysis: BSU Edition: Using some selected pieces from the BSU archives, you will build on the work you did in the first project. We’ll take some time in class to think about rhetorical analysis (as opposed to literary analysis), and then we’ll apply that lens to the curated collections of materials. We will spend time in the BSU archives for this project, which may (or may not) inform your final project. This assignment is worth 15% of your final grade.
Archive Overview: This short project will be a bridge between the class-based assignments we’ll do in the first half of the semester and the final project that will be yours. It’s a very easy assignment. Locate three “archives.” At least one should be IRL and at least one should be digital. These should be archives that you might use for your final project. You may not yet know what you intend to do with the archives when you select them, but you are agreeing to work with some or all of the materials to do your formal project. This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade.
Final Project: using the archives you located in the previous project, you will determine a research question and, using the rhetorical analysis skills you’ve been practicing, produce a final project in answer to that question. Your final project will require you to produce roughly 3000 words on your topic and a timed presentation called a pecha kucha. Pecha Kuchas will be featured during the midyear symposium held at the end of the Fall Semester. The final project is worth 25% of your final grade.
EVALUATION AND GRADING
For each formal assignment you will receive extensive written feedback in the form of a letter when you turn the draft in to me. I will discuss samples of these letters with you before the first major writing assignment is due so you have a sense of what this feedback looks like and how it is connected to your final letter grade for each assignment and the class as a whole. You can read actual sample draft letters for actual students from previous semesters--names changed--here.
Comments on reading journals shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I'm not writing anything, I'm bored. Your only cause for alarm should be if you see this: "you aren't taking this work seriously," or some version of that. Included on the Reading Journal assignment page are specific details about what you need to do in a journal for it to be acceptable and how many acceptable journals will result in a strong grade in this class for that assignment. You can read about that here.
Comments on Formal Assignments are typically meant to guide your revision process and/or prepare you for the next assignment. For each of those assignments, there are several components that you must complete in order to earn full credit. They are specific to the assignment, but, generally, you are required to turn in drafts and revisions and participate in whatever workshop and/or conference required for that assignment. Read the specific assignment pages for the requirements for each assignment.
At midterm and at the end of the semester you will receive a “grade-so-far” and a “final grade” letter respectively that reflects your cumulative grades on assignments and your portfolio grade as well. They will be attached to your midterm and final portfolio returns. In these letters you will receive a letter grade and an overview of your performance in the class up to that point. That will include a review of your in-class preparedness, your reading journals, your work on formal assignments and/or presentations, and your reflection and revision completed as part of your portfolio. You can read sample midterm letters, names changed, here.
I have never encountered a student who didn’t have a clear sense of how they were doing in my class based on this system of evaluation, but if you should feel that you don’t know how you are doing, come see me. We’ll figure it out.
Different requirements require different kinds and amounts of effort; therefore, different assignments have different weight in terms of evaluation. Here is a rough breakdown of how things are weighted this semester:
Reading Journals 20%
Archive Story 15%
Workshop/Informal Presentations 15%
Rhetorical Analysis 15%
Archive Overview 10%
Final Project/Pecha Kucha 25%
Ultimately, your success in this class depends on the following:
· Fulfilling all of the requirements listed above,
· The quality of your written and oral work,
· Your efforts to try new things and think in new ways.
This form of evaluation is a combination of something called "spec grading" and portfolio assessment. Spec grading allows me to value sheer effort while still leaving room for particularly excellent effort that yields an excellent product. It is particularly helpful for low-stakes writing and for work that requires substantial process (like drafting and revising papers). Spec grading values the labor of education. Portfolio grading allows me to take a step back and consider the entire student over time.
I use this kind of evaluation because I want to be able to consider all the parts of your performance in our class, not just how good your final drafts of your papers are. I want to consider where you started and how much you improved. I want to consider how hard you tried (or didn’t try) in class. I want to consider how you contribute to class on a daily basis--not by being the one who always talks, but by paying attention, contributing when you have something thoughtful to say, helping to make your group work go smoothly, really giving your all to our reading journals and in-class writing. I have found that this kind of grading rewards hard-working students as well as students that are just naturally good at something. And, for that reason, I think it is the most fair way to run a writing classroom. I hope you’ll come to agree.
