assignments ENGL389 Topics in Writing: Ethnographic Writing: RESEARCH NOTES
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com |
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Overview: Research Notes serve two purposes in this class. First and foremost, as the name implies, the goal of the assignment is to keep you working on your project all semester long. This is important because this isn’t the kind of project that lends itself to doing it last minute. Also, it’s a new and different kind of writing. Your Research Notes are a place to learn how to do it—a safe place where you are evaluated on effort more rather than content or even, to a lesser extent, quality. Finally, it’s a place to write stuff that might actually turn up in your more formal pieces of writing and, ultimately, your final ethnographic essay. You can get feedback (from me and from others) that can help you shape your revisions and guide your research.
That’s all the “first purpose” part of Research Notes. The second purpose is more mercenary—on my part. I want students to do the reading in class. I don’t think I need to say this, but I don’t assign the reading just because. I assign the reading because I think it helps you learn what you are supposed to learn in this class. But I’ve come to realize that the vast majority of students don’t see that as enough reason to do the reading. So I assign Research Notes in order to value reading in a way that students recognize and respond to: evaluation. Research Notes are not formal writing, and the evaluation is more about doing them than doing them super well, but they do serve as a marker that you are doing the reading—the work—of the class and are prepared to be here everyday.
Guidelines for how to do Research Notes
Research notes combine two things: 1) reflection on what you learned about doing the ethnographic project from doing the reading that week; 2) reflection on how your own project is coming, what work you are doing on it, questions you have, ideas you are developing, etc.
These are informal documents, up to five pages but no shorter that two, double-spaced, and typed. Please use a reasonable 10- or 12-point font.
Some weeks you will have more to say than others, depending on where you are at with your own research. Some weeks you’ll write primarily about the reading, because that is all you have to write about. Some weeks you’ll write more about what you are working on in your own research. Those are the weeks I suspect you might inch closer to 5 pages. When you have weeks where you are writing more about your own research, do remember to connect it to the reading: make sure I know that you’ve done the reading by talking, thoughtfully, about how the reading for that week connects to the work you’ve been doing, the thoughts you’ve been having about your culture,
Keep in mind that a 5-page set of Research Notes does not impress me unless it is a good, useful five pages.
I know that some of you will be stressed out about this assignment because you worry you “aren’t doing it right.” If you take the work seriously, you are doing it right. And if you really, really aren’t, I’ll tell you before there is any crisis.
WANTT TO READ A SAMPLE? Click here.
WANTT TO READ A SAMPLE WRITTEN BY ANOTHER PERSON IN OUR CLASS AND NOT ME? You can download the files by clicking on the icons below
That’s all the “first purpose” part of Research Notes. The second purpose is more mercenary—on my part. I want students to do the reading in class. I don’t think I need to say this, but I don’t assign the reading just because. I assign the reading because I think it helps you learn what you are supposed to learn in this class. But I’ve come to realize that the vast majority of students don’t see that as enough reason to do the reading. So I assign Research Notes in order to value reading in a way that students recognize and respond to: evaluation. Research Notes are not formal writing, and the evaluation is more about doing them than doing them super well, but they do serve as a marker that you are doing the reading—the work—of the class and are prepared to be here everyday.
Guidelines for how to do Research Notes
Research notes combine two things: 1) reflection on what you learned about doing the ethnographic project from doing the reading that week; 2) reflection on how your own project is coming, what work you are doing on it, questions you have, ideas you are developing, etc.
These are informal documents, up to five pages but no shorter that two, double-spaced, and typed. Please use a reasonable 10- or 12-point font.
Some weeks you will have more to say than others, depending on where you are at with your own research. Some weeks you’ll write primarily about the reading, because that is all you have to write about. Some weeks you’ll write more about what you are working on in your own research. Those are the weeks I suspect you might inch closer to 5 pages. When you have weeks where you are writing more about your own research, do remember to connect it to the reading: make sure I know that you’ve done the reading by talking, thoughtfully, about how the reading for that week connects to the work you’ve been doing, the thoughts you’ve been having about your culture,
Keep in mind that a 5-page set of Research Notes does not impress me unless it is a good, useful five pages.
