PAST DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

Before coming to class on Monday, 2/1:

If you want to go ahead and get started gathering materials, we only have one required textbook:

Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope: A History of the University of Virginia in One Hundred Objects,
by Brendan Wolfe, 978-0813940106

First readings from that book will be assigned for 2/8. (Or at least, anything sooner, and I’ll scan it for you to download.)

*Otherwise, we’ll create most material through independent software (i.e., whatever you have that works) and collaborate through Google Drive; additional readings will be provided as PDFs or links.

Before coming to class on Wednesday, 2/3:

  • Post your introduction to the course Forum

  • Read Ch. 1, "Anthropology and Text"

  • Post a reading response to the course Forum

  • Read through the syllabus and see if you have any questions regardless course content or policies.
    *We'll take a brief, open-note syllabus quiz in class on Wednesday, just to get on the same page about the policies.

Before coming to class on Friday, 2/5:

  • Announcement: I posted a draft of the UVA undergraduate writing survey—I’ll be sending it to the survey people on Friday for their edits, but I’d love your input first, if you have time. You can find the survey and add your notes here.

  • Heads up—be sure to secure your copy of Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope—we’ll be reading that next week, in full, so you’ll need it by Monday. Please send word if you have any trouble.

On-Grounds Students

  • Meet at the Harrison-Small building at 10:45.

    • The library is also called the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library (if you’re searching your GPS, this is what will probably pop up). The street address is 170 McCormick Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22904.

    • The front doors to the building are currently locked, but there will be a staff person there from 10:45-11:10 am to let us in.

    • The presentation will begin at 11:00; arriving by 10:45 will let us space out physically and get settled in the auditorium before the presentation begins.

  • DO wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth during the entire visit.

  • DO try to maintain 6 feet distance between people.

  • DO bring a laptop or tablet or phone to take notes/photos. You may also have loose paper and pencils.

    • To preserve delicate materials, no pens, notebooks, food, drink, or gum are allowed. There will be a designated “drop-off” area for bags, coats, etc.

Remote Students

  • You will NOT attend synchronously this day. We’ll record relevant audio/video and capture images for you to view over the weekend; you’ll also participate in the Forum discussion where we’ll all compare notes. I’ll be putting those items together on Friday afternoon and will send you an announcement when they’re available.

  • Please let me know if you have any questions!


Before coming to class on Monday, 2/8:

  • Check out the gallery page from Friday’s Special Collections visit. Remote students, be sure to watch the video.

  • Read Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope—check out everything through Item #20 (page 53).

  • Post to the newest Forum discussion.

Files for in-class on Monday:

Before coming to class on Wednesday, 2/10:

  • Leaf through the rest of Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope, so you have a sense of what all else is in there (as possible subjects for your first papers).

    • Heads up for pacing of your more careful reading: We’ll discuss selected items 21-60 in class on Wednesday, and the rest on Friday, always in continued considerations around our core question, “What is the ‘culture of writing’ at UVA?”

  • For discussion on Wednesday—complete the following activities, and be prepared to talk about the role of literacy in early UVA life as connected to who had it, who didn’t, and what access issues and especially what the reasoning for those restrictions tells us about what literacy meant at that time:

  • Review the first essay assignment and select an artifact (or up to 5 artifacts, if you want to consider a set of them together) for your own paper.

  • Draft a thesis statement—what do you want to argue in your paper? Remember that you’ll need to “close read” your selected artifacts and then make an argument regarding how that artifact fits into the history of UVA, what it tells us about ourselves, etc. Go ahead and post your drafted statement to the Forum; we’ll workshop these during class time.

For Friday, 2/12:

  • Read through whatever you haven’t yet covered in Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope.

    • Oh, and if you’re interested, this is the other enslaved memoir I referenced in Wednesday’s class. Relevant passage:

      “On the occasion I am now about to speak of, Gen. Lafayette and George were seated in the carriage with him. The conversation turned upon the condition of colored people--the slaves. Lafayette spoke indifferently; sometimes I could scarcely understand him. But on this occasion my ears were eagerly taking in every sound that proceeded from the venerable patriot's mouth.

      “Lafayette remarked that he thought that the slaves ought to be free; that no man could rightly hold ownership in his brother man; that he gave his best services to and spent his money in behalf of the Americans freely because he felt that they were fighting for a great and noble principle--the freedom of mankind) that instead of all being free a portion were held in bondage (which seemed to grieve his noble heart); that it would be mutually beneficial to masters and slaves if the latter were educated, and so on. Mr. Jefferson replied that he thought the time would come when the slaves would be free, but did not indicate when or in what manner they would get their freedom. He seemed to think that the time had not then arrived. To the latter proposition of Gen. Lafayette, Mr. Jefferson in part assented. He was in favor of teaching the slaves to learn to read print; that to teach them to write would enable them to forge papers, when they could no longer be kept in subjugation.