Accessibility Statement: In compliance with Bridgewater State University policy and equal access legislation, I am available to discuss appropriate accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. Students will need to register with the Student Accessibility Services Office in the Academic Achievement Center (x2194) in Maxwell Library to provide documentation of the disability, to determine reasonable academic accommodations, and obtain a letter of notification to faculty of the accommodations.
Academic Integrity Policy: Students are expected to abide by the academic policy of Bridgewater State University. Plagiarism, the presentation of someone else’s words or ideas as one’s own, is a violation of the academic community and of Bridgewater State University. According to the BSU Student Handbook, “A violation may result in a reduced grade, suspension or dismissal from the university.” See the Student Handbook for more detailed information. Please ask me if you have any questions.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: LGCIE, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.
While this class will present you with many challenges, I believe it has its share of pleasures and rewards. What matters most to me is that you try to be the best student you are capable of being—that you try to improve as a writer and thinker. No good teacher wants to give a student a bad grade. Good standing in this class is yours to lose.
Need some help figuring out how to be successful in your online classes? Check out these successful learning strategies and support resources.
Looking forward to our semester together.
This course explores archival research as a qualitative research method and looks at how scholars in Writing Studies use archival research methods to learn about and tell the story of literacy—both of individuals and a wider public. While the course will be framed around archival research in writing instruction and literacy studies, students will be encouraged to think about archival research methods through their own interests, educational, and career goals.
Archives and archival research are not the sole purview of the field of Writing Studies. Humanists and fields in the humanities frequently ground scholarship with historical background information or make the artifacts of the historical record the object of study itself. In the field of Writing Studies, it is through rhetorical analysis that meaning is made, and that is what sets this course and this kind of usage of archival material apart.
Further, it is useful to think of archives not simply as something old. It certainly can be and often is. But an archive is a collection–a representative collection. Thus, the archive you might select may not be as dusty as you think it should be.
In this course, through a combination of theoretical discussions, case studies, and hands-on exercises, students will learn how to conceptualize research questions, locate relevant archival sources, and analyze these sources to generate new insights and interpretations. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills in critical thinking, historical contextualization, and narrative construction.
Students will also explore the ethical considerations of working with archival materials and engage with debates surrounding the use of archives in qualitative research. They will have the opportunity to develop and refine their own research projects, applying the principles and techniques learned in the course to their specific areas of interest.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
- Students will understand how to find and evaluate scholarly sources using library catalogues, library databases, online resources, reference materials, books and Commonwealth Catalog/Interlibrary Loan.
- Students will understand how to read, summarize, evaluate and engage with scholarly essays and books.
- Students will learn to create an original argument, acknowledging and responding to the scholarly conversation.
- Students will understand a variety of different research methodologies used in writing studies scholarship, specifically qualitative research methodologies.
- Students will engage with multiple theoretical lenses, possibly including formalist, cultural studies, psychoanalytic, Marxist, gender-based and feminist approaches.
TEXTS
H is for Hawk
All other texts will be provided for you as embedded links in the syllabus (or as a handout when that’s not possible).
REQUIREMENTS
Attendance & Participation. While I am loath to require attendance to a 400-level course, experience tells me that I need to put in writing some manner of policy. This is particularly true when we only meet once a week and when there are only five people in our class. Class is a delicate operation this semester.If you miss more than two classes (or two weeks of class) your final grade can be affected. If you miss four classes (or a full month of class), it will be difficult not to fail the course. If life circumstances require you to miss enough class that it will affect your grade, see me. Finally, excessive late arrivals will accumulate to equal at least one absence.
There is an additional expectation that you will come to class prepared to do the thinking, writing, and discussion work that a 400-level class requires. If it becomes clear to me that you are not doing the required work, I will bring it to your attention. If your participation does not improve, it will seriously and adversely affect your final grade.
