Spring quarter HumCore, in a nutshell

"A community is not just a group of people that just happen to be bunched up in the same place." - Rosa Vargas

"You better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin'." - Bob Dylan

"Doing is awkward." - Tuition protest group

I cannot properly express how fortunate I feel to have taught this group of students for ten weeks. I looked forward to it every day, and that is quite a lot to say for any job.

Stay in touch.

Research Paper Drop-In Session

1-3 on Friday. We'll start in our regular classroom, SSL 162, then move to one of the rooms next to it if someone kicks us out at 2. I've noticed that most of the rooms in that building are empty lately.

I can answer specific questions about your paper, particularly ones dealing with writing technique and formatting. You probably won't get much out of me on "will you read this over and see if it's OK" type questions.

Tips on Research Papers

Just some things I noticed in reading the first 12 papers...

1) Specific facts and interpretations need to be cited from specific sources. You can't just paraphrase ideas at will for a whole paper and then slap a bibliography at the end. As for the format of the citations, you can basically choose from footnoting versus parenthetical. This is how I like to do mine with footnotes. (Article I wrote several years ago that sucks... do not use as a model for good writing.) You need to know how to use MS Word a little bit. For parentheticals, see the chapter on MLA style in Easy Writer and/or the sample papers I sent you for the peer review. Choose the style that you think best suits your essay and be consistent with it.

2) Even if you have a footnote or a parenthetical citation, you still need to introduce secondary sources at the beginning of a direct quotation.

WRONG: The Lakers are "a force of pure evil" that "must be stopped" (Winter 9).

RIGHT: As Aaron Winter argues, the Lakers are "a force of pure evil" that "must be stopped" (Winter 9).

SAMPLE: A few pages from my dissertation, showing how primary and secondary quotations can be incorporated into sentences properly.

3) Your paper needs a thesis, not just a topic or question.

TEMPLATE: Aristotle says banana, and Descartes says apple, but I argue that the truth is really orange.

4) Title format... the essential part is a specific description of your project. Almost like a miniature thesis. You can put a jokey/creative part in front of that if you want.

WRONG: "Yo Mama So Fat!"
WRONGISH: "African-American Insult Humor"
RIGHT: "The Globalization of African-American Insult Humor in the 1990s"
RIGHT: "Yo Mama So Fat!: The Globalization of African-American Insult Humor in the 1990s"

5) There will come a point for most of you, I hope, when you actually have too much research to fit in your paper. The HumCore website says 8-10 pages for the final draft. I think you should go for that 10. But you know, some of you are already pushing past that and may have to cut some. Some facts, concepts, quotations, etc. in your paper are simply going to be more important than others, and you need to work in your second draft to decide which, and make it clear to your reader.

AN ANALOGY:

1 Kobe
4 more starters (Kobe, Gasol, Ariza, Fisher, Bynum)
5 more rotation guys (Odom, Farmar, Walton, Vujacic, Brown)
? total scrubs who never get to play (Powell, Mbenga, Morrison, etc.)

1 thesis
2-4 main sections or sub-topics
2-5 examples, evidence, or concepts within those sub-topics
? material that gets relegated to your footnotes

Research Paper Draft Peer Review Instructions

This goes for both the Friday conferences and the Monday conferences. It's important that you all do this... it will help your partner, obviously, but it will also benefit you in terms of getting a sense of the nuts and bolts of how this type of paper works.

(Monday conference people... you will hear from me soon about the times; I'm still waiting to hear back from three of you.)

You need at least SIX different pen/marker colors to complete this assignment. Either that, or you need to use the color highlight feature on Microsoft Word. Or you need to devise some kind of coding system to differentiate waves, squiggles, slashes, dashes, etc.

This will take you at least 90-150 minutes, so schedule your time accordingly.

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1. Print your partner's paper, and print the sample paper I email you. (See next email.)

2. Read through both papers without marking anything.

3a. What are two things that the sample paper does more effectively than your partner's paper?

3b. What are two things that your partner's paper does more effectively than the sample paper?

4. Read through your partner's paper a second time... this time you are marking on it.

5a. These are very long papers, and they're about subjects their reader knows very little about. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively has your partner used the introduction paragraph(s) to create a bridge to the topic, by using comparisons and broader concepts, from HumCore or elsewhere? Make one suggestion for how this could be done more effectively.

5b. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively has your partner indicated what the paper is _not_ about, i.e. what falls outside its scope, what has already been done to death by previous researchers, what cannot be known, etc..

5c. Underline the sentence(s) that you take to be your partner's thesis using COLOR A. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively does your partner communicate a clear, specific, and arguable thesis? As a test, reverse the argument of the thesis and write down the resulting sentence(s). Lack of a reversible thesis indicates that this paper is (currently) a "book report" rather than an academic argument.

5d. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively has your partner used the introductory paragraph(s) to map out or preview the sections, stages, etc. of the pages that follow? Make one suggestion for how this could be done more effectively.

5e. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively has your partner defined key terms that the paper will use or contest?

5f. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively has your partner given a justification for why her research/paper is relevant/important?

6a. Underline the sentence(s) that you take to be your partner's paragraph topic sentences using COLOR A.

6b. Draw a happy face by the two most effective paragraph topic sentences.

