3-4 Source Mash-Up

This assignment gives you practice in identifying and reporting a trend you’ve identified three or more sources from your body of evidence.

1. Start with 10-15 fragments that make up your body of evidence. You can make do with fewer, but lots of instances provides confidence that any patterns you notice are meaningful ones.
2. What patterns do you see? Try to identify three patterns, then choose one that seems especially odd. Alternatively, focus at the outset on a simple pattern, saving really odd/interesting patterns as a place you might take analysis later in your essay.
3. Write a topic sentence that names the pattern. In doing so, use language like “most” or “many” or “8 of 10 ads” to convey a sense of its prevalence.
4. Follow up with sentences presenting 3-4 samples in quick succession, one sentence each. Aim to name each piece of evidence (“In a New York Times article dated 10/16/63″ or “In a 1967 ad”) to give some sense of the granularity of your evidence—but leave most bibliographic details to the footnote. Use the rest of each sentence to provide a quick description that shows how this piece of evidence fits the pattern. For example, if I was interested in how ads present women in supporting roles: “A 1965 Norelco ad shows not just a clean-shaven husband, but his admiring wife.”
5. End the ¶ with a conclusion that finds new significance to the pattern—a restatement of the opening claim that raises the ante or shifts the focus to a further insight.

Put your finished ¶ in the comments, below.

Up from the Details

Writing HW By this point you should have started on a collection of primary sources for the upcoming HU-RH joint essay. Prepare a brief (1 sentence) response to each of the following:

• the principle that defines your collection (i.e. images of children at play from Life magazine ads in 1961, 1966 and 1971)
• the open-ended question you hope to use the collection to answer (i.e. how was childhood envisioned in the 1960s?)
• what patterns you expected to see, given what you’ve learned about the 60s over the past month
• one way in which your collection has confirmed expectations
• one way in which your collection has surprised you

Paste your responses into the comment space, below, along with a sample from your growing body of evidence.

No Class

BU on Monday Schedule.

Body of Evidence: Workshop

Examine the linked clippings, a collection I assembled several years ago when this was a course centered in the 1950s. It contains every mention of the word “motorcycle” in the pages of Life from 1947-1962.

Sources like these aren’t rich enough to sustain analysis when examined one at a time. But amassing a bunch of minor sources allows you to make claims about cultural tendencies. By bundling ads or articles together as a “body of evidence,” you create a composite source of significant complexity and richness. Because this is an exhaustive collection, you can use the relative abundance or absence of motorcycle references in a given year as a rough gauge of cultural interest in motorcycles.

For class Download, print and fill out this notepad.

Post in the Comments a collection of fragments from the period 1960-69. Your collection should be coherent, clustered around a search term or news event. Taken individually, at least some of your fragments should be curious, odd. Taken together, your fragments should offer insight into 1960s attitudes, beliefs, lifestyles.

Minimum 3, but aim for 5 or 6. After posting your first, post later fragments as “replies” to your first post.

Presentations 2

link to presentations

Presentations 1

link to presentations

Upcoming: Bibliography and Research Phase II

Introducing and Annotating the Bibilography

When one of your classmates turns to your work later this term, your annotated bibliography will play a crucial role in bringing him or her up to speed on your topic. In past, bibliographies have been one of the weaker elements produced by student-scholars for this course. So today I’m going to offer pointers on producing a list of recommended sources that is helpful.

Research Phase II: Primary Sources

A presentation on gathering sources and grouping them together into collections, what I call “Bodies of Evidence.”

HW (ex credit) Look ahead to the HW for next Thursday and collect 5 related fragments of the past that are relevant to one another. Send them to me via email by midnight before the current class so I can use them as starting points for discussion in lecture.

Counts as 1 missing HW, as well as counting as ordinary HW for the upcoming class on Thur/Fri.

Article Summary

Last week I had you briefly summarize three journal articles. For this assignment, I’d like a more in-depth summary, the sort you will need to offer in the upcoming Annotated Bibliography. Write a two-paragraph summary of the most interesting or controversial of the academic journal articles you’ve found so far in your research, using the following template:

• In the first ¶, focus on summarizing the article’s topic (defined narrowly, not broadly).
• In the second ¶, focus on summarizing the author’s take on its topic—and how that take differs from the views of other scholars you’ve read.
• Be sure to give a proper Chicago Style bibliographic entry, so I can find your article if I need to.

Paste this HW into the comment field, below.

In Class Reading for controversy, as well as for consensus.

Fragments

1. Add one quality fragment (on any topic)
2. Read back through the archive and add value to what someone else has already posted by adding a comment in response that draws on what you’ve learned about YOUR topic.

Slideshow Draft

Put together a collection of 3 images that capture the storyline from your written report. Obviously, your presentation should have a lot more than 3 images, but think of these three as forming the vital core of your storyline.

Don’t settle for the first three images that you find. Find 10 or 15, and then decide on three to use for this assignment.

Use the file upload feature in the comment section to add your images below. You can only add one image to a given comment, so you’ll need to “reply” to your first comment to add your second and third images.

Include a text caption for each image that you upload.

From a Written to an Oral (and Visual!) Report

For Class

• Read through the fragments of the past uploaded by other students. Find one that’s related to your topic but was uploaded by another student and reply with a thoughtful comment.
• Add a new fragment as well, on any topic you like but something that hasn’t been added up to now. In a written comment, explain why this fragment is worthy of our attention.

In Class effective presentation