assignments ENGL513 Composition Theory & Pedagogy: Reverse Annotated Bibliography
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com Fall 2020 Open Hours for students (office hours): M 12:30-2:00 W 10:00-11:00, 3:00-4:00 Th 10:00-11:00 and by appointment. |
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Overview
What should become clear from reading about the history of the field of Rhetoric & Composition, you have spent the majority of your academic career studying literature and immersed in the methodologies related to that field, mainly the work of literary analysis.
Research in Writing Studies can take many forms, and even when it looks familiar, as in the historical/archival/theoretical material we've been reading so far, it still stems from different histories, different theories, different theorists. This is because the ultimate aims of the discipline, as contested as they might be, are very different from literary analysis. To ask you to dive in head first, in a graduate level class, into this work does not seem right or fair. Thus, I am not asking you to do what would look like a traditional research paper the way you would probably be asked to do if you were in a literature class during this first half of the semester.
I think that the best way to give you some depth in the field of Writing Studies is to backwards design somebody else's research. As a class we will read Asao Inoue's Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future (This is a free .PDF located on the WAC clearinghouse website). We will read the introduction together as a class and attempt to lay out what Inoue's central argument is. Then, you will be assigned a chapter from the text--one chapter per two or three people in the class. You will be responsible for reading your chapter and selecting five contributing articles from each chapter. That means that for each chapter, there will be ten to fifteen different annotations: five per person). As an individual, you will write a reflective essay that attempts to identify how the five articles you read contribute to the argument of that chapter and to the overall argument of Antiracist (there is an episode of the show Felicity here that would be totally appropriate to talk about, but for the sake of time and due to the fact that you guys probably don't even know what that show is, I'll just skip it).
This project is due on 14 October 2020. It makes up the bulk of your midterm portfolio. On 21 October 2020, you and your chapter partner(s) will participate in an all-class discussion about what the field of Composition or Rhetoric (or Writing Studies as it is often called these days) values. Your contribution to the discussion should be informed by what you've learned from reading and reflecting on how Inoue built his argument in Antiracist Writing.
Details
1. You will be partnered up with someone in class and assigned one chapter from Antiracist Writing. In class the week we discuss the entire book, you and your partner(s) will have the chance to talk and select the five articles from that chapters bibliography that you would like to annotate. To do this, you will need to read the chapter and identify a list of citations included in the chapter. You will need to locate the articles using the library databases and the works cited list in Antiracist Writing. You have two weeks to complete this work. I will do my best to model for you what an annotation should look like.
2. On 7 October 2020, you should come to class with a draft of your annotations and your reflection. We will workshop and otherwise work on completing these two documents. You will also have time in-class to work with your partner on identifying what the field of Rhetoric & Composition/Writing Studies values, what will be your contribution to the all-class discussion on this topic that will take place the following synchronous week.
3. On 14 October 2020, you will need to turn in your completed annotations and your reflection as part of your midterm portfolio. This is an asynchronous meeting so you will submit an email with a link to your work.
4. The following week, during our next synchronous meeting, on 21 October 2020, you and your partner(s) will need to be ready to contribute to the all-class discussion about what the field values. Everyone is expected to participate.
What should a good annotation look like?
Annotations look different ways for different people, but, generally, an annotated bibliography is meant to serve as a resource to other scholars. It helps them quickly identify whether or not a particular article/book/chapter, is useful to them and their own research. I am asking for very short annotations--no more than half a page, typed, double-spaced. Seriously. The trick of a good annotation is brevity plus potency. A good annotation should include the following:
1) A sentence or two that articulates the main argument of the article/chapter/web site.
2) A sentence or two that articulates HOW the author makes her argument. So sentences about methodology: the author experimented, did a literature review, posed a counter argument, conducted case studies, interviewed--or some combination of all of these things.
3) A sentence about the SIGNIFICANCE of the article--this is GLOBAL: so why is this article important in general in terms of this sort of research.
Incidentally, the citation should be in APA format because that is the citation style that Writing Studies uses. That information is available online (in many places) including BSU library website .
What should a good reflection look like?
How you will be evaluated
The Reverse Annotated Bibliography makes up the bulk of your midterm portfolio and is worth 20% of your final grade.
To earn a "B"grade for 20% of your final grade you must:
To earn an "A" grade for 20% of your final grade you must:
To earn a "C" grade for 20% of your final grade you must:
Failure to meet the requirements for a "C" grade will result in a grade of "F" for 20% of your final grade.
What should become clear from reading about the history of the field of Rhetoric & Composition, you have spent the majority of your academic career studying literature and immersed in the methodologies related to that field, mainly the work of literary analysis.
Research in Writing Studies can take many forms, and even when it looks familiar, as in the historical/archival/theoretical material we've been reading so far, it still stems from different histories, different theories, different theorists. This is because the ultimate aims of the discipline, as contested as they might be, are very different from literary analysis. To ask you to dive in head first, in a graduate level class, into this work does not seem right or fair. Thus, I am not asking you to do what would look like a traditional research paper the way you would probably be asked to do if you were in a literature class during this first half of the semester.
