Week 8

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.                                                                                                                                                                                                            –Khalil Gibran

Good day, class.  I hope you enjoyed the film last week!  Today we will look at the reviews you have put together as well as work previously assigned, namely the field report and some of the writings on images. We will review the documentation of primary and secondary source material and discuss the individual reports that will be due week 10 or 11, described here below.

After tonight we should be well on track.  Please consult with me about grades and any missing or late assignments.  We are fast approaching the final week of class and we want to be completely clear about what is due or outstanding.  See you then.


 Final Project  (#8) :  A short research project  (1000 words minimum, with in-text references to sources and a bibliographic source list, i.e. a "Work Cited" list) is due week 10 or 11.  This essay should address some subject about which you can make an arguable claim or assert an opinion supported by your research.  You should have a least two or three secondary sources (published articles or book material) and one or more primary sources such as your personal experience, documentary photographs available on the web or elsewhere, cartoon journalism, eye-witness accounts, informations or insights gathered through interviews, etcetera.  You should provide clear summary of context and important details, and direct quotation of experts or authorities whose reports of fact and opinion matter to your argument.  Title and double space the essay.

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Thursday, our class will be meeting at the Gateway Theater, on Sunrise Boulevard, as discussed last week.  If you cannot make it to one of the showings today, you must go on your own time to one of the films identified last week (Albert Nobbs, My Week with Marilyn, Wanderlust ).  You are to write an essay/review of the film (#7), summarizing the story enough to give readers a sense of its main thrust or conflict, and focussing on those elements that worked and those that did not, in your opinion, using clear examples from the film to show the basis of your claims.  You can check the New York Times for reviews on recent films and you may borrow from other reviewers, but be sure to give credit to those received opinions, or quote them directly and identify the source by title and author's name.

See you there!


Reminder:  We will review documentation of sources used in short research pieces next week, but you must decide on a subject to write about and get started.  The paper I am asking for is much like the piece covering the N-word debate, in that you will provide perspective on an issue or subject and make a central claim (thesis point) supported by reference to sources that make the soundness of your point clear and convincing. 
The assignment is as follows:

Final Project  (#8) :  A short research project  (1000 words minimum, with in-text references to sources and a bibliographic source list, i.e. a "Work Cited" list) is due week 10 or 11.  This essay should address some subject about which you can make an arguable claim or assert an opinion supported by your research.  You should have a least two or three secondary sources (published articles or book material) and one or more primary sources such as your personal experience, documentary photographs available on the web or elsewhere, cartoon journalism, eye-witness accounts, informations or insights gathered through interviews, etcetera.  You should provide clear summary of context and important details, and direct quotation of experts or authorities whose reports of fact and opinion matter to your argument.  Title and double space the essay.

Week 7

                                                                 On the Gulf of Mexico


Tonight's Tuesday class will be meeting at the Gateway theater between 6:45 and the start of the film.  I will have a few papers to return and then we can watch the film, Alfred Nobbs.

I have posted below a couple of links to reviews that I found online, each of which expresses mixed feelings about the overall impact of the story and the character at the center of it, Alfred Nobbs, a cross-dressing woman.  Glenn Close is praised for her performance, and the director, Rodrigo Garcia, for his very credible depiction of late 19th century Dublin, and details of the life and manners of the variously stationed cast, the lowly servants and the more privileged members of the middle and upper classes.  Still, each reviewer would have liked to see more drama from the story, less blandness overall.   On the lack of emotionality in the central character's personality, James Berardinelli writes, "Nobbs is a sad character, but it's difficult to feel for him because he is, as one might say, a 'cold fish.' One doesn't doubt he has emotions but they are so deeply buried that they rarely surface."  Laurie Coker writes, "Nobbs find herself trapped in a world of her own making – one that has her unable to find happiness."  


So we will watch and form our own conclusion, and then write them up with precision and expressive detail.  Remember to use specific examples–scenes, images, lines of dialogue–to recreate certain aspects of the film and to support your various points.  


