Welcome!
Welcome back. Today, we’re going to be looking in depth at the assignment, and working together to make sure that you are getting up and running with the initial research.
Checking in
We’ll start with breakout groups for 5-10 minutes. Talk about how the assignment is going, how things are more generally, and any problems that you have. We’ll feed back after the groups.
Reflection
Now I’m going to give you a 20 minute exercise to get you thinking about the question you are exploring for your essay.
Think about the question you want to answer. If you haven’t decided yet, decide now! You can change your mind later if necessary, so don’t worry.
Now make notes on the following:
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Why does this question interest you? (Or why does it interest you more than the other questions?)
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Thinking about the topic of this question, what do you know (or think you know) already?
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What do you not know that you need to find out?
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Do you have any personal experience, or personal preoccupations, that are related to this question? If so, what?
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How will you go about answering this question? What strategies will you use? What argument might you make?
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Have you started researching? If so, what resources have you used so far?
We’ll then share this in groups. The first breakout groups will be assigned at random.
Discussion
Let’s discuss any initial problems you are having, or any initial questions you want to ask.
Research
Now we’re going to go back into groups to think about research. In your breakout groups, think about how you might answer the question you are interested in. Then work together to find some relevant resources. Use JSTOR as your starting point. By the next session, I want everyone to have:
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At least two academic papers (it can be more) from JSTOR that are strongly relevant to the argument you will be making. Please save the links to the papers.
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A couple of sentences written about each paper that say why these papers are going to be useful.
Homework
For your homework, by the end of the week, I want you to post on the discussion board to share the two or more papers you have chosen from JSTOR (use links), and your justification for choosing these.