Deadlines. Work is due the day it is due as listed on the syllabus. Absence is not an excuse for late work. If you know you will not be able to be in class on a certain day that work is due, turn the work in before, not after, the deadline.
INFORMAL WORK
Reading Journals: For each class we will have a number of texts for discussion–readings, videos, podcasts, etc. You’ll produce one reading journal per class and that one journal should address all of the material I’ve asked you to cover for that class. Unless there are specific explanations for what I want you to write about, your job is always the same: briefly summarize the material, identify relevant/interesting ideas/themes, talk about what it tells you about doing research using archives and/or rhetorical analysis. Be aware that journals will be a live document in class. You’ll share them with your classmates as well as me. You’ll use them to think through projects, add to projects, get feedback from your classmates (and me). In other words, not having them for class will put us all at a disadvantage. Reading Journals will be 20% of your final grade (because I think they are that important).
A few other notes about reading journals: These are informal documents. So don’t sweat things like grammar and punctuation. Every journal either gets an A for acceptable or a U for unacceptable. The way you’ll earn an “A” grade for the full 20% is by doing all or nearly all of them at an acceptable level and not how perfect they are. Done is better than perfect. So is on-time. If you turn your reading journal in on time–even if it is lame or incomplete, you can always revise a “U” to an “A”. and, also, should you need to, you can revise any “U” as many times as you need to get an “A”. Also, no big secret, most people get an “A for acceptable” on their journals the very first time around.
Project presentations/workshops: When we get to the point in the semester when you are working on your own project, we will spend a portion of every class working through our projects together. So you’ll share something–might be just a conversation, might be a problem you are having, might be some actual writing–each class. Showing up prepared and serious about getting and giving feedback is how you’ll earn this part of your grade. You’ll either earn the full 10% for this part of the grade (an “A”)or you won’t (“F”).
FORMAL ASSIGNMENTS
There will be four, more formal kind of assignments scaffolded in increasing levels of complexity. Full explanations for each will be available on our class website.
Archive Story: This will be the first project of the semester. We will start it on the first day of class and you’ll turn it in during our third class meeting For the first day of class, I’ve asked you to bring 3 to five “artifacts” to make up a mini-archive of you. From that material, you’ll construct an introduction to the class–so keep in mind that what you write will be shared with class and on our class website. This exercise will help us think about using things (rather than texts) to make meaning. This assignment is worth 15% of your final grade.
Rhetorical Analysis: BSU Edition: Using some selected pieces from the BSU archives, you will build on the work you did in the first project. We’ll take some time in class to think about rhetorical analysis (as opposed to literary analysis), and then we’ll apply that lens to the curated collections of materials. We will spend time in the BSU archives for this project, which may (or may not) inform your final project. This assignment is worth 15% of your final grade.
Archive Overview: This short project will be a bridge between the class-based assignments we’ll do in the first half of the semester and the final project that will be yours. It’s a very easy assignment. Locate three “archives.” At least one should be IRL and at least one should be digital. These should be archives that you might use for your final project. You may not yet know what you intend to do with the archives when you select them, but you are agreeing to work with some or all of the materials to do your formal project. This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade.
Final Project: using the archives you located in the previous project, you will determine a research question and, using the rhetorical analysis skills you’ve been practicing, produce a final project in answer to that question. Your final project will require you to produce roughly 3000 words on your topic and a timed presentation called a pecha kucha. Pecha Kuchas will be featured during the midyear symposium held at the end of the Fall Semester. The final project is worth 25% of your final grade.
EVALUATION AND GRADING
For each formal assignment you will receive extensive written feedback in the form of a letter when you turn the draft in to me. I will discuss samples of these letters with you before the first major writing assignment is due so you have a sense of what this feedback looks like and how it is connected to your final letter grade for each assignment and the class as a whole. You can read actual sample draft letters for actual students from previous semesters--names changed--here.
Comments on reading journals shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me: think of it as a talk between us, only in written form. If I'm not writing anything, I'm bored. Your only cause for alarm should be if you see this: "you aren't taking this work seriously," or some version of that. Included on the Reading Journal assignment page are specific details about what you need to do in a journal for it to be acceptable and how many acceptable journals will result in a strong grade in this class for that assignment. You can read about that here.
