Week 2

1. People who have arranged a back-to-back class schedule on Tuesday should think about scheduling another visit to campus during the week in order to do library research for their projects and consult with me during office hours.

2. My after-class office hours are changing to 6.45-7.45 Tu Th, by signup on my door (or email or phone request).

3. Although Elbow is the only required text, for a guide on technical matters of writing scholarly papers, I recommend Turabian, K. L. (1996). A Manual For Writers of Term papers, Theses, and Disertations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

5. In this course I urge you to take your investigations beyond a library research paper. When you find yourselves out of your technical depth, you will need to ask for assistance and guidance. To get you into the swing of this, I am asking you to contact, very early in your projects, members of the University community or outsiders with expertise in the areas that you have chosen to investigate. You will most likely be in the early stages of formulating topics, but I hope you can get help that moves you along in understanding the technical issues, identifying other sources of in-depth information and people to contact.

Asmt.: Identify an initial informant, make contact, make appointment for a time before class 4.

6. Meet next week in Healey Library instructional room (4th. flr.) for a session on Reference material in the libraries, including the printed sources as well as on-line.

7. If you don't already have it, please arrange internet access, either by getting a UMB email address or by identifying a place, e.g., your local library, where you can use Netscape (or another web browser) during the week between classes.

9. Iterative Process during Practicum

A. Initial description and title,

conveying who you want to influence concerning what (Subject, Audience, Purpose).

Shared with others -> revise A, and angles of inquiry for B.

B. Informants-information

Who's done what before/ who's doing what (through writing & action) that informs your project?

-> bibliography, filtered and annotated w.r.t. how what the reading/interview shows connects with your project

-> revise A, and grist for C.

C. Possible directions and priorities

e.g., by Mapping,

Presented to & probed by others -> expand elements of project, and expose possible new directions, clarify direction/scopewithin the larger context displayed in the map, and decide priorities.

Most important direction expressed in Controlling Question

-> revise Subject, Audience, Purpose in A, more/ different work on B.

D. Arguments, Counter-Arguments, Counter-Counter-Arguments...

Probed by others -> more work on B, revising A & C, and to questions that need first hand information in E.

E. Interviewing & Participating -> information not available by other means

-> revise D, and also revise/ revisit A-C, especially Controlling Question.

F. Design (further) research,

by proceeding through 4 stages: Vision->Obstacles->Strategic Directions->Action plans

-> revisit/revise A - E, especially Controlling Question.

G. Public presentations on work-in-progress & Report outlines

-> revise F, D, Controlling Question in C, and also revise A, more work on B, and possibly E.

H. Written drafts and other products

Commented on by others

-> revise outline G, and revise H, with possibility of further research F for this project or future projects (see C -> new A), and even revisit/revise A - E.

10. We didn't talk about sharing in class, but we will return to this issue when I introduce various ways of sharing that Elbow (in another book) has delineated.

11. Expectation 1 in the syllabus was independent work on your project outside class steadily, i.e., every week, throughout semester. Preferably, set aside clear block(s) of time each week. Apart from the initial informant assignment, and revising the title & description in response to my comments, you should practice freewriting and mapping, and, even in advance of the library session, you should begin B (see above): Who's done what before/ who's doing what (through writing & action) that informs your project?.

Week 1
1. Sign-up for initial conferences
2. Buy Elbow, workbook/journal to carry with you at all times; and also an organized system to store loose materials (e.g., a 3 ring workbinder with dividers and pockets, an accordion file, or file folders).
3. Review course material in syllabus, incuding overview, expectations and assessment. Bring queries to class or email.
4. Try out freewriting for 10 minutes. Suggested topic: "I would like my work on X to influence Y to make changes in Z..." See other topics on course web-site.
5. Reading from class 1: Chap. 2 of Elbow on freewriting
6. Begin to revise your Title and initial description of proposed research (1 page) -- see example in handout from today. Identify general areas and specific questions.
7. Pre-reading for class 2: Elbow, chaps. 1 & 3.
8. Contact me if there's a glitch in any of our evolving arrangements or you have any other worries.
9. Start organizing your work materials.
10. Start locating possible readings for your work (see week 3, which if it were not for the schedule at the library would have come before week 2).
11. Map out your time so as to make a clear block of time outside class for your research.
12. Read more of Jenny Harvey's report and bring comments or qeries to class 2.