Office Hours/PSU

A few reminders about this weekend:

I'll be in the office tomorrow from about 11 to 3.  A little bit after 3 I'll be heading to PSU and will be there from 4-6.  On Saturday I will be available from noon to 3.  If you would like to see me at any of these times, please write to ask for an appointment--I already have several scheduled, and, if you just show up, I may not be able to work you in.

The information about Portland State is the same as before--see the post from 2 weeks ago for details.

Paper Proposal

Now that you have a significant portion of your research done, you will write a proposal that will suggest a plan for the paper that you will be drafting. The purpose of this assignment is to ensure that you have a direction and that your final paper will have a clear focus, a strong argument, and an effective and discernible organizational structure. This proposal will consist of three parts:


1. A one to two paragraph introduction to your topic that includes a hook and a thesis.

2. An outline that includes three things: your thesis; a tentative structure for the paper, expressed through a formal outline; and parenthetical citations indicating where you will be using sources you have found.

3. A working bibliography containing at least 10 sources you plan to use in your research paper. You may end up adding or dropping sources as you begin to draft. Further, these sources may not be cited in your introduction or outline. (That's why this is considered a working bibliography, rather than a Works Cited list.) The bibliography should follow MLA format. You may use annotations as well, but this is optional. Four of these citations should be scholarly/professional.

Helpful hints from Rules for Writers can be found:

Introduction/Thesis 21-25, 361-362
Outline 17-20, 361-362
Works Cited 435-462

All three parts should be submitted together in one document. Please format according to the guidelines in the syllabus and according to the model.  You are being supplied with a model proposal for this assignment.  PLEASE FOLLOW THE MODEL EXACTLY.

The proposal will be due on Monday, February 4. Please note that this due date has been changed from the one in your syllabus.  This is due to the extension given on the annotated bibliography.  As always, I am happy to look at your work as it progresses, up to the day before the proposal is due.

Thursday's Class

1.  Bring completed source evaluation homework on ONE internet source.
2.  Bring a DRAFT copy of your completed annotated bibliography (or as much of a completed draft as possible).  I will look over all bibliographies tomorrow in class, but will likely require revision from most of you.  We'll discuss a timeline for submission of the graded draft tomorrow.
3.  Email with questions or problems.

Warning About Annotated Bibliographies

I'm answering emails right now, including a lot of annotation examples.  I want to warn everyone about one thing:  in EACH annotation, you need to make sure that you answer ALL of the questions listed on the assignment.  Everything listed is REQUIRED, guys! 

Source Evaluation

Read pages 437-447 in Rules for Writers.  THEN,

Tonight, take a tiny break from trying to find super smart, super credible, and super useful sources and do a little googling!  Using Google, or the search engine of your choice, find a website or webpage related to your topic.  (And yes, if it is closely enough related, you certainly can use it as one of your annotations!)  Look through the website/page carefully and then answer the following questions.  These can be typed or handwritten, as long as I can read them.  Keep in mind that these are short answer questions, which means that you should have a couple of sentence answers for each.  (Not just a word or two.)

1.  Write an MLA works cited citation for the webpage/website you have chosen.
2.  Who is responsible for the website or page?  What do you know about them?
3.  What is the website/page's general attitude toward the subject?
4.  What is the level of originality of the material represented? 
5.  How authoritative or trustworthy does the material seem?  Why?
6.  How completely does the source deal with the subject at hand? 
7.  What sorts of links does the site contain?  How do these links add to the authority of the site?  How complete and recent are they?  If you are dealing with a print source, what ads or other materials does the publication contain?  Do these add to the authority of the source?
8.  How is the source biased?
9.  How recent is the source?  How recently was it updated?

Bring to class tomorrow to discuss. 

Portland State Trips

After looking at your preferences, it looks like I can get the largest number of you in at these times:  Friday 10-1 and Sunday noon to 3.

Benefits of taking a research trip:
A. Get to know a bigger library/get some practice navigating Library of Congress call numbers.
B. With Clark ID, you can check things out!! (through the SUMMIT program) (Or with ID and your Clark student number--that works too.)
C. There is a lot more stuff. You can be very productive gathering research in a short amount of time.
D. PSU allows access to databases that you can't get through Clark. See "there is a lot more stuff" above.
E. YUMM Bowls! (Well, this is a benefit to me, at least.)

If you are interested in doing some preliminary searching, go here.

If you are interested in YUMM bowls (and how could you not be?), go here.

Campus maps and driving directions can be found here.  We will be meeting at the Millar Library.  There is good information about parking here.  There is on-street parking too, but be prepared to circle for awhile on Friday, as there are classes going on.  The PSU lots are FREE on Sunday though.  You can also easily get to PSU by MAX or by bus, and there might be some interest in carpooling, which we can discuss.

I will get there early both days and secure us table space on the SECOND floor.  This is where you will be able to access databases.  There are catalog computer terminals on all floors.  I'll also have maps available for you and will be able to explain how to navigate the building. 

If you are planning on coming, bring:
Either Clark ID or picture ID for checking out materials.
Cash for parking, photocopies, delicious YUMM! bowls.  Or coffee. 
Paper and pen for jotting notes.
A jump drive.  You will be able to download articles directly from databases onto the jump drive!  This is very exciting and cheaper than having to print/photocopy them at the library.
Comfortable shoes.  You are likely to have to do a lot of running around.

