Lake Worth Street Painting Festival 2013
Good morning, class. I hope you enjoyed the week past and have caught up on projects. Today we will look at short reports again and the specifics of the previously assigned field report (due next week) and the poem "Illumination," by Eric Paul Shaffer, due today. We will also review the documentation of primary and secondary source material and practice using the format with an in-class exercise, perhaps one that focuses on visual imagery–photography, film, or illustration. The goal is to make you comfortable using various sources to develop an essay theme and thesis point. Before the end of class, we will review requirements of the individual report that will be due week 10.
Please consult with me about grades and any missing or late assignments. As we approach the final weeks of class, I want you to be completely clear about what is due or outstanding.
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A short list of websites featuring topical material and news from a variety of perspectives and in different mediums:
NPR.org (National Public Radio)
huffingtonpost. com
ted.com (Ted Talks)
slate.com
salon.com
nytimes.com
thedailybeast.com
alternet.org
U.S. government
Sources covering scientific, environmental, medical, educational, and judicial matters and research can be found through more specific searches of non-profit, education and governmental sites. The U.S. government, for example, maintains pages on the topics of "bullying" and "climate change" and others that may help in research of such topics.
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Citing Sources in MLA Style
To document your research sources, whether from an article in print or online, an encyclopedia or dictionary item, an interview source, a film, photograph, illustration or other visual material– there is a standard means. The primary reference is the author of the source, whose last name provides the key word–the first word– to an itemized alphabetical list on the last page of the report (called the Works Cited page). The Works Cited page contains the full bibliographic information of all the sources referenced or cited in the text. Any directly quoted, paraphrased or summarized information should be referenced or cited in text and included on the Works Cited page. The author’s name and the title of the piece should be included in the essay text along with whatever information item you have borrowed or used. This in-text reference may appear as a parenthetical citation (i.e. a set of parentheses like the one I am using now) containing the author's last name and perhaps a page number or text title. Sometimes an article or source may have no author credit; in such instances, use the text title as the key term.
The following URL displays the MLA guidelines and illustrations for integrating sources:
*Double-check to that you have acknowledged all material from a source.
*Identify the author of each source in text or in parentheses following the information item.
*Use the title as a source reference for works without identified authors.
*Follow the basic pattern for creating entries on the Works Cited page, and be sure to alphabetize them.
The Works Cited format is here illustrated for some commonly used sources:
Individual Author of a Book
Hazzard, Shirley. The Great Fire. New York. Farrar, 2003. Print.
Article from a Printed Magazine
Jenkins, Lee. “He’s Gotta Play Hurt.” Sports Illustrated. 26 Oct. 2009: 42-3. Print.
Article from an Online Magazine
Bowden, Mark. “Jihadists in Paradise.” The Atlantic.com. Atlantic Monthly Group, Mar. 2007. Web. 8 Mar. 2007.
Article from an Online Newspaper
Richmond, Riva. “Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay.” New York Times. New York Times, 19 May 2010. Web. 29 May 2010.
Selection from an Online Book
Webster, Augusta. “Not Love.” A Book of Rhyme. London, 1881. Victorian Women Wrtiers Project. Web. 8 Mar. 2007.
“Library Statistics.” American Library Association. Amer. Lib. Assn. 2010 Web. 26 Feb. 2010.
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Dir. Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema, 2003. Film.
Program on Television or Radio
“The Wounded Platoon.” Frontline. PBS. WGBH, Boston, 18 May 2010. Television.
Feeding America. Advertisement. Time. 21 Dec. 2009: 59. Print.
Adams, Scott. “Dilbert.” Comic Strip. Denver Post 1 Mar. 2010: 8C. Print.
Personal, Telephone, or E-mail Interview
Boyd, Dierdra. Personal Interview. 5 Feb. 2012.
Final Project (#7) : A short research project (750 words minimum, with in-text references to sources and a publication 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 that can be supported by the various sources you pull together to develop and prove the claim. I would like to see you address a topic making news now(the recent news lead)or in the not-too-distant past, just as we did with the topic of domestic cats. You must include information from at least two different secondary sources (article reports or commentaries by leading authorities, scientific or cultural) that provide clear support for your argument (thesis claim).
In the humanities, which includes the study of art, film, literature, philosophy, and religion, students often analyze some primary source, a literary work or historical document, a painting, film, or other work of art. In the social sciences, which include business, economics, education, criminal justice, psychology, sociology, health studies, researchers study the behavior of individuals and groups, seek to understand and explain causes and trends, suggest appropriate policy responses, and so on. Whatever the subject you address, again, provide at least two to four sources to help you make your case, such as published articles or book material that provides commentary, history, etc.
Other sources such as personal experience and eye-witness accounts, documentary photographs available on the web or elsewhere, cartoons, reader responses, information or insights gathered through personal interviews, surveys, etcetera, may also figure in the essay. 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. You are to have both in-text references and a Works Cited page, and you are to title and double space the essay.
Examples of field reporting from the New York Times:
