Assignments
Toward the end of generating a worthy project you will continue to develop beyond Core II, the focus will be on pursuing serious inquiry during this course, which will incorporate three stages, each with corresponding writing assignments.
|
Stage 1
The first stage has four parts (17% of total grade for the course):
Reading Response (6%)
|
During stage one, students will be assigned to collaboratively write a well-developed reading response for a required reading, and then each student will reply to other reading responses at least four times (60 points total: 40 points for the collaborative blog post and 5 points each for the four replies).
|
Inventory (4%):
|
Each student will compile an inventory of current projects, their status, and current plans for those projects, together with the current understanding and practices of writing and research at work in those projects.
|
Draft of Vision/Mission Statement (3%):
|
Having composed your inventory, each student is to draft a vision/mission statement that declares what they have at stake for themselves as writers and researchers.
You will be working to break through into new territory (as a researcher and writer), and not just for this semester, but also for the rest of the MA program, if not for the rest of your life. Near the end of the semester, you will revise this vision/mission statement in response to what you have uncovered about yourself as a writer and researcher, and that revision will be part of, and deeply inform, your prospectus for your MA project. |
Exploratory Plan (4%):
|
The fourth part of this first stage will be to compose your plan for exploration. This will include one or more central research questions, the network of controlling values that guide these questions, as well as a viable projection of a plan with specific actions to take (in the form of research and writing). The plan may or may not be fulfilled by the end of the semester. Like the vision/mission statement, this document will provide you with the necessary grounding to write your prospectus.
|
Stage 2
The second stage of Core II will be the aggregation of research catalogued within two documents; you will also provide updates on the course blog, Excursions (58% of total grade for the course):
The Annotated Bibliography (15%):
|
In your annotated bibliography you will provide an alphabetical list of your research (at least 16 sources: 8 or more previously researched and 8 or more new) during the course, with a comprehensive summary for each entry.
|
The Research Journal (25%):
|
Your research journal will provide you an informal writing space to share your thoughtful engagement with your research, readings, accomplishments, breakdowns, discoveries, failures, etc.
|
Sharing Progress (18%):
|
During stage two, each student will post at least two reflective progress reports (40 points each).
Also during stage two, each student will provide at least 10 significant replies (10 points each). |
Stage 3
The third and final stage will include drafting your prospectus (25% of total grade for the course):
The Prospectus (25%):
|
This preliminary draft of your prospectus for your MA project will emerge from your Vision/Mission Statement and Exploratory Plan, and from your experience with conducting research over the course of the semester. As a draft, this too will undergo another revision given the requirements of Seminar I.
|