Essay 7:  A Film Review:  The essay should be 450-600 words, titled, and doubled spaced.  Introduce the film by title, director, and release date and provide plot overview as needed for context.  Advance a clear point (thesis) and supporting examples.  You might also use quotations and document references from reviewers, if you borrow their ideas.


Enjoy the show!




http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=2404


http://welivefilm.com/albert-nobbs-review-by-laurie-coker/

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Thursday Class:  Today we review the field reports you were to write sometime over the last several weeks.  The field report, involving eye-witness observations, including statements or testimonials taken in informal conversation and documentary photography are considered primary research sources.  So too are original interpretations of art works, including film, of course, formalized interviews of people whose knowlege and opinions may be germaine to your work (or the point of the work entirely), questionaires and surveys.

Secondary source material is the research conducted and composed by others, and  upon which we often rely for our understanding of a subject.  When writing about the work of others, as in summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation, it is important to identify the source by author, title, and publication source.  The MLA guidelines are a specific set of rules governing how the various source, primary and secondary, you may use in your work are to be documented.  We will look at the conventional rules today, in preparation for the short research report to be completed by week 10 (or at the latest week 11).

WE will also discuss the film/ field trip we have planned for next week, March 1, at the Gateway Theater.
I will have you sign a release form and provide directions for the meeting and assignment, which will be due the following week, week 9.

I also may require a short summary with quotations to continue practicing the skills involved.  Your essays in response to an image (#6) will be returned today, with comments, and you may revise them if need be for a better grade.

Week 6

Today we will review your short reports on the N word debate and continue writing with a focus on images.   We will discuss further the field report (#5) due week 7 on a local place or event, using primary and secondary sources and the requirements for documenting sources.   I will also be asking for the selection of practice quotations I assigned on the chapters by P.M. Forni from Choosing Civility.    

Note:  Tuesday's class will sign liability releases for next week's field trip and discuss film reviews.

                                                       .....................

                                                 ...............................

  Essay work should always advance a point, that is, a thesis, always an arguable claim, and one that tries to convince readers of the truth or soundness of some position,  or perhaps to do something, take a stand, too.  Essayists may explore a topic so that readers are in a position to make an informed decision, without themselves insisting on a single position or interpretation of events. The thesis may address an issue that has no ready or absolute answer, nor one readily verified by resort to factual report, but one that must be grappled with and that challenges readers to define their values and beliefs.

Argument or fact?

     *Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

     * Van Gogh’s work is that of a madman.

     * Plastic bags are polluting the seas.

     *Consumers must reduce their carbon footprint.

     *The average temperature of the earth has risen over the last century.

     *Glaciers are melting at a rate unprecedented in modern times.

 The argument is to be built around an arguable claim, that is one about which reasonable people could reasonably disagree.  It should be supported with reference to your readings, expert or authoritative findings, factual support and logical analysis.  First-person experience and appeals to common sense and human values count, too. 

Consider the following thesis:  The use of plastics worldwide must come under closer scrutiny and regulation.

   Readers may now want to know why, and how the issue affects them and, indeed, if there is anything they might do to help resolve the issue. Your sources provide background information, demonstrate your knowledge of the topic, provide authoritative support and perspective, and show the range of perspectives possible, in fairness to differing opinions.

  Our ideas, whether commonly held or no, are rooted in traditional areas of study reflecting the history of human thought, values, attitudes, and tastes, and conduct.  These study areas include philosophy, religion, nature, aesthetics, science, ethics, education, etcetera.  Our most closely held beliefs and attitudes reflect very often our unexamined ideas about the nature of love, faith, trust, loss, betrayal, goodness and evil, freedom, sanctity, the very meaning of life.  Whether we focus on Washington and the shenanigans that make the nightly news, bioengineering, Facebook, legal injustices, or the most recent individual or "hero" making  a positive difference in the world, our beliefs, associated ideas, and feelings define us as human beings.  In choosing a research topic you will tap into some subject about which you feel strongly and have clear enough knowledge to put across a cogent argument or position, as supported also by fact and opinion gathered from your reading of available literature.  