      “This conversation was very gratifying to me, and I treasured it up in my heart.”
      —Israel Jefferson

  • For discussion on Friday, please post a question that YOU’d like to talk about with your classmates to the Forum.

  • Revise your thesis statements based on Wednesday’s feedback, and draft an outline for Friday.
    *You do NOT have to post these to the Forum, but you DO need to have a version that’s easily shareable with peers on Friday (so a Google doc you can share, etc.).

    • Include at least 3 “levels deep” on your outline.

    • Include a minimum of 2 references for each major body section. Something like:

I. Introduction

II. Body

1. Section 1—major idea

a) support (ref1)

b) support (ref2)

c) reflection

2. Section 2—major idea

a) support (ref1)

b) support (ref2)

c) reflection

3. Section 3—major idea

a) support (ref1)

b) support (ref2)

c) reflection

III. Conclusion—So what?

For Monday, 2/15:

  • Submit your first essay drafts to this Drive folder prior to class.

    • These can be VERY drafty, with bullets in sections, notes to yourself/others in brackets, etc.

    • I recommend having at least 2/3 of the paper completed.

    • Focus on ideas, overall structure, and pacing, not on making the sentences beautiful yet.

    • Do think toward the “so what?” question you want to address. (I.e., you’ve chosen a few artifacts and a major claim. So what? What’s important about what you’re saying and showing in this paper? When you have a clear sense of purpose/urgency, your paper will have more focus and power. You’ll want to hint at this “so what?” in your introduction and occasionally throughout your paper, and then you’ll want to it pick up and run with in your conclusion.)

This Week:

  • Finish adding all comments to your peers’ papers before midnight EST on Tuesday, 2/16.

  • Revise and complete your papers:

    • Please COPY your documents prior to making revisions, so you’ll have an original AND a final draft.

    • Do remember to include your cover memo. This item can be very casual! The details are on the assignment sheet.

    • Submit your FINAL drafts to this Drive folder by midnight on Friday, 2/19.

  • Per Thursday’s announcement, we will NOT meet for class on Friday, 2/19. Watch this website for details about readings/Forum assignments for Monday. These details will appear on Friday, around class time.

For Monday 2/22:

On Monday, we’ll hit the ground running with discussing contemporary field research, including using interviews, surveys, and discourse analysis as research methods. The first two items are likely already familiar, but discourse analysis may be new to you. So:

  • Please read through this sample article to get some facility with what people do and why with regard to analyzing online discussions.

    • It might help to also reference this explanation of discourse analysis. (This source tells you what DA is in accessible language; the source above explains in more academic terms, and also shows an example of someone performing DA.)

  • Please spend some time (about an hour?) looking through online forums that current UVA students use regularly. Choose 1 or 2 really active/specific threads, if possible, or maybe sort through multiple threads on the same topic. (E.g., every year, there are recurring threads on things like, “Which X course should I take?” or “Is it worth it to do Y?”) This might be threads on Reddit or Instagram or whatever other platforms students are using. The caveat for our class is that all information must be PUBLIC; we can’t use private chats (including private groups on otherwise public platforms—think, anything where you have to “join to see”). The only exception to the public/private rule is if the chat is your own AND you get WRITTEN permission from all users to share their posts.

  • In the Forum, indicate which threads you explored and what trends you noticed. These trends can be lofty and impressive, but they can also be “normal” (arguing about whose fault it is that we have greater restrictions now; trying to figure out the easiest version of a class to take). We’re trying to get a realistic sense of how UVA students are using this form of writing today—both kind of a baseline "typical use” as well as a range that includes interesting outliers.

For Wednesday, 2/24:

  1. Add to this spreadsheet re: interviewees—

    • research the people already named; add anything that’s missing but that you know we should cover; put your name down for people you’d be up to contacting/interviewing

    • DO NOT CONTACT anyone yet; we need to agree on who's contacting whom, + I’ll write up a template intro. email for you to start with, and give you additional guidance on questions, format, legal concerns, etc.

  2. Read C. S. Lewis’s “Learning in War-Time.”

    • As noted in class, this is a sermon, and he gets quite theological in places. (Some of you will likely enjoy that; he’s a beloved theologian for many—he’s the Narnia guy, if you ever imagined finding a magical world through a wardrobe. Others of you may find some of the theology awkward or troubling in places. Feel free to wrestle with this element or skip it, as suits you.) He’s also writing in 1939, and you may find you need to re-read a line every now and then to catch the rhythm of his prose.

    • Update: I found an interesting and thoughtful edited version, updated for a broader and more current audience. You might prefer reading this edition. (The editor seems to be Killeen Hanson, an artist and professor; this edition was a formal production, as you can see here.)

