First Year Seminar G114:

Investigations Across the Curriculum:

Reality and the Americas

Spring 2011

Meesh McCarthy

 

Instructor:

 Meesh McCarthy

 meesh.mccarthy@umb.edu

Office location:

   Academic Support

   Programs, CC-1-1300

   617-287-6550

 Office hours:

   Tuesdays 11:30-12:15

   Thursdays 8:45-9:15

Peer Mentor:

Wellington Palma

wellington.palma001@umb.edu

Library Contact:

 Janet DiPaolo

 janet.dipaolo@umb.edu

 Healey Library

 617-287-5939

 

 FYS G114's

Healey Library wiki

 

Academic Advisor:

Linda Hamilton

linda.hamilton@umb.edu

 Academic Advising 

 CC-1-1100s

 617-287-5500

Blogger

Course materials:

  Syllabus

  Paper One Instructions

  Peer Review One

  Unit One Self Assessment

  Paper Two Instructions

  Peer Review Two

  Mixed-media message/Paper Three Instructions

  Draft mixed-media-message peer review

 

Links

Student-authored materials

  Unit Two sources chart

  Copyright (Creative Commons) form

 

Lab instructions:

Lab 1, Lab 2, Lab 3, Lab 4, Lab 6, Lab 7, Lab 8

 

Lab 1

Tuesday, February 15

Much of today's initial lab will be dedicated to sharing material that you will need to complete your first papers. You will need to work independently to complete each item on the list below. 

 

Save a bookmark for this website on your USB key, floppy disk, etc.

 

Set up an account on our weblog. Click the Blogger link above to start.

 

After you have a Blogger account, each of you will need to contribute

1) your definitions of a term that could work as an opposite for reality

2) your explanation of the section of 1491 that you read as an individual

 

In each entry, be sure to cite sources–authors, page numbers, etc.–as necessary.

 

If you finish early, continue working on the First Paper, and look at the links related to this unit on our links list.

 

Be sure that you have completed a peer review for someone else, and that you have read the comments on the peer review of your paper.

 

Lab 2

Tuesday, February 22

Read all the instructions below before beginning any other work.

 

Required weblog question: Use your annotation of the first "Unit Two: Reality and the Present" reading by Sherry Turkle to respond to the following question on our weblog. (Note that the question refers to a chapter that you did not read, and the chapter which you did read.):

In the closing section of "Identity Crisis" Sherry Turkle writes, "As we stand on the boundary between the real and the virtual, our experience recalls what the anthropologist Victor Turner termed a liminal moment, a moment of passage when new cultural symbols and meanings can emerge [footnote 39]" (268). Does Turkle's claim help us shift focus onto the second course unit? Why or why not? Rely on your annotation of "Growing Up Tethered" to form your answer.

 

(The adjective liminal is important; if it is a new word for you, look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary Online (which is included on our list of links).

 

Optional question: Use your new double entry to respond to the following question on Blogger:

 

Which paragraph from your preliminary version of Paper One most successfully relies on evidence from course readings?

 

Lab 3

Tuesday, March 1

 

Respond to the following question on the weblog:

Compare and contrast Turkle's and Jhally's use of supporting evidence in their arguments about reality. Be sure to incorporate and cite at least one specific quotation from each source.

 

Be sure to complete any outstanding weblogs.

 

Lab 4

Tuesday, March 8

 

Complete one the appropriate row of the chart below with your assigned group. One person in each group should send the completed chart to 1) all group members and 2) Meesh by 10:40.

 

 

Unit Two Sources Chart

 

List all your group-members' names here:

What is the source's main position/arguments about reality and how reality is constructed? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

How are the arguments about reality, and the evidence used to support them, organized? (Use at least two specific quotations as support.)

Which types of evidence does the argument depend on? What are the best examples of evidence? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

What are three (or more) terms/concepts from the reading that could be added to our general list of course terms? (Be sure to point out why you identified the particular terms that you chose.)

Illustrate how the source connects to another Unit 2 source by associating specific quotes from each one. (At least two direct quotations will be necessary.)

Turkle's "Identity Crisis"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unit Two Sources Chart

 

List all your group-members' names here:

What is the source's main position/arguments about reality and how reality is constructed? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

How are the arguments about reality, and the evidence used to support them, organized? (Use at least two specific quotations as support.)

Which types of evidence does the argument depend on? What are the best examples of evidence? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

What are three (or more) terms/concepts from the reading that could be added to our general list of course terms? (Be sure to point out why you identified the particular terms that you chose.)

Illustrate how the source connects to another Unit 2 source by associating specific quotes from each one. (At least two direct quotations will be necessary.)

Jhally's Advertising and the End of the World

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Unit Two Sources Chart

 

List all your group-members' names here:

What is the source's main position/arguments about reality and how reality is constructed? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

How are the arguments about reality, and the evidence used to support them, organized? (Use at least two specific quotations as support.)

Which types of evidence does the argument depend on? What are the best examples of evidence? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

What are three (or more) terms/concepts from the reading that could be added to our general list of course terms? (Be sure to point out why you identified the particular terms that you chose.)

Illustrate how the source connects to another Unit 2 source by associating specific quotes from each one. (At least two direct quotations will be necessary.)

Postman's and Powers's "Reenactments..."  (Chapter 7)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unit Two Sources Chart

 

List all your group-members' names here:

What is the source's main position/arguments about reality and how reality is constructed? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

How are the arguments about reality, and the evidence used to support them, organized? (Use at least two specific quotations as support.)

Which types of evidence does the argument depend on? What are the best examples of evidence? (Be sure to use at least one specific quotation as substantiation.)

What are three (or more) terms/concepts from the reading that could be added to our general list of course terms? (Be sure to point out why you identified the particular terms that you chose.)

Illustrate how the source connects to another Unit 2 source by associating specific quotes from each one. (At least two direct quotations will be necessary.)

Postman's and Powers's "...Images..." (Chapter 8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lab 6

Tuesday, March 29

 

Respond to the following prompt on our weblog. Work in your reality television groups to carefully compose your (2-3 paragraph length) responses in a word processor before posting them. One person should post the response for each group; however, each group member's full name should be listed within the response.

Which course terms can be used to describe reality-television? To answer this question, post your group's analysis of a specific reality-television episode. Remember to introduce and cite any sources that you use (e.g., Turkle, Postman and Powers, Jhally, and the show that you watched), and to let your target audience know the title of the episode and of the show. To conclude your response, explain what your analysis indicates about how well reality-television portrays reality.

 

Print a degree audit, unless you already have a printed copy from this semester.

 

Complete any outstanding work from unit II, including:

The unit two source chart, missing weblog entries, and/or double entries in need of revision.

 

Lab 7

Tuesday, April 5

 

Write a three paragraphs to propose your mixed-media-message (see instructions above), one on your message about reality, one on the way you will organize your message, and one on the multiple media that you will use.

 

Thursday, April 7—Healey Library research

See the first two sections of the Healey Library wiki, above, and begin researching sources for your final paper.

 

Lab 8

Tuesday, April 12

 

Read and annotate "Man's Rights...". Make note of course themes that connect with the text.

 

Complete two peer reviews of two draft mixed-media-messages.