Week 5

     Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than from the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.   – Mark Twain

Good day!  Hope you are well.

Today we will pick up where we left off last week. We'll be reading some of the rough drafts of autobiographical narratives (#2), at least several presentations, as last week we hadn't enough time to accommodate all who might have wanted to speak.  The revised final draft is due Week 7; next week I will have returned all graded copies of the rough draft.

Assignment #3 is to be a short report on a topic or story of current interest, however deep the history of it.  It is to be anchored by an image that you will introduce and describe in the course of your report.  Take the image below, for instance:  what do you see depicted and what meaning do you take from it?

The illustration above of an American flag, its stars falling from the field of blue, accompanied a feature report in the New York Times Magazine about efforts over the last fifty years since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed to actually undo the protections the act put in place.  It drew a response from President Barack Obama (see here). A similar image accompanied the feature piece and is reproduced below.  The flag's stripes are unraveling, tangled.  Clearly the symbolic unity and order the flag symbolizes is in disarray:

--------------Writing About Images

We experience the world through our senses and mind. Color, shape, sound, scent, texture, taste, composition and words play endlessly in our perceptual fields.  Think of the images that culture produces–photographs, films, commercials, drawings, paintings, cartoons, logos, graphics, etcetera.  What can one learn from visual representations?  Can one analyze the particular messages or meaning conveyed, interpret the story told, point or theme illustrated?  Indeed, whether we want to understand the documentary value or aesthetic appeal, or the social, political, or economic interests and attitudes that an image represents, close study can be fun and insightful.

How do advertisers get us to buy?  What makes a particular photograph resonate?  What storylines or themes implicit in images make us pause?  How to begin identifying or “reading” the source content?

The following guidelines should help you write cogently about visual representations:

Source, Purpose, Audience

*Identify the context of the image(s) or video; that is where and how it has been published and distributed or exhibited.  To what end or purpose was it created, and by whom?

*What audience does the image address or appeal to?  How so?

*What is the most prominent element or figure in the image?  And the primary focal point? 

Objects, Figures, Story

*Identify the important objects and figures of foreground and background, consider the literal and expressive details of each, and their collective arrangement in the composition. 

*What story or event is depicted or implied?

*What mood or emotion or idea(s) are put in motion by the use of light and dark, color, balance or lack thereof, the use of white space, graphic text or other elements, etcetera?

Take Away Meaning

*To the extent the image persuades by feeling, mood, dramatic content, and so on, what is to be learned?

What do the uses of the image suggest about culture, politics, social life, art, history, the human condition?

Essay 3: We will be writing about a single image or video piece, and its bearing on the larger issue(s) to which it speaks.  On your own or as a group then, we will focus on the written presentation of visual imagery, subjects yet to be decided.  Museum or gallery art works would of course make for ideal practice as the field trip will call for such.

Some options we will consider are listed below.   Keep track of titles, authors, photographers, and posting sites so that MLA documentation can be completed.

(1)  The following URL affords a fairly extensive photo archive that we can use for class practice in presenting and interpreting visual images.  You will choose one image for a short work of 350-500 words that describes the image and the idea(s) it serves to illustrate or the questions to which it gives rise, whether social, historical, political, philosophical, aesthetic, technological, existential . . . .  You must have a point to make in addressing the image and support that point by means of reference to the image.  You do not have to be an expert on the subject the image addresses or implies, but you should be able to identify something about its impact and merits to make an interesting short essay.

http://search.time.com/results.html?Ntt=2012+photos&x=0&y=0

http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/02/20/world_press_photo_2013_awards_announced_for_the_prestigious_international.html

(2)  Some online periodicals provide a fairly large number of the work of cartoonists, who offer perspectives on matters making the news, in politics, sports, environment, etc.  Choose one from the daily offering or the archives, describe the image and any accompanying text, the artist or author, and the story, matter, or issue it addresses.  You can google key words associated with the pictured material, and find recent news reports that may enhance your understanding of what is being depicted.  Humor is typically an important element in cartoon work and you may have fun presenting readers the material.  Avoid selecting any piece you do not get.  350-500 words, titled, double-spaced lines.

One site:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/

(3) Slide shows of various topics abound online.  A recent one at the New York Times showcases the garden features associated with the artist Frida Kahlo:  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/arts/design/in-frida-kahlo-art-garden-life-nature-melds-with-the-artist-herself.html

(4) A google search of "iconic images" brings up an array of often instantly recognizable images that speak to our collective history, the people admired, hated and/or celebrated, the watershed events, etcetera.

(5) Travel features and slide shows have perennial appeal to those of us who would be travelers:  http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/best-of-travel-365/january-2015/#/south-island-new-zealand_87640_990x742.jpg

You should include references to authors and the image source in text and at the bottom of the piece in the MLA format.

