Today I will collect from those of you who have not yet submitted it, the field essay(#5), and last week's news response (#6). We can share with the class the material you have put together and any difficulties or discoveries met along the way. Bear in mind that the final project, described at the bottom of this page, may well be a field report informed not only be your eye witness observations but also the reports and historical accounts put together by others.
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One form of primary research is the profile. People are a source of fascination and interest as well as repositories of information, perspective, and sometimes wisdom. Some of the most popular essays and articles address themselves to the lives of significant or "newsworthy" individuals who by design or luck have been participants in or witnesses to events that live in the collective imagination. We may learn from their example, benefit from their expertise, or simply live vicariously through them events that it would otherwise be impossible for us to experience just so.
Some essays are written from an "as told to" perspective, by a writer who has interviewed at length some individual or been privy to the thoughts and storied events of the individual's life, and then made an effort to preserve them; likewise, some of us have learned of events–historical, social, cultural– through the accounts our parents or others have given us. Suffice it to say, how others live and think and what they have been witness to interests us greatly, as a form of escape, inspiration, and practical information. People are also characters, types even, lovable, admirable, despicable, maddening, intelligent, or not so very, outgoing or quiet, modest or vain or a little bit of both, and we can write to convey the ordinary and extraordinary qualities we find in a certain individual, quite apart from that individual's expertise or knowledge of some secondary matter.
Autobiographical and biographical writings, personality profiles, Q&A interviews, and self-help articles offer a steady stream of writings about people and events large and small. The Internet, social media and blogs, have become a ready means of documenting the life around us, the experiences of people from all walks of life, and of generating a forum for the sharing of ideas and opinions.
The profile requires the writer interview the subject, and present what is learned by means of decription and narration. The subject's story or expertise and perspective on some matter has to be conveyed of course. The important questions and responses, edited for fluency and ordered to meet the particular focus and purpose of the interview, can be presented in either the Q&A format, or the essay format. Today we discuss matters of topical interest that can be developed by means of the personal interview and/or informal survey of a community's response. You will have to identify a story or subject matter whose development depends or proceeds at least in part on the response you get from the individual or individuals you speak with. You might, for example, survey student response to a given issue, whether local, national, global, etcetera: climate change, the sky-rocketing cost of education, the Occupy Wall Street movement, money and work, health matters, technology, food– whatever socio/cultural, economic, or ecological topic interests you. Obviously, the degree to which your respondents have something pertinent to say will be of some import, but you must shape the inquiry to discover what people know, think, or feel.
Importantly, you must be well informed and capable of presenting clearly the subject/issue that interests you, enough to provide questions and follow up that will elicit from your respondents usable information. In class we will discuss further ways you can fulfill assignment #7, and review some examples. The first can be found at the following URL and in class handouts: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/oliver_stone_on_occupy_wall_street_grab_the_power_20111028/
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Final Project (#8) : A short research project (1000 words minimum with a documented source list, i.e. a "Work Cited" list) is due week 10 or 11. This essay should address some subject about which you can make an arguable claim or assert an opinion supported by your research. You should have a least two- three secondary sources (published articles or book material) and one or more primary sources such as your personal experience, documentary photographs available on the web or elsewhere, cartoon journalism, eye-witness accounts gathered through interviews, etcetera. You should provide clear summary of context and important details, and direct quotation of experts or authorities whose reports of fact and opinion matter to your argument. Title and double space the essay.
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