*Select material for quotation on the following bases:

1)        -the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not easily paraphrased

2)        -it expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that you want to emphasize

3)        -it provides example of the range of perspective

4)        -it provides a constrasting or opposing view

*See http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/1/ for MLA formatting rules and examples of direct quotation.   The OWL site offers fairly comprehensive discussion and examples of presenting and documentaing primary and secondary source material.

You must soon begin to explore a subject or idea, begin finding and reading material relevant to whatever line of inquiry you intend.  Week 10 or 11 you will have due a 1000-word length essay in which you put across a claim made persuasive and credible by virtue of supporting facts, expert opinion, testimonials, logical inquiry, visuals, and perhaps emotional appeals to the reader's values.

Week 5

Good day!  Hope you are well.

Today we will review work in progress, the use of quotations, summary, and paraphrase in the discussion of topics and issues relevant to civic life; i.e. our culture's varied use of the "n word" and our continued debate over the word's use:  where valid, where to be discouraged, where censored?  What do you hear when you hear or read the word?  How do context and consensus shape the meaning and uses of a word?  What have the many who have weighed in on this subject had to say?  I expect to see a collection of voices in the papers written, with each of you marshaling and organizing source material to express both the range of opinion and your own best sense of the matter.

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We experience the world through our senses and mind, reading the meaning of color, shape, sound, texture, form, composition in the images endlessly playing in our perceptual fields.  The images that culture produces–photographs, films, commercials, drawings, paintings, cartoons, logos, graphics, etcetera–these may be “read” and elicit our response just as a written text might.   What can one learn from visual representations?  Can one analyze the particular messages or meaning conveyed, interpret the story told, point or theme illustrated?  Indeed, whether we want to understand the documentary value or the aesthetic appeal of a particular image, or the social, political, or economic interests and attitudes that an image represents, close study of visual representations can be fun and insightful activity.

How do advertisers get us to buy?  What makes a particular photograph resonate?  What storylines or themes implicit in images make us pause?  How to begin identifying or “reading” the source content?

The following guidelines should help you write cogently about visual representations:

Source, Purpose, Audience

*Identify the context of the image; that is where and how it has been published and distributed or exhibited.  To what end or purpose was it created, and by whom?

*What audience does the image address or appeal to?  How so?

*What is the most prominent element or figure in the image?  And the primary focal point? 

Objects, Figures, Story

*Identify the important objects and figures of foreground and background, consider the literal and expressive details of each, and their collective arrangement in the composition. 

*What story or event is depicted or implied?

*What mood or emotion or idea(s) are put in motion by the use of light and dark, color, balance or lack thereof, the use of white space, graphic text or other elements, etcetera?

Take Away Meaning

*To the extent the image persuades by feeling, mood, dramatic content, and so on, what is to be learned?

What do the uses of the image suggest about culture, politics, social life, art, history, the human condition?

Essay #6 (two alternatives): 

(1)  The following URL affords a fairly extensive photo archive that we will use for class practice in presenting and interpreting visual images.  You will choose one image for a short work of 400-500 words that describes the image and the idea(s) it serves to illustrate or the questions to which it gives rise, whether social, historical, political, philosophical, aesthetic, technological, existential . . . .  You must have a point to make in addressing the image and be as informative as you can.

http://lightbox.time.com/time-pictures-of-the-year-2011/

(2)  The online periodical Slate (slate.com) provides a fairly large archive of the work of cartoonists, who offer perspectives on matters making the news, in politics, sports, environment, etc.  Choose one from the daily offering or the archives, describe the image and any accompanyng text, the artist or author, and the story, matter, or issue it addresses.  You can google key words associated with the pictured material, and find recent news reports that may enhance your understanding of what is being depicted.  Humor is typically an important element in cartoon work and you may have fun presenting readers the material.  Avoid selecting any piece you do not get.  400-500 words, titled, double-spaced lines.

http://cartoonbox.slate.com/hottopic/?image=0&topicid=212

Week 4

    Good afternoon.  Hope your week is going great.  Today we will review the autobiographical essay and the summary piece assigned last week and discuss the new assignment.