I know that some of you will be stressed out about this assignment because you worry you “aren’t doing it right.” If you take the work seriously, you are doing it right. And if you really, really aren’t, I’ll tell you before there is any crisis.
WANTT TO READ A SAMPLE? Click here.
WANTT TO READ A SAMPLE WRITTEN BY ANOTHER PERSON IN OUR CLASS AND NOT ME? You can download the files by clicking on the icons below
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HOW I WILL EVALUATE RESEARCH NOTES
There are currently 14 number of Research Notes due over the course of the semester. The Research Notes assignment is worth 20% of your final grade.
IN ORDER TO EARN A “B” GRADE FOR RESEARCH NOTES you must turn in 11 of 14 set of Notes that have been marked “acceptable.”
AN ACCEPTABLE SET OF RESEARCH NOTES:
TWO IMPORTANT NOTES: Any set of Research Notes identified as “NOT acceptable” will say so when you get them back. You can revise Research Notes as many times as you want in order to earn an “acceptable.”
HOWEVER: You must turn in your Research Notes on the day they are due in order to earn the right to revise them
IN ORDER TO EARN AN “A” GRADE FOR RESEARCH NOTES you must turn in 13 of 14 set of Notes that have been marked “acceptable.”
IN ORDER TO EARN A “C” GRADE FOR RESEARCH NOTES you must turn in 9 of 14 set of Notes that have been marked “acceptable.”
IF YOU DO NOT TURN IN ENOUGH SETS OF ACCEPTABLE NOTES TO EARN A “C” GRADE you will fail the 25% of your grade that the Research Notes assignment makes up.
NOTE: Sometimes things happen in class, and we fall behind, and we end up with fewer sets of Notes than the assignment currently reflects; if that happens, I will change the required number of Research Notes for each grade bracket.
Again, I know this can look like a lot, but, really, this is an informal assignment meant to give you credit for doing the silent work of the class—reading and drafting. Most students get an A for this kind of work in my classes.
There are currently 14 number of Research Notes due over the course of the semester. The Research Notes assignment is worth 20% of your final grade.
IN ORDER TO EARN A “B” GRADE FOR RESEARCH NOTES you must turn in 11 of 14 set of Notes that have been marked “acceptable.”
AN ACCEPTABLE SET OF RESEARCH NOTES:
- Meets the page requirements
- Demonstrates the important points of that day’s assigned reading in its entirety (so not just a good summary of the first paragraph).
- Makes a strong effort to make connections between what the reading says about or does with ethnography and your actual work on your own ethnography.
- Is balanced between the reading and the reflection on your own project—with the understanding that sometimes one will outweigh the other to a certain extent.
TWO IMPORTANT NOTES: Any set of Research Notes identified as “NOT acceptable” will say so when you get them back. You can revise Research Notes as many times as you want in order to earn an “acceptable.”
HOWEVER: You must turn in your Research Notes on the day they are due in order to earn the right to revise them
IN ORDER TO EARN AN “A” GRADE FOR RESEARCH NOTES you must turn in 13 of 14 set of Notes that have been marked “acceptable.”
IN ORDER TO EARN A “C” GRADE FOR RESEARCH NOTES you must turn in 9 of 14 set of Notes that have been marked “acceptable.”
IF YOU DO NOT TURN IN ENOUGH SETS OF ACCEPTABLE NOTES TO EARN A “C” GRADE you will fail the 25% of your grade that the Research Notes assignment makes up.
NOTE: Sometimes things happen in class, and we fall behind, and we end up with fewer sets of Notes than the assignment currently reflects; if that happens, I will change the required number of Research Notes for each grade bracket.
Again, I know this can look like a lot, but, really, this is an informal assignment meant to give you credit for doing the silent work of the class—reading and drafting. Most students get an A for this kind of work in my classes.