    • If you want the original sermon, I’m linking that PDF here. Before finding Hanson’s edition, I did highlight the portions that I thought would read most smoothly/get at the important parts of the sermon for our purposes. If you’re inclined toward religion in general or Christianity in particular, you may also find the un-highlighted passages of interest.

    • The key points I want you to consider have to do with how on earth people carry on with scholarship in the midst of pressing social crises around them.

  3. Post a response to the Forum—perhaps mostly, I’m looking for your posts that sort of update Lewis’s charge. Think “Learning in Covid.” What is helping you find/focus on your vocation in midst of all this? How is your vocation itself helping you? Etc.

For Friday, 2/26:

  • Make any additional edits you want to see reflected in the final Interview format and final Peer Survey. I’ll be sharing the final versions with you in class on Friday, so you can begin contacting interviewees and also distribute the survey to your peer groups any time after Friday’s class.

  • Continue to add to the Interview Contacts document. We’ll make final interview assignments on Friday, so you can begin reaching out to those individuals ASAP. (I will provide you with sample language for introductory emails, plus the set questions we’ve agreed upon, and some additional advice for interview prep on your end.)

    • For adding "new people” to the Interview list:

      • If you’re out, DO look around Grounds for posters/flyers advertising anything writing-related. Take a picture and share it to the Forum so we can capture the info.

      • Consider your peer group. Who do you know who does a lot of writing, for any reason? Would they be someone to interview?

      • Take about 30-60 minutes to look at the Faculty Authors and/or Alumni Authors pages, available through the UVA bookstore. These are all people we could reach out to, as well. Anyone especially strike you as someone you want to talk to? (It’s easier to get into touch with current faculty, because we have their contact information readily available, but the alumni could be interesting if we can find their contact info. A lot of them will be on LinkedIn or have websites of their own.)

      • Keep in mind that we don’t have to interview every person on our list; you only need to plan to conduct 1 interview, more are optional. It might be good to have a back-up plan, though, in case your first choice doesn’t respond. (I’ll retain the list for future semesters, and future students/I can follow up with people we weren’t able to connect with this term.)

  • FYI—I’ve put together a shell for our semester-end gallery, if you want to click through and just see how I’m expecting to present what you’re gathering. I thought seeing the shell might help you to get your head around what you’re in the process of creating; we’ll of course adjust as needed based on what we actually gather.

For Monday, 2/28:

  • Send out this survey to your peer groups (no particular rules on group size; only rule is that participants must be current UVA students). Send via text, email, or social media. You might especially encourage friends to submit writing samples; that’s the big thing we need, and I’m guessing the response rate on that item might be lower?
    *I added a question asking for names/contact info., to be seen only by me, because I realized I’ll likely need to follow up with anyone who donates writing with 1-2 additional release forms (at least 1 for our class exhibit purposes, and possibly a separate one for Special Collections). I’ll handle that part, but I thought you might wonder what’s up with that addition.

  • Find your interview assignment on this spreadsheet, then go ahead and reach out to your people using the initial email template.

    • Your goal (a moving target) is to complete your interviews by the end of next week (3/6); don’t panic if you can’t hit that target, but keep it as an ideal.

    • If you want to switch your “backup” and “primary” people, feel free.

    • If you’d PREFER to have an interview partner (or to switch with someone), feel free to organize among yourselves in the GroupMe and just keep me posted on anything that changes.

    • If you have any concerns or questions about your interviewee, please contact me.

    • Casey and Sivan, you’re the only people team-interviewing. Please coordinate with each other. I assume Craig will agree; he seemed amenable when I talked with him. If for some reason you can’t set up an interview with him, your backup people are different, so you’d be able to divide and conquer at that point.

  • Complete the newest Forum post.

  • Sign up for a conference time with me for next week. If you can’t find a time that works with your schedule, please contact me directly.

For the rest of this week (3/3-3/5):

  • Continue working toward collecting interview and survey data.

    • Here is the updated survey, if you can think of anyone else to send to. I’ve got some other ideas for contemporary pieces you can look at, as well, but it would be nice to see if this new version generates any different responses (for now, but also for future semesters of this class).

      • Just FYI—This is a separate link from the original. The original is still live and collecting data, so you don’t have to alert prior collection groups unless you want to.

    • Exhibit resources for you to choose from will be on the Unit 2 page.

  • Come to your scheduled conference with me. Details are on the sign-up sheet.

For Monday, 3/8:

  • It was really nice to connect with each of you this week! We’ll spend next week drafting/revising your second essay—which will, I hope, include lively discussions of a variety of interpretations of the material.