 The new assignment (#4) is to synthesize the material from Naylor's essay and other examples that address use of the "n word" to discuss the issues that arise with its use.  You will be writing an essay of 450-500 words using multiple examples as evidence to support your general point (your thesis).  You will have to identify suitable texts and then selectively pull from them material that shows the nature or character of your subject and specifically supports your thesis point.  I want to see reference to the particular source material by title and author and the purposeful use of direct quotation where warranted.
We will practice referencing and quoting from various textual sources as needed.

We are practicing what is called "critical reading," which includes determining a source's relevance and reliability.  Is the material primary or secondary, that is, is it based on reliable and relevant evidence, that of first-person experience and eye-witness observation and/or facts, examples, expert testimonials compiled by reliable others?  Is the evidence compelling, strong, complete, unbiased, up to date?  Avoid sources that present little evidence or little that is convincing or that is no longer timely.  You will use the Internet to pull together sources for this exercise, and clearly identify the sources you use as you pull the essay together.  You will have to summarize or paraphrase source ideas, which means putting the ideas into your own words in brief or in about the same number of words as the original, and quote directly, which means using the exact wording of the original passage and using quotation marks around the material.  The following list gives examples of suitable taglines to introduce quotations:

Naylor writes, . . .

As Naylor says,

According to another authority, author of . . .

Naylor, the author of "The Uses of a Word," suggests a different view, claiming . . .

*Note:  Plagiarism is theft of another's work, whether inadvertent or not.  The following is one textbook example (The Brief Bedford Reader, 9th ed.) of plagiarism:

Original passage:  If we are collectively judged by how we treat immigrants–those who appear to be 'other' but will in a generation be 'us'–we are not in very good shape.

Paraphrase (plagiarised):  The author argues that if we are judged as a group by how we treat immigrants–those who seem to different but eventually will be the same–we are in bad shape.

A paraphrase or summary must express the original freshly; it is not enough to make superficial changes to the wording here and there.  Moreover, the syntax–sentence structure– should not mirror the original.

Summary (#3) is due today.  Essay 4 is due week 5, beginning of class.  

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A Report on an Event

Reviews and descriptions of cultural fare–of park attractions, films, art exhibits and fairs, live music shows, restaurants, bars, and clubs old and new, sporting events, lectures, book signings and discussions, community classes and workshops –serve to interest people in what’s going on about town and provide them a means to connect with the lives and activities of others.    Special events and regular or ongoing culture fare also provide an opportunity for you to do some first-hand reporting. The particulars of your subject and your takeway impressions and ideas, the degree of interest and engagement with the subject shown–these are central to the essay’s success.  Whether you are visiting a park, a beach, a museum, theater, restaraunt, etcetera–descriptions of the scene or environs, the activity, the individual artworks, performances, ambiance, food, service, etcetera will bring the piece to life and convey a you-are-there sensation to readers. But your readers will also learn about you, your view of the world and what matters, for the frame your create, the thesis idea controlling and unifying the work, will make for certain selections and emphases that reflect you the observer, your history, interests, tastes, etc.  

    We will talk more in class about how to put together an assignment of this kind. It is a species of primary research that goes hand in hand with background reading on whatever aspect of your subject requires exposition, background and context, to fully develop your thesis or main idea.  This essay will require you actually go somewhere in person and record material facts and observations before putting the piece together.  Your thesis tells you what to include, to emphasize, and what to ignore.  The essay should run a minimum of 5oo-6oo words, including introductory, body, and closing paragraphs, title, and clear references throughout.

o   

If you were to visit an exhibit, you would include the museum name, location, and featured artist(s), including the exhibit’s run dates.  Focus would necessarily be on some theme observed in one or more works or overall.  You would identify representative works (by title) and present a verbal description–medium, size, subject, form, and color–so that readers can "see" the work and understand the conclusions you draw from it.  If you were to visit a natural area, you might tie the visit in to some current news (a news "hook") or ongoing area of interest (natural history/studies, ecology, environmental justice, marine life, art) to create audience appeal, to lend purpose and weight to the piece.  Food culture is of great interest to many these days and offers many choices for primary research or "eye-witness" reports–green markets, restaraunts, bars, etcetera.

o   

The place or event essay (#5), in 500 words or more, is due week 7.