*  The world of images obviously exceeds the postings above, and if you have some alternative image example, you may elect to work with it.  

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Note:  Provide the work cited item in MLA format at the foot of the paper.  Use the format shown at the bottom of today's post for an individual author of an article posted on the

Internet.

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Here is example of one quarter's assignment, which begins with an article about a cat that made a 200-mile journey home after getting lost, and then proceeds to integrate other cat news/reports then current. I was not here focused on the use of an anchoring image, though I certainly had many to use, including the one of my cat Ruby, posted below.

  

Sample Cat Report (Essay 3):

Cats on the Loose:  A Problem in Need of a Solution

For all the cat lovers who read the article by Pam Belluck titled “A Cat’s 200-Mile Trek Leaves Scientists Guessing” (New York Times January 19, 2013) it is perhaps comforting to learn that domestic cats have an as yet little-understood ability to navigate home over long distances.  Holly, a four-year-old house cat, got lost on a family outing to Daytona Beach, Fla., and over the next two months walked to within a mile of her owner’s home in West Palm Beach, Fla.  Fortunately, she was wearing a microchip that allowed rescuers to reunite her with her owners.  Holly’s thinness and bleeding paws attested to the hardships of her journey and that she was lucky to survive. Scientists do not know how cats navigate over long distances.  Writes Belluck, “There is in fact little scientific dogma on cat navigation. Migratory animals like birds, turtles and insects have been studied more closely, and use magnetic fields, olfactory cues, or orientation by the sun.” 

But in other, less heart-warming reports, we have a joint study by the University of Georgia and National Geographic Society called Kitty Cams that confirms that cats given the freedom to roam often expose themselves to significant harm and pose significant threats to small mammals, reptiles, and birds living in the wild.  The Kitty Cams study estimates that domestic cats may kill as many as half a billion birds or more and several billion small mammals each year.  Another report by scientists with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute raised alarms worldwide in contending that “un-owned and owned free-ranging domestic cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and between 6.9 and 20.7 billion small mammals each year in the contiguous United States” (“Feral and Free-Ranging Pet Cats Kill Far More Birds in the Continental United States Than Previously Believed, Smithsonian Study Finds”).  The study indicates, moreover, that “it is un-owned cats—such as farm and barn cats, strays, colony cats, and feral cats—that cause the majority of the mortality, roughly 69 percent of bird deaths and 89 percent of mammal deaths.”  Scientists have concluded that cats represent a greater mortality threat to wild birds, whose numbers are declining, than other threats often cited such as environmental toxins, bridges, skyscrapers, and towers.

The reports of cat predation are being challenged by cat welfare advocates who see a threat to feral cat populations (Alley Cat Allies “Tell the Smithsonian: Stop Spreading Junk Science That Will Kill Cats!”).  Neuter and spay programs have been very effective at reducing the number of stray and feral cats, and the number of cats being euthanized, but the population problem persists.  The large numbers of colonies of feral cats, even those fed and cared for by volunteers, pose a risk to wildlife that many authorities see as untenable.  Debate centers on how to effectively reduce the number of stray and feral cats and thus conserve and protect important wildlife species (Mott “U.S. Faces Growing Feral Cat Problem”).

            As the owner of a cat that relishes the hunt, and succeeds far too often, I have concluded that my Ruby, an ordinary black short-haired domestic cat, will have to stay indoors far more often than she would like, for her own safety and that of the wild creatures that live in or visit my neighborhood.

Note:  The report above does not include a Works Cited list, but it has the in-text references that provide readers the key terms (author and article title) that would be used in a Works Cited page list. The specific reference information and the order in which it is to be formatted is illustrated in the set of MLA examples below. 

Essay short report: The topic must be one which you can tie to the photo or image. The idea is to expand on a subject by reviewing related topical material.  A requirement is that you use at least one image and one article or text source (not Wikipedia) as source material and carry a point by means of it.   Along the way, you will introduce each source, describe its main contents or contribution to your essay and thesis, summarizing the findings, and provide some direct quotation; again, your source should contribute to the development  and support the thesis of the essay.  You will have some time to complete the assignment in class week 6.  

Possible Topics (fill in the blanks):

•  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Type the key words combined with plus signs into the search engine (I use Google) and see what news or reports appear.  The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, NPR.org, and many other sites regularly publish news on every topic you would find in the New York Times.

Format Elements:  The source title and author, be it an article or essay in a magazine or newspaper or that of a website from which you summarize or borrow material, should be identified at the outset in your introduction or first use of the material. The year or date of such information should be recent, or otherwise noted.  Use brackets [ ] around any material you add for the sake of clarity or any necessary change to the original, such as a verb tense, a pronoun, or an ellipsis (to abbreviate the length of the passage). 

