This week we’ll be formulating controlling ideas for Essay 3 from your primary research (field notes)—which you should have spent last week revising, expanding, or otherwise finalizing—and continuing to delve into secondary research. To that end, your responsibilities for the week include reviewing the following:
- Watching: “Vetting and Incorporating Sources” (D2L), which I’ve recorded in place of having class on 4/6 (Video and transcript will be uploaded on
SaturdaySunday) - Reading: Re-read Shepherd’s article, this time with an eye to how he incorporates secondary research about Reddit and about his particular controlling idea. Pay attention to the ways he signposts primary research versus secondary research
- Reading: Purdue OWL Synthesizing Sources
- Prewriting: Complete the Vetting Sources Practice Worksheet (D2L) for yourself, not for submission. It’s best to complete this worksheet after you draft your controlling idea for Essay 3 Phase 1
- Review: Revisit the General Feedback – Essay 2 post
- Writing: Essay 3 Phase 1 due by 5pm on Friday 4/9 on D2L (refer to Assignment Guidelines)
- Writing: Essay 3 Phase 1 Peer Review forms
- Schedule Feedback Conference for Week 12
After you complete the Essay 3 Phase 1 work spelled out below, complete the prewriting exercise by doing the work spelled out in the Vetting Sources Practice handout. You will NOT be submitting this handout to me. In order to complete much of the work for this week, you’ll need to have already completed the Ethnographic Research Tutorial posted to the Week 10 module on D2L, and gone over the BEAM Terminology handout, which is further explained in this week’s video lecture.
Workshop Instructions
As usual for workshop, share your work in a Google Doc for Essay 3 (you’ll save your work as an MS Word/PDF file to submit to me on D2L by Friday). In addition to the work of drafting plan for a few hours to be able to do all the work asked of you, which will as before include reviewing each other’s work and completing an Essay 3 Phase 1 Peer Review Form for each of your workshop members who submit a draft in advance of the deadline. Here are the general instructions again as a refresher:
- Don’t talk about your essays! First, read without commenting.
- Read and make marginalia using the Comments feature. Underline/highlight what you think the controlling idea is, make notes about what you think the writer’s aims are, etc.
- Complete the “Essay 3 Phase 1 Review” Google Form.
- After receiving feedback via email from your peers, read what they read, and discuss any questions you have together as a group. You may want to ask questions about what their comments mean, how they suggest enacting those comments, collaboratively write your way towards enacting those comments, and so on.
- After workshop, write a brief post-workshop reflection letter (~500 words) to me summarizing the feedback you were given by your peers, identifying what you prioritized for revision and why, explaining which assignment parameters you think you met and which you think you need to keep striving towards. You may also reflect on the reasoning behind the decisions you made in revising your draft for submission to me: any regrets or difficulties you dealt with, your attitude towards the assignment and feedback, any burdens of college or life that crept into your work, and so on. Include this letter as a paragraph at the end of your draft–in other words, you’ll submit it as one file on D2L by Friday at 5pm.
Missing peer review counts as missed work, and impacts your final course grade.
Looking Ahead…
We do not have a live session in Week 12. Instead, you’ll be scheduling your mandatory feedback conferences about Essay 3 Phase 1 for that week. In addition, if you received Incomplete (+) grades in Units 1 and/or 2, you can continue to revise for the possibility of an improved grade. You may want to also review the Grading Contract so that when we meet in Week 12, you’ll be prepared to discuss your course grade (as it stands now) if you like.