6c. Draw a frowny face by the two least effective paragraph topic sentences.

7a. Using COLOR B, underline when your partner refers to her most important primary source. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively does your partner incorporate this source, _conceptually_? Ask one question or make one suggestion about using the source.

7b. Using COLOR C, underline when your partner refers to her most important primary source. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively does your partner incorporate this source, _conceptually_? Ask one question or make one suggestion about using the source.

7c. Using COLOR D, underline when your partner refers to other primary sources. Designate two primary sources that the partner should analyze more (you can even suggest one that isn't referred to in the paper), and two primary sources she should analyze less.

7d. Draw a happy face by the two sentences in which your partner has most effectively incorporated a primary source quotation or paraphrase _grammatically_.

7e. Draw a frowny face by the two sentences in which your partner has least effectively incorporated a primary source quotation or paraphrase _grammatically_.

8a. Using COLOR E, underline when your partner refers to her most important secondary source. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively does your partner incorporate this source, _conceptually_? Complete the following sentence: "My partner is using this source in order to _________."

8b. Using COLOR F, underline when your partner refers to her most important secondary source. On a scale of 1-10, how effectively does your partner incorporate this source, _conceptually_? Complete the following sentence: "My partner is using this source in order to _________."

8c. Using COLOR G, underline when your partner refers to other secondary sources. Designate two secondary sources that the partner should utilize more (you can even suggest one that isn't referred to in the paper), and two secondary sources she should utilize less.

8d. Draw a happy face by the two sentences in which your partner has most effectively incorporated a secondary source quotation or paraphrase _grammatically_.

8e. Draw a frowny face by the two sentences in which your partner has least effectively incorporated a secondary source quotation or paraphrase _grammatically_.

9. Cross out the conclusion. These are almost never any good in first drafts. Write the following in giant capital letters: "SO WHAT?" Give three possible answers to the question, on your partner's behalf.

10. Are citations usable, consistent, and reasonably close to one of the standard citation formats? Rate on a scale of 1-10.

Class #23 postgame

Thanks for a fun afternoon, and I hope you feel "pretty good" about the Exam and the Project now, or at least gooder.

I may write some more clarifications or reminders here tomorrow, but the only thing that occurs to me now is to say that the Revolting German Peasants and Martin Luther are potential characters for your exam. I'd forgotten about them.

I went back and commented on all the the "change" dialogues in the next post.

Reminder: In-class part of the exam is on Friday. Bring a bluebook and notes on a small index card.

Reminder: Take-home part of the exam is due to TurnItIn on Sunday night. Whatever time it says on the review sheet. The classID is 2698576. I think the password is ignite ... or maybe ignite!

Reminder: 5 more annotated bibliographies. Dropbox on Sunday.

Random: Story about how to memorialize mass killings, except this one's about the Soviet Union.

Class #22 postgame

I really love this class... I'm pleased how engaged your are with this Kluger book even though it's getting sandwiched in with so many other assignments.

Reminder: Mammoth review session Wednesday afternoon, from 1:00-whenever. Most of you will be around after class from 2:00-4:00, so that might be the best time to come. I'll announce the location in class... most likely in the park so we can all sit and have pizza or some such. Bring questions.

Post: your Kluger vs. X vs. Y dialogue on the question of "what causes historical/social change?"

Reminder: I need a status update from all four of the Projects on Wednesday. Meaning that I'll ask you about it in class. Progress of your planning, and/or your vision of how I should assess your grade.

Proposal: an alternative end-of-quarter Project available only to up to two defectors from the veterans' hospital team and up to four defectors from the beach team. You could go to the Museum of Tolerance in LA and write some kind of response that compared it to Kluger's theory of museums. This would work for either version of the exam.

New Polls: answer on the right

Random: article about a staging of Mel Brooks' The Producers in Germany... can Germans laugh at "Springtime for Hitler"? Should they?

Class #21 postgame

I've gotten a little behind on the blog... I'll definitely go back and comment on the community dialogues, and on the remaining Kluger questions from Monday.

Homework: Read to pg. 170 of Still Alive... we're not going to read the rest, actually. Annie, Kiyomi, Marcee, and Sarah Devine should each come up with a kickoff question for us to discuss. Consult Hart's questions for inspiration if needed.

Research: With the exception of one person whom I instructed otherwise, you all need to email me 5 additional annotated bibliographies by next Sunday (5/24). Don't make this busywork; you all have gaps in your research that call for specific kinds of sources. Remember, the first draft of the research paper is due the night of Thursday 5/28.

The Project: I'm not doing any handholding here. Time is short if you're going to get this done by the end of the quarter, so you need to divide responsibilities and get started immediately. I expect a progress update by Wednesday. You also need to help me figure out how I am supposed to assess you in terms of grades.

Exam: Regardless of whether you are eating the chocolate or elephant flavor of the exam, now is a good time to select which questions you want to answer in-class vs. take-home, etc. (The three questions are what is doing, what is a community, and what causes social/historical change... or was the first question about the ends justifying the means? We'll have to settle this on Monday.) And select the three people/positions you are going to compare for each dialogue or essay (two per question from this quarter, and a third one from previous quarters.) The in-class component will be on Friday, and the take-home component will be due by Sunday night (5/24).