Reference to the particular source material by title and author and the purposeful use of direct quotation where warranted are requirements.  We will practice referencing and quoting from various textual sources as needed.  The following list gives examples of suitable taglines to introduce quotations:

Deani writes, . . .

As Dean says,

According to another authority, author of . . .

Makari, the author of "In the Arcadian Woods," suggests a different view, claiming . . .

*Note:  Plagiarism is theft of another's work, whether inadvertent or not.  The following is one textbook example of plagiarism (The Brief Bedford Reader, 9th ed.) :

Original passage:  If we are collectively judged by how we treat immigrants–those who appear to be 'other' but will in a generation be 'us'–we are not in very good shape.

Paraphrase (plagiarised):  The author argues that if we are judged as a group by how we treat immigrants–those who seem to different but eventually will be the same–we are in bad shape.

A paraphrase or summary must express the original freshly; it is not enough to make superficial changes to the wording here and there.  Moreover, the syntax–sentence structure– should not mirror the original.

The following URL illustrates the ways that quotations are presented and punctuated, along with whatever citations may be required:  http://www.writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_quoting.html

   

---------------------------Draft For Next Week

 Homework Essay 3 (see extended research notes and guidelines below):  Pull together an essay  that focuses on one or more of the topics or issues raised by the image or video.  Use the author's embedded links and/or Google search the topic for related pieces.  The materials you find in your research may all be written sources, but include one mulitmedia, photo,  film, or illustration that address in some way the topic of your piece. You should identify all sources used clearly, and in the context of their specific use or appearance in your text. Direct quotation is also a requirement.  Observe the 20 percent rule:  no more than 20 percent of the length of the essay should appear as direct quotation.  You must have a ruling point, a thesis, which is the conclusion that you have come to about the matter, and one which others might reasonalby disgree with. A thesis is a matter of considered judgment and opinion.

This is to be a 450-500 word essay, titled and double-spaced.  Bring to class source material and a nearly finished rough draft next week, week 6.

--------For Further Reference Read Below

 Research/Short Reports

    Research begins with a subject focus and proceeds by study of the sources that shed light on the subject. Research sources are typically categorized as primary or secondary.  The following URL provides a description of the distinctions made between the two:  http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources/primarysources.html

  Those sources that help the writer to "prove" or advance the thesis point are essential.  You as author must become something of an expert in your particular line of inquiry by studying your sources. Whatever the purpose and scope of your essay or report, you will draw upon the "truths" of your sources to help you make your point(s).

Turn to Pappano's piece about academic courses in creativity.  Why was it written?  In what context(s) must it be understood?  To what issues does it speak, what human interests and concerns?  What further research might Pappano's report invite?   We will discuss in class the context of the report's publication and its topical links.  Essay assignment #4 is to be a short essay that synthesizes material from several different source articles or artifacts that are topically linked to the Healy piece.

In research reports, each source must be clearly referenced in text by title and author or publication site if no author is named.  The Modern Language Association publishes guidelines for writing in the humanities which we will follow. These include what are called in-text citations and a Works Cited list.  We will look at the format further in weeks to come, but for now let me make a few points about the business of gathering information, which, naturally, is how we become informed.

Whatever the topic– literary, political, environmental, economic–our first understandings often arise through personal experience and/or casual exposure.   We may have learned something of WWII from our grandparents, who lived through it and have told us stories, for example.  We may have served in the military and thus have direct insight into the impact of war on individuals and society.  We may have read novels, histories, watched documentary films, or listened to the testimonials of those who have born witness to war.  We may read the daily news reports of wars near and far.  We may have visited the great battlefields of Gettysburg or elsewhere.  And we may have formed certain conclusions, however tentative, about the nature of war and its historical use by governments in pursuit of whatever aims. So we may have a store of experience and information that informs our attitudes.  Yet we may never have put together an essay that provides the telling examples, personal voices, eye witness accounts, and expert opinions that provide the persuasive account of why we feel as we do. In fact we may never have gathered it all together for synthesis and analysis.  But that's what we do when we research a matter or issue.

We may use dictionaries to help us define words and terms that may be unfamiliar, encyclopedias to get  concise facts and history, and the news media to learn of events large and small and the range of popular and expert opinion on a given matter.   We may include the artists whose works give us imaginative insight, and the personal stories that come to us by so many means.  What have the many who have weighed in on any subject had to say?   Expository essays are built on writing that is informative, based on the most credible and recent information, with the express purpose of conveying  to readers a clear understanding of the issue or matter. There may be a personal story or basis to the writing, but reference to the work or ideas of others is necessary, in the form of description, summary,  paraphrase and direct quotation, synthesis, and logical analysis. You as author control the material and remain the dominant voice throughout.  It is your thesis idea, your conclusion that unifies and drives the development and choice of sources used in support.

