Journeys Around Home: The Accidental Explorer

We've arrived at the end.  This is the last official blog post for the semester, and I'm going to miss reading your thoughtful posts on Tuesday afternoons.  The upshot, though, is that we'll get to exchange ideas in a longer form, as we transition from these short writing assignments to longer ones.  But before we make this transition, how about one last hurrah?  You know the drill: questions and comments--composed in 12-mintue bursts--posted here, and then shared as appropriate in the in-class discussion.

Don't forget to bring your annotated bibliography to class on Tuesday!

Happy reading, researching, and writing,

kevin

Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir

This week's reading is timed to correspond with the One Campus, One Book events, notably tonight's 7:00pm panel discussion featuring our own Ishmael Hope and his collaborators on the video game Never Alone, and Ernestine Hayes's Friday 7:00pm Evening at Egan Lecture, so in addition to reading carefully and posting questions and answers in the comments here, I'm urging you to attend one or both of these events to engage with the broader UAS and Juneau communities dialogues surrounding the book and the issues it raises.

As always, I look forward to next week's conversation.

By way of duplication of announcement, I'm also pasting below the details from the handout about the seminar paper from last night.

SEMINAR PAPER DETAILS

English 418: Travel

Per the description on the syllabus, this 10-12 page paper will be on a topic of your choice. While you will certainly draw on the course texts and discussions, you are not required to write on any of the coruse texts directly.  You will, however, be expected to enter into a critical conversation, so some outside research will be required.  That is, your essay should be informed by your careful reading of key secondary materials, but you should use these secondary sources as a means to enter into an ongoing scholarly conversation surrounding the text or issue you choose rather than as "support" for your position.

Here are some of the steps that will make this paper process more productive. 

Tuesday Nov 10.  Prospectus. (optional, but HIGHLY recommended)

The prospectus should be a very quick (no more than a page in length) summary of what you imagine will be the main points of your paper.  It should gesture toward a scholarly conversation you imagine you might enter, noting the key questions at issue.  It should also indicate your position, and outline or hint at some of the textual evidence you might use to defend your position. 

 Tuesday Nov 17.  Annotated Bibliography.

The annotated bibliography should include a mostly complete bibliography with at least 4 secondary texts (properly formatted following MLA style guidelines); 2 items in this bibliography should be annotated.  These annotations must be no longer than 150 words and should contain:  a clear articulation of the argument of the essay or book, a brief explanation of this argument, and a quick sentence or two that explains its relevance to your own argument.  (As a point of reference this paragraph contains 85 words—concision is key). 

Tuesday Nov 24. Conference.

This formal 5-minute conference presentation should be a preview of the key ideas for the seminar paper you will complete in the following weeks.  While literary studies disciplinary practice generally entails writing a 2.5 to 3-page paper to be read out-loud—notably, writing to be read out-loud is different than just writing a paper—you are welcome to approach this presentation according to your own preferences.  However you present your ideas, you will compose a 3-page paper to submit with your presentation.  It will work best if you think of this as a preliminary version of your final seminar paper.  

Tuesday Dec 1.  Full draft workshop. Entire session will be dedicated to a peer review workshop of your papers.  You should have at least 7 pages.    

Tuesday Dec 8. Final paper due to my office by 5:30pm

Please submit the final version of your paper with the prospectus (if completed), annotated bibliography, and peer review drafts.