For Tuesday

I will get in the habit of doing this when I say I will, by the end of the semester!

Please post everything you have, and bring a full rough draft to class on Tuesday, hard copy.

Interviewing suggestions

I am posting two links here. The first is to a great guide from the Smithsonian Institution on conducting oral history interviews. I'd suggest that to the degree possible, you consider your interviews to be oral histories, about whatever topic you are collecting. This guide is particularly helpful in its descriptions of what to do before, during, and after the actual interview you conduct, so I highly recommend it. The second is just a collection of sample questions from the LSU oral history center. It's useful just to get you focused before you head into an interview.

Smithsonian Oral History Guide
LSU Oral History Center sample questions

Some general comments

I just want to remind all of you that the comments I ask you to give to writers are writing assignments. I'm later than I wanted to be, but for the Tuesday after spring break I'll have written comments for all of you regarding the photo essays (with a grade for that project) and also a grade for the semester so far. That larger grade will be based in part on your keeping up with the written expectations of the course in a timely basis, which a few of you are having a difficult time doing.

For Thursday March 8

Please read all the proposals, and then offer specific comments and feedback according to these groups:

Tessa M.                                  Kevin                              Riley
Kelly                                        Eli                                   Scotty
Merlin                                      Nate                                Kenny
Lea                                          Jenny                               Austin
JP                                            Tessa                                Lisa
Carla

Note: I won't be in my office during office hours tomorrow (11-1) because I have a meeting I must attend. Please let me know if you were planning on coming by and I will make sure we have a chance to meet.

Assignment constraints

Here are the constraints I am giving you for the next assignment:

1.     It must be non-fiction.

2.     It must involve primary research, the collection and creation of data (not primary textual research, but something more ethnographic involving other people).

3.     It must include secondary research.

4.     It must have a certain heft – think in terms of 2500 words or its equivalent (if you have alternative forms in mind than a straightforward 10 page paper).

5.     Don’t be boring.

On Thursday, please come to class with some basic ideas about what you might do for this paper. We’ll discuss them in small groups and then as a class. For Thursday March 6, please bring a proposal that addressing the following questions:

1.     What is your project?

2.     What process will you use for primary research? (Who, where, what, etc.)

3.     What directions do you imagine your secondary research going?

4.     Why is this an interesting subject for you?

5.     What questions do you have about the topic as you enter it? (These are important because they will help shape what you do at the beginning, but they will almost certainly change as you work on your project.)

You don’t have to answer these point by point like this - just address them in the proposal. Please post that to your blog by Tuesday’s class.

Comments

Hi -

My comments are up. I'd actually recommend that you read my comments to everybody. My sense is some of it crosses over to other writers, and in any case, it's the best evidence you've received so far about the kind of reader I am, which is probably useful information, though I wouldn't get bogged down in it, which seems like a good place to end an already very long sentence.

A couple of you have commented that you'd do it differently if you could start it over. Of course. But that's an idea I'd like to take on for next week.

You all dove into this and did it, in interesting ways. Thanks. We were all stepping out a bit with this, and it's exciting to see where you've taken it.

Almost

Sorry. I am running behind. I'll have comments by tomorrow morning for those of you who don't have comments. Please send me questions about my comments if you need them.