        An essay on some aspect of culture and society today, for example, would necessarily be informed by the writer's particular knowledge of the subject, which comes from familiarity with the literature and artifacts of that aspect of culture and society.  You might, for example, watch a film ( a primary source), and then record your responses, questions that arise, evaluations of the actors, the plot, script, cinematography, etcetera.  You read everything you can find about the making of this film.   You review what has been written or broadcast by others about the film (secondary sources).  Finally, you write a piece that incorporates important aspects of the film's creation, aspects of its cultural importance, the critical responses of film experts or credible reviewers, and of course your own thoughts and conclusions on whatever you have deemed the most important focus in writing about the film. 

    Addressing current events and topics in the media allows you to tap the interest of readers who want to stay current and well-informed, and allows you to enter and shape the discussion as one who is well-informed and has something to add to the discussion, be it only your opinion. It is critical that you identify the various sources you have used for content by author and/or title of work and that the source information be tied to the content borrowed. 

-------------- Essay work should always advance a point, that is, a thesis, always an arguable claim, and one that tries to convince readers of the truth or soundness of some position,  or perhaps to do something, take a stand, too.  Essayists may explore a topic so that readers are in a position to make an informed decision, without themselves insisting on a single position or interpretation of events. The thesis may address an issue that has no ready or absolute answer, nor one readily verified by resort to factual report, but one that must be grappled with and that challenges readers to define their values and beliefs.

Argument or fact?  Facts do not stand alone.  They are put to use, interpreted, sometimes misinterpreted.  Which of the following statements convey matters of fact?  Which are claims, opinions?

     *Recent severe weather events have been caused by climate change.

     *Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

     *Van Gogh’s work is that of a madman.

     *Plastic bags are polluting the seas.

     *Consumers must reduce their carbon footprint.

     *The average temperature of the earth has risen over the last century.

     *Glaciers are melting at a rate unprecedented in modern times.

     *Climate change is a dire threat to the existence of life as we know it.

     *The existence of God is a myth.

 The argument is to be built around an arguable claim, that is one about which reasonable people could reasonably disagree.  It should be supported with reference to your readings, expert or authoritative findings, factual support and logical analysis.  First-person experience and appeals to common sense and human values count, too. 

Consider the following thesis:  The use of plastics worldwide must come under closer scrutiny and regulation.

   Readers may now want to know why, and how the issue affects them and, indeed, if there is anything they might do to help resolve the issue. Your sources provide background information, demonstrate your knowledge of the topic, provide authoritative support and perspective, and show the range of perspectives possible, in fairness to differing opinions.

  Our ideas, whether commonly held or no, are rooted in traditional areas of study reflecting the history of human thought, values, attitudes, and tastes, and conduct.  These study areas include philosophy, religion, nature, aesthetics, science, ethics, education, etcetera.  Our most closely held beliefs and attitudes reflect very often our unexamined ideas about the nature of love, faith, trust, loss, betrayal, goodness and evil, freedom, sanctity, the very meaning of life.  Whether we focus on Washington and the shenanigans that make the nightly news, bioengineering, Facebook, legal injustices, or the most recent individual or "hero" making  a positive difference in the world, our beliefs, associated ideas, and feelings define us as human beings.  In choosing a research topic you will tap into some subject about which you feel strongly and have clear enough knowledge to put across a cogent argument or position, as supported also by fact and opinion gathered from your reading of available literature.  

*Select material for quotation on the following bases:

1       -the wording is particularly memorable, to the point, and not easily paraphrased

2       -it expresses an author’s or expert’s direct opinion that you want to emphasize

3       -it provides example of the range of perspective

4       -it provides a constrasting or opposing view

*See http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/675/1/ for MLA formatting rules and examples of direct quotation.   The OWL site offers fairly comprehensive discussion and examples of presenting and documentaing primary and secondary source material.

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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 or first word to the source item as it is entered on the Works Cited page.  This page contains an alphabetical list of all the sources cited in the report. Any directly quoted, paraphrased or summarized information should be referenced or cited in text and then included on the Works Cited page.   Thus, on this page one finds the full bibliographic or publication information of each source cited in the report/essay.  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 being used 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:

   http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02/

Checklist:

*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.

  

Organization Web Page

“Library Statistics.”  American Library Association.  Amer. Lib. Assn.  2010 Web. 26 Feb. 2010.

Film

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.

Online Video Clip

Murphy, Beth.  "Tips for a Good Profile Piece."  Project:  Report. YouTube, 7 Sept. 2008. Web. 19 Sept. 2008.

Advertisement

Feeding America.  Advertisement.  Time.  21 Dec. 2009:  59.  Print.

Comic or Cartoon

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.

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*Field Report:  The field report must be done on your own, and requires you report from an eye witness perspective on some event, natural feature, business and so on that is part of our local community–Monroe, Dade, Collier, Broward, or Palm Beach County.  We will discuss it further next week and I'll provide examples.