Research Project Assignment

Research Project: “Writing Right Now”

Jack Christian, Eng 101

Broad Research Question: How is the internet and the Information Revolution changing the practices of reading and writing?

Audience: The same audience imagined by Nicholas Carr and Andrew Sullivan – i.e. the readership of The Atlantic Monthly

Purpose: To find, articulate, analyze, and contribute to the ongoing conversation regarding how the Information Revolution is changing reading, writing, and thinking.

Background: Nicholas Carr, in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” argues that use of the internet is fundamentally changing the way humans think. According to Carr, these changes are most noticeable in terms of the way he now reads, as he “power-browses” the web for information.

In “Why I Blog,” journalist Andrew Sullivan claims that blogging has brought about a new form of writing, and with it a new writer-ly “sensibility.”

Both of these authors touch upon the fact that in academia and popular culture alike, the process, content, structure, form, rules, manners, logics of writing and reading (and meaning-making in general) are changing rapidly. This “shift” is what we will be focusing on for your research projects.

Assignment: Your job is to locate a primary text that evidences some part(s) of the change in writing/reading brought on by the Information Age. The text you choose could be a blog or tumblr account, it could be a twitter account, or a facebook page. It could be a website, a course syllabus, an email, a txt message, or even a movie or tv episode, a song, a music video, a commercial, a product, a product’s packaging, possibly even an “app.” Choose carefully. The best texts will be ones that allow you to develop your own ideas about these changes, and what they mean.

Once you have located this text, you will undertake a close reading, in which you will present your own original thesis statement that addresses how your text exemplifies some aspect(s) of this shift, and the underlying assumptions and values suggested by your text.

In so doing, you will want to bring in at least 4 sources (at least 1 scholarly sources) that help you articulate the “conversation” that surrounds the text you have chosen, and that you will use to help you articulate and discuss your own original ideas about the text you are studying. For your other sources, you are invited and expected to use the essays we have read as a class

Process: First we will begin looking for interesting texts (primary sources) to study. Then we will start looking for sources to help us in discussing these texts. Along the way, you’ll compile an 4 source annotated bibliography. Think of this as your presentation of the “conversation” surrounding the text you have chosen to study. After that, you will begin drafting your essay in which you will present your own ideas about the text you have chosen, in conjunction with the information and ideas presented by your sources.

Length: 5-6 pages

Primary Sources: 1 well chosen text. See above.

Secondary Sources: at least 4, 1 of which must be scholarly sources (The rest can be used from readings we have done as a class) NO NEWSPAPERS

Schedule:

T 11/15: bring 1 scholarly source to class, that you have read and printed out

TH 11/17: Have read and be ready to discuss Johnson’s “Tv Makes You Smarter.” Summary due in class.

T 11/22: Annotated bibliographies. Source conversation due in class Tues.

TH 11/24: Thanksgiving Holiday

T 11/29: Graded source annotated bibliography due. Graded 3-4 page write up of the “conversation” between your sources due. In-class writing activities.

TH 12/1: Class cancelled for individual conferences.

Individual conference in Ely by Subway. Initial draft due at conference. Bring 2 Copies.

T 12/6: Revised Draft Due

TH 12/8: Final Draft Due

M/W Calendar

Schedule:

M 11/14: Meet in Ely Library to begin research

W 11/16: bring 1 scholarly source to class, that you have read and printed out

M 11/21: Have read and be ready to discuss Zengotita’s “The Numbing of the American Mind”

W 11/23: Thanksgiving Holiday

M 11/28: Graded source annotated bibliography due. Graded 3-4 page write up of the “conversation” between your sources due. In-class writing activities.

W 11/30: Class cancelled for individual conferences.

Individual conference in Ely by Subway. Initial draft due at conference. Bring 2 Copies.

M. 12/5: Revised Draft Due

W, 12/7: Final Draft Due