Workshop:  Find a photograph of some place or stake out a location for a fly report on a place.  Description may proceed like that of a still life painting or photograph in which a tableaux is created, all action removed or stopped.  It may also include the visible action, the dynamic flow of movement and sound and light going on without, and the observer's passing thoughts and feelings.

                                                In Amish Country

Note:  The film review is a separate assignment that we may agree to do, and that involves a trip to the Gateway theater.  We will decide today.

Week 3

  




A composition of even a single paragraph must organize itself around an idea, stated or implied, which is the thesis or topic idea.  What is a thesis?  A thesis is a single sentence statement of the point you intend to describe, explain, illustrate, argue or prove.  Where is the thesis to be found?  Typically, by convention, teachers ask that it appear by the last line of the opening paragraph.  It thus provides a focus and a clear direction and means of selection, for whatever does not in some way help to advance the thesis idea, may not belong in the essay at all.  When you and your readers know what your point is, you and they can follow the logic of your development, the order and arrangement of supporting topics and personal commentary.  It is a good idea to have a draft statement of your thesis in view so that you stay on point as you draft the essay.  Build key words into the thesis statement to provide you and readers references to what lies ahead.  A thesis controls to some extent what will appear in the essay and creates an obligation on your part to follow through on its promise, for it creates an expectation.  

Samples:  

Religion is no longer the uncontested center and ruler of human life because Protestantism, science, and capitalism have fundamentally altered our view of the world.

In their attempt to understand human nature, many novelists become excellent psychologists.

A good university education is one that is useful, fulfilling, and challenging.

Being a reporter means conducting interviews at odd hours and in strange places.

............

Narration, which is the primary organizational mode to be used in assignment #2,  pulls together the  basic elements of story:  character, with whatever history and personality and motivation allow for insight into the action and experience at the heart of the story; plot, the arranged action/events/scenes that show how a certain conflict arises and develops ; setting, which brings a clear sense of time and place and the force they exert;  narrative point of view, the perspective of the storyteller or narrator; and theme, the idea(s) put into play by all the elements together, whether of innocence, experience, youth, age, promise, loss, death . . . .

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Short narratives may be structured chronologically,  they may begin in the middle of things, or they work from the end back toward the beginnings of the events in focus; they may even of course move back and forth, as if showing how memory itself refuses to play in strict chronology.  However you decide to structure your piece, it is a good idea to build into the fabric strong images in fairly simple, specific, concrete terms rather than with overly complicated, too general or abstract terms.  You want to pull the reader through the window of the letters and words on the page into the sensuous, three-dimensional world of life as we see, hear, smell, touch, feel, and  think about it.  

Example:

    Once on a Wednesday excursion when I was a little girl, my father bought me a beaded wire ball that I loved.  At a touch, I could collapse the toy into a flat coil between my palms, or pop it open to make a hollow sphere.  Rounded out, it resembled a tiny Earth, because its hinged wires traced the same pattern of intersecting circles that I had seen on the globe in my schoolroom–the thin black lines of latitude and longitude.  The few colored beads slid along the wire paths haphazardly, like ships on the high seas.

                                                Longitude, David Sobel

Another example, of the sight of a mustache:  A truly terrifying sight, a thick orange hedge that sprouted and flourished between his nose and his upper lip and ran clear across his face from the middle of one cheek to the middle of the other. . . . [It] was curled most splendidly upwards all the way along as though it had had a permanent wave put into it or possible curling tongs in the mornings over a tiny flame. . . . .The only other way he could have achieved this effect, we boys decided, was by prolonged upward brushing with a hard toothbrush in front of the mirror every morning.

