Week 7

What is to give light must endure burning. – Victor Frankl

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Today I will collect from those of you who have not yet submitted it, the field essay on a place.  We can share with the class the material you have put together and any difficulties or discoveries met along the way.  Bear in mind that the final project may well be a field report informed not only be your eye witness observations but also the reports and historical accounts put together by others.

People are a source of fascination and interest as well as repositories of information, perspective, and sometimes wisdom.  Some of the most popular essays and articles address themselves to the lives of significant or "newsworthy" individuals, and to help us learn from their example, benefit from their expertise, live vicariously through them events that it would otherwise be impossible for us to understand.  Some essays are written from an "as told to" perspective, by a writer who has interviewed at length some individual or been privy to the thoughts and stories of events the individual possesses, as some of us have learned of historical events through the accounts our parents or others we know well have given us.  Suffice it to say, how others live and think interests us greatly, both as a form of escape, inspiration, and practical

information.  Aside from autobiographical writings, personality profiles, Q&As and interviews, and self-help articles offer a steady stream of writings about people.  Moreover, today the Internet blog has become a ready means of writing about people, from all walks of life, and of generating a forum for the sharing of ideas and opinions.

One form of primary research is the interview, in either the Q&A format, or the essay format, informed by accurate renderings of what the subject has had to say in response to the writer's queries.  Today we discuss matters of topical interest that can be developed by means of the personal interview and/or informal survey of a community's response.  You will have to identify a story or subject matter whose development proceeds at least in part on the response you get from the individual or individuals you speak with.  You might, for example, survey student response to a given issue, whether local, national, global, etcetera (think climate change, the assassination of Osama bin Laden and the continuing "War on Terror," or the latest fashions out of Paris or Milan.  Obviously, the degree to which your "authorities" have something pertinent to say will be of some import.  

Importantly, you must be well informed and capable of presenting clearly the issue that interests you and provide questions and follow up that will elicit from your respondents usable information.  In class we will discuss this further for the next short assignment.

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Final Project Reminder:  Your short research project (1000 words with a documented source list, i.e. a "Work Cited" list) is due week 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 three secondary sources (published articles or book material) and, if you like, primary sources such as your personal experience, documentary photographs available on the web or elsewhere, eye-witness accounts, 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 5

Who, being loved, is poor?

                     –Oscar Wilde

Good morning.  I hope you are well.

Today we will review your summaries of  the article "Wildlife at Risk Face Long Line at U.S. Agency" (New York Times, April 21, 2011), and the report on a local place or event that we discussed last week.  I will provide some examples and allow you time for discussion of destination subjects and approaches to writing the piece.  We will follow with an essay built upon your response to a news report or feature article.   Some documentation will be required as the work builds on the requirements of the short research work.

  

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

 Today's class work is intended to get you started.   It requires you read from recent publications and then select a subject of particular interest for discussion. 

Summary/Response or Roundup Assignment (#6):  In 450-500 words, introduce by title and article one to three articles published in today's New York Times.  Summarize each and provide commentary and an overarching thematic link between the articles you have chosen.  This is an informal piece in which you must discuss one or more of the most interesting headlines, as you see it, and why the stories are of interest.  Include an alphabetical listing of the works discussed, in the MLA format displayed at the OWL writing site (the link is here, at this blog's link list).