Comments on Formal Assignments are typically meant to guide your revision process and/or prepare you for the next assignment. For each of those assignments, there are several components that you must complete in order to earn full credit. They are specific to the assignment, but, generally, you are required to turn in drafts and revisions and participate in whatever workshop and/or conference required for that assignment. Read the specific assignment pages for the requirements for each assignment.
At midterm and at the end of the semester you will receive a “grade-so-far” and a “final grade” letter respectively that reflects your cumulative grades on assignments and your portfolio grade as well. They will be attached to your midterm and final portfolio returns. In these letters you will receive a letter grade and an overview of your performance in the class up to that point. That will include a review of your in-class preparedness, your reading journals, your work on formal assignments and/or presentations, and your reflection and revision completed as part of your portfolio. You can read sample midterm letters, names changed, here.
I have never encountered a student who didn’t have a clear sense of how they were doing in my class based on this system of evaluation, but if you should feel that you don’t know how you are doing, come see me. We’ll figure it out.
Different requirements require different kinds and amounts of effort; therefore, different assignments have different weight in terms of evaluation. Here is a rough breakdown of how things are weighted this semester:
Reading Journals 20%
Archive Story 15%
Workshop/Informal Presentations 15%
Rhetorical Analysis 15%
Archive Overview 10%
Final Project/Pecha Kucha 25%
Ultimately, your success in this class depends on the following:
· Fulfilling all of the requirements listed above,
· The quality of your written and oral work,
· Your efforts to try new things and think in new ways.
This form of evaluation is a combination of something called "spec grading" and portfolio assessment. Spec grading allows me to value sheer effort while still leaving room for particularly excellent effort that yields an excellent product. It is particularly helpful for low-stakes writing and for work that requires substantial process (like drafting and revising papers). Spec grading values the labor of education. Portfolio grading allows me to take a step back and consider the entire student over time.
I use this kind of evaluation because I want to be able to consider all the parts of your performance in our class, not just how good your final drafts of your papers are. I want to consider where you started and how much you improved. I want to consider how hard you tried (or didn’t try) in class. I want to consider how you contribute to class on a daily basis--not by being the one who always talks, but by paying attention, contributing when you have something thoughtful to say, helping to make your group work go smoothly, really giving your all to our reading journals and in-class writing. I have found that this kind of grading rewards hard-working students as well as students that are just naturally good at something. And, for that reason, I think it is the most fair way to run a writing classroom. I hope you’ll come to agree.
Accessibility Statement: In compliance with Bridgewater State University policy and equal access legislation, I am available to discuss appropriate accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. Students will need to register with the Student Accessibility Services Office in the Academic Achievement Center (x2194) in Maxwell Library to provide documentation of the disability, to determine reasonable academic accommodations, and obtain a letter of notification to faculty of the accommodations.
Academic Integrity Policy: Students are expected to abide by the academic policy of Bridgewater State University. Plagiarism, the presentation of someone else’s words or ideas as one’s own, is a violation of the academic community and of Bridgewater State University. According to the BSU Student Handbook, “A violation may result in a reduced grade, suspension or dismissal from the university.” See the Student Handbook for more detailed information. Please ask me if you have any questions.
Other Resources on Campus. There are a wide variety of services available on our campus that you might want to know about but also might just be too inundated with information to remember you have access to, so I'm including links to a variety of places on campus that I think you might want to know about. First and foremost is probably the counseling center and the wellness center. Other places you can go if you want to connect with folks: LGCIE, the Pride Center, the campus food bank, and Commuter Services. Making a connection to this campus is the number one way you'll get from day one to graduation.
While this class will present you with many challenges, I believe it has its share of pleasures and rewards. What matters most to me is that you try to be the best student you are capable of being—that you try to improve as a writer and thinker. No good teacher wants to give a student a bad grade. Good standing in this class is yours to lose.
Need some help figuring out how to be successful in your online classes? Check out these successful learning strategies and support resources.
Looking forward to our semester together.