Special Effects:  Heighten the effect of seeing by making familiar ground or territory unfamiliar or interesting by shifting perspective–the extreme close up, the distance shot, the fragmentary but evocative particular that puts the whole, be it a place, person, or thing, in a strong light.  Use distinctive language in so far as possible, without making the whole too rich.

Names:  Be mindful of the power of names to particularize and connote ideas and images.  Huckleberry Finn, Scarlett O'Hara, Venus Williams; Kissimmee, Florida; Bountiful, Utah.  The names of people, places, and things can be intriguing and interesting sources of irony and word play.

Dialogue:  dialogue may help to advance the action, set a tone, illustrate character and key ideas or points.  as a form of action (see essay handouts).  It is a dramatic device and pulls readers into a virtual present.

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Refining the Draft Idea:  Writing teachers and textbooks often refer to the angle or hook or slant as a way of luring readers to the subject article or book.  Readers have different needs and tastes, of course, but there's nothing wrong with familiarizing yourself with the common types of bait that show up in titles  or headlines and lead paragraphs.  So here are a few.

*Adrenaline                          *Numbers

*Amazement                         *Promises

*Brand-New                         *Secrets

*Detailed                               *Sexy

*Funny                                  *Superlative

*Location                              *Combination

*Money

*Newsy

Workshop:  See if you can identify any used in the course of reading through today's New York Times or other source.

Ways of Beginning:

*Anecdotal or case history (to create a human interest appeal)

*Direct Address

*Factual

*Journalistic

*Mythic/Poetic

*Quotation

 *Thematic

The common modes of organization include description, narration, illustration, cause/effect, definition, comparison/contrast, classification, and argument.  Let's look at the means by which Gloria Naylor organizes "The Uses of a Word," an essay about growing up and the power of language, particularly the spoken word.

Summary Exercise (#3):   summarize briefly the essay "The Uses of a Word," by Gloria Naylor ( in 250-300 words)  Incorporate two direct quotations to support and illustrate.   Follow the format guidelines set forth and illustrated on the handout passed out in class.  As a followup, google the "n-word" and find more writings on the subject.  Bring these materials or URLs to class next week along with the simple summary.

Select material for quotation on the following bases:

1)        *the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not easily paraphrased

2)        * the passage expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that you   want to emphasize

3)        *the passage provides example of the range of perspective

4)        *the passage provides a constrasting or opposing view

Format quotations in the following manner:

       Brief quotations of no more than four lines should be worked into the text within the usual margins from left to right, and enclosed by quotation marks. Use a signal phrase or tagline to introduce them, followed by a colon or comma. 

       Longer passages should be set off in block format, indented and aligned 10 spaces from the left margin, with no quotation marks but those that may be internal to the passage itself.

Example from “An Ocean of Plastic”:

       Kitt Doucette describes the threat of plastic to all marine life, and perhaps human life, too: “Even small organisms like jellyfish, lanternfish and zooplankton have started to ingest tiny bits of plastic. These species, the very foundation of the oceanic food web, are becoming saturated with plastic, which may be passed further up the food chain.”  The fish we eat may contain the residues of these ingested plastic particles, and pose clear health risks. He explains, citing also the authority of a leading marine biologist:

[. . .] the chemical toxins concentrated in the [plastic] waste lodge themselves in the animals’ fatty tissues, accumulating at ever increasing levels the higher you go up the food chain. It isn’t clear yet if these chemicals are reaching humans, but PCB’s and DDT are know to disrupt reproduction in marine mammals. In humans they have been linked to liver damage, skin lesions, and cancer. “The possibility of more and more creatures ingesting plastics that contain concentrated pollutants is real and quite disturbing,” says Richard Thompson, a British marine biologist who has been studying microplastics for 20 years.

Use brackets [ ] around any material you add for the sake of clarity or any necessary

change to the original , such as a verb tense, a pronoun, or an ellipsis (to abbreviate the length of the passage). The source title, be it an article title in a magazine or newspaper or that of a website from which you have borrowed material, should be identified at the outset in your introduction or first use of the material. The year or date of such information should be recent, or otherwise noted.

*MLA citations and works cited will not be necessary for initial assignments.