I think that the best way to give you some depth in the field of Writing Studies is to backwards design somebody else's research. As a class we will read Asao Inoue's Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for a Socially Just Future (This is a free .PDF located on the WAC clearinghouse website). We will read the introduction together as a class and attempt to lay out what Inoue's central argument is. Then, you will be assigned a chapter from the text--one chapter per two or three people in the class. You will be responsible for reading your chapter and selecting five contributing articles from each chapter. That means that for each chapter, there will be ten to fifteen different annotations: five per person). As an individual, you will write a reflective essay that attempts to identify how the five articles you read contribute to the argument of that chapter and to the overall argument of Antiracist (there is an episode of the show Felicity here that would be totally appropriate to talk about, but for the sake of time and due to the fact that you guys probably don't even know what that show is, I'll just skip it).
This project is due on 14 October 2020. It makes up the bulk of your midterm portfolio. On 21 October 2020, you and your chapter partner(s) will participate in an all-class discussion about what the field of Composition or Rhetoric (or Writing Studies as it is often called these days) values. Your contribution to the discussion should be informed by what you've learned from reading and reflecting on how Inoue built his argument in Antiracist Writing.
Details
1. You will be partnered up with someone in class and assigned one chapter from Antiracist Writing. In class the week we discuss the entire book, you and your partner(s) will have the chance to talk and select the five articles from that chapters bibliography that you would like to annotate. To do this, you will need to read the chapter and identify a list of citations included in the chapter. You will need to locate the articles using the library databases and the works cited list in Antiracist Writing. You have two weeks to complete this work. I will do my best to model for you what an annotation should look like.
2. On 7 October 2020, you should come to class with a draft of your annotations and your reflection. We will workshop and otherwise work on completing these two documents. You will also have time in-class to work with your partner on identifying what the field of Rhetoric & Composition/Writing Studies values, what will be your contribution to the all-class discussion on this topic that will take place the following synchronous week.
3. On 14 October 2020, you will need to turn in your completed annotations and your reflection as part of your midterm portfolio. This is an asynchronous meeting so you will submit an email with a link to your work.
4. The following week, during our next synchronous meeting, on 21 October 2020, you and your partner(s) will need to be ready to contribute to the all-class discussion about what the field values. Everyone is expected to participate.
What should a good annotation look like?
Annotations look different ways for different people, but, generally, an annotated bibliography is meant to serve as a resource to other scholars. It helps them quickly identify whether or not a particular article/book/chapter, is useful to them and their own research. I am asking for very short annotations--no more than half a page, typed, double-spaced. Seriously. The trick of a good annotation is brevity plus potency. A good annotation should include the following:
1) A sentence or two that articulates the main argument of the article/chapter/web site.
2) A sentence or two that articulates HOW the author makes her argument. So sentences about methodology: the author experimented, did a literature review, posed a counter argument, conducted case studies, interviewed--or some combination of all of these things.
3) A sentence about the SIGNIFICANCE of the article--this is GLOBAL: so why is this article important in general in terms of this sort of research.
Incidentally, the citation should be in APA format because that is the citation style that Writing Studies uses. That information is available online (in many places) including BSU library website .
What should a good reflection look like?
- Your reflection should explain to me how the five articles you've located and annotated inform your assigned chapter's argument and Inoue's argument in general in Antiracist Writing.
- Do NOT summarize your five articles over again (that's what the annotations is for). Rather, you need to identify the relevant contribution of a particular piece of scholarship as it relates to Inoue's argument.
- You can quote directly from your articles to help you pinpoint the relevant contribution.
- A really excellent reflection will make a strong and idiosyncratic argument for how the five articles you read inform Inoue's overall argument.
- Your reflection should be between 750-1000 words. You will need to submit a link to the document for the midterm portfolio that includes both the workshop draft and your revision (revision at top).
- Do title your reflection.
How you will be evaluated
The Reverse Annotated Bibliography makes up the bulk of your midterm portfolio and is worth 20% of your final grade.
To earn a "B"grade for 20% of your final grade you must:
- Identify and annotate 5 articles per person (ten per pair assigned to a chapter)that follows the guidelines outlined above.
- Write a 750-1000 word reflection that follows the guidelines outlined above.
- Participate in the workshop.
- Turn in your drafts and completed piece.
- Be a good and respectful partner to the person you are paired up with to cover a chapter
- Participate in the all-class discussion.
To earn an "A" grade for 20% of your final grade you must:
- Do all of the things described above for a B grade
- Write strong annotations that reflect careful, potent, brief writing as close to error free as possible.
- Write a strong reflection that makes a nuanced argument about how the articles you read contribute to Inoue's larger argument and does not simply re-summarize your articles you've already annotated.
- Particpate thoughtfully in the all-class discussion.
To earn a "C" grade for 20% of your final grade you must:
- Identify and annotate 5 articles per person (ten per pair assigned to a chapter)that follows the guidelines outlined above.
- Write a 3-5 page reflection that follows the guidelines outlined above.
- Turn in your drafts and completed piece on.
- Be a good and respectful partner to the person you are paired up with to cover a chapter.
Failure to meet the requirements for a "C" grade will result in a grade of "F" for 20% of your final grade.