It is not necessary to come at the very beginning of the time either day or to plan on staying the whole three hours (although you are welcome to if you want to).  I will try to stick close to the table on the second floor and work from there.  Drop in and out as fits your needs. 

Finally, if you can't make one of the these times and REALLY, REALLY want to go, I may be persuaded to do one more trip (maybe a Saturday afternoon one) the weekend following.  We'll discuss this later. 

And One More

I'll be in the office at about 11:30 today (Tuesday).  I'll be working on things that can be stopped and started easily, so if you need to see me, please stop by.  I'll probably try to leave by about 4.

Also, it is looking likely that there will be Portland State trips on FRIDAY and SUNDAY.  We'll discuss details in class, and I'll take a final headcount.

Lastly, we will be discussing academic/non academic sources in class tomorrow.  But since many of you are starting to work on your entries for the annotated bibliography, I wanted to mention this:  the sources in Gale are NOT considered academic or professional.  This is probably a little confusing.  Hopefully it will become less so tomorrow.  You need 3 academic sources.  So you CAN use information from Gale, but only up to 2 of your sources.

It's fine to email me with questions or problems.  And I've already received one entry to read!  That's excellent.

UPDATE

I have canceled 9:15 too--but I will try to be in the office between 10:30 and 11.

Class Today

At this point (just after 6:30), I am going to cancel the 8 am class.

I am hopeful that I'll be able to make the 9:15 class, but I'll make a decision on that closer to class time, so if you are a student in that class, monitor the blog and your email.  Once I can get in, I will hold office hours and will be in the office for most of the afternoon.  If you would like some conference time, email me.

Also, if you sent me an email sometime in the late afternoon or evening yesterday, I probably have not gotten back to you.  Email service was interrupted yesterday.  I will be answering those emails throughout the morning today.

Keep working on research!

Annotated Bibliography Assignment

You will be producing citations and annotations for a total of five sources that you gather as research for your final 102 paper. These annotations serve a number of purposes. First, they will help to ensure that you have understood and appropriately evaluated your sources. Second, they will act as a way to track your sources and your research process. Finally, they will (we hope!) provide you with some work that you can integrate directly into your final research project. Hopefully, this process will result in you feeling that you are part of a conversation about your topic.  This is your first formal graded assignment for the term and is worth a total of 15% of your final course grade.


Part One: A short (2-3 thoughtful paragraphs) introduction to the annotated bibliography. This introduction should indicate the current state of your research (How far along are you? How is it going? What do you feel you have left to do? Do you have any questions or are you encountering any problems?) and suggest a list of questions that require further consideration, investigation, and/or argumentation. Please take this introduction seriously—I am looking for substance, specificity, and thoughtfulness.  I would suggest doing this last--it will likely be much more clear what you need to say in the intro AFTER you have annotated your research. 

Part Two: For each of your five sources you should have a properly formatted MLA citation, accompanied by a brief description and evaluative annotation of 150-250 words (either one or two paragraphs). Imagine that you are preparing this list of annotations for another student/researcher looking for information about your topic. Provide them with a summary of the source along with the following information:

1. How and where the source was located.
2. The format of the source.
3. The authority/credentials of the author.
4. The currency of the source.
5. The reliability of the information (and a justification for your evaluation of how reliable it is.)
6. Potential biases of the writer or source of publication.
7. An explanation of how the source affects your understanding of the topic.
8. At least one direct quotation from the source, appropriately integrated into your annotation with documentation.


Please keep in mind that your bibliography must: Follow MLA format and citation style (as indicated in your syllabus and in the Hacker book). Include at least 3 articles from scholarly periodicals or publishers. (The other 2 sources can come from credible websites or popular periodicals.) Be organized alphabetically by citation. Be complete, with both parts one and two of the assignment.

I'm Confused

about your confusion!

I've had several questions about homework, so clearly there is a misunderstanding.  I will use the blog to post longer assignment directions, but on a day-to-day basis, your homework is on your schedule.  Right now (for the rest of this week), that can be found in your syllabus.  I will give you a full term's schedule on Monday.

Tonight, you only have some reading and some IRIS modules.  Do not worry about the Little Seagull handout--I'll be giving that out tomorrow.

Sorry for the confusion.  Please refer to the schedule.  And check back here in the morning if you see or hear of any white stuff on the ground.

Homework for Wednesday, January 9

I had a little trouble clearing the blog--but the problems seem to have resolved!

Congratulations on finding the blog.  Please follow the instructions below and complete these assignments for Wednesday's class.  

1.  Go to the Clark Library website.  Find the links to the IRIS online tutorials.  Complete the tutorial entitled "Explore Topics."

2. Make a list of 5 world or national events that happened the year you were born.  Keep track of how/where you found this information.  (There is no specific manner in which I am expecting you to do this--I'll be curious about your strategies.)

3.  Go to the Clark Library website or directly to the NYT and find the NYT Historical Archives.  Do a search for one of the events you found that happened in the year you were born.  Print a story related to that event and bring it with you to class.

4.  Also at the Clark Library website, find a volume of American Decades (in the 1900s--edited by Vincent Tompkins).  Choose a decade that is NOT the decade in which you were born.  Find two people who were "in the news" in that decade--one in the Arts and one in government.  What did they do, and why were they in the news?  Write down your answers, and bring them to class with you.

Questions?  Email Kristin, after making a sincere effort to figure it out yourself.

You may handwrite (if I can read it) or type this assignment.  Either way!