  • As noted to most of you, you’ll be getting your first essays back on Monday, and then we’ll look at the prompt for Essay #2. As a preview to help you think through your work, though—you’re going to be making an argument for how YOU would currently characterize today’s culture of writing around (physical and virtual) Grounds, and you’ll draw on the exhibit materials you choose to support your argument. SO:

  • Before Monday, consider the possible exhibit materials you could include, and select any 2-5 pieces you’d like to use in your essays, so you’ll be ready to start early drafting exercises during class.

  • Once you’ve completed your interview, please post a brief report to the Forum; you can wait to post if your interview has been delayed into next week.

For Wednesday, 3/10:

  • Read the attached excerpts from Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace.

    • I recommend this full book, although the newest edition is always expensive. As you can see, though, it’s been updated many times (you’re reading from the 12th edition); the older editions are usually very cheap online (as low as $5), and we have a few older copies in our libraries on Grounds. [The new copies DO have some useful updates, enough that I was willing to buy one; you can leaf through the various Introductions for a quick reference list of what changes took place between editions.]

  • Work through the notes in your graded Essay #1 draft. Don't feel you have to fully revise it by Wednesday, but make enough headway to get a feel for the changes I've asked you to consider. Where are you getting stuck? How can learning these skills/instincts help you with writing Essay #2?

  • Draft a rough outline for Essay #2, with a thesis, at least 3 levels deep. You'll workshop these in class on Wednesday with peers.

  • Heads up—to allow for some additional interview timeframes, I am extending the Essay #2 deadline for all of you until Monday, 3/15, before midnight. Please contact me if you think you’ll need an additional time. I’ve updated the official assignment sheet under Unit 2 to reflect this due date change.

For Friday, 3/12:

  • Review the major principles from the Style excerpt we read for Wednesday. I’m attaching a PDF with highlights in it here, to help you quickly identify main points. Don’t feel like you have to achieve mastery of every technique here, but try choosing one or two to work on in your revision and upcoming paper.

  • Begin drafting your second essay. Some of you may have enough material available to write a complete draft. Others of you (with interviews still pending) may only be able to draft part of the material-in-progress.

    • Write at least 400 words, anywhere in your essay that seems manageable/interesting to you.

    • Write 2-3 questions about your draft that you’d like to discuss with your peers in breakout rooms—these might be questions about your IDEAS or about your FORM/STYLE. Make them generative questions—you’ll be in breakout rooms working for the majority of the class period, so you’ll want plenty to talk about/work with.

    • Have your draft material AND your questions available for quick sharing during class (via Google Doc link, etc.).

For Monday, 3/15:

  • If you haven’t posted your interview Forum post yet, make sure you get that finished.

  • Finish your Essay #2; post the final draft for grading to this folder. All materials due before midnight on Monday.

  • If you are in the Monday tour group, meet on Grounds, at the Rotunda steps. Try to arrive a few minutes early, so we can begin promptly. If you’re running late, feel free to text me to find our location. My cell # is: 615.509.7448.

    • If you are NOT in the Monday tour group, no class; just work on your papers. You’ll be taking your tour next week.

    • Tour Groups:

      • Monday, 3/15:

        • Sivan

        • Mackenzie

        • Sarah

        • Casey

        • Anthony

      • Monday, 3/22, in-person:

        • Claire

        • Jennie

        • Jey

        • Thomas

        • Christopher

      • Monday, 3/22, virtual (will be held synchronously, during class time):

        • Eddie

        • Jerry

        • Jared

        • Stephanie

        • Charan

For Wednesday, 3/17:

  • Skim through these 2 PDFs—Part One and Part Two—The samples are a bit of a jumble, but they can give you an idea of the breadth of what you’ll have access to in Special Collections. The scans are from Special Collections upon request and from my Spring 2020 research assistant. The PDF opens with student letters (written in the late 1800s), moves to (rather awful) excerpted pages from the Chameleon (year unclear right now) and the Yellow Journal (c. 1920), and probably less interesting things like a copy of the 1905 entrance exam and English exams from the 1930s/40s; a couple of pages from the Raven Society’s folder; and a religious architecture group paper from the 1970s. Again, this is just a jumbled sample, but take some time to orient yourselves to the scope of these and to questions you’d have about examining material like this—I think the exercise will help you prepare to make the most of your time on Wednesday.

  • We’re meeting in Special Collections for a live training session in finding/using materials.

    • On-Grounds students:

      • Arrive a few minutes before class time if possible, to give us time to get everyone assembled in Special Collections prior to 11. Be prepared to leave your things on a drop table; you’ll be allowed to bring in your laptop, phone, and loose paper/pencils if you want them. We’ll handle the physical materials a lot like last time—you’ll be at individual tables, and then there will likely be a “reporting out” time with a traveling microphone.

    • Remote students:

      • You will NOT need to log into Zoom for class that day. I’ll record the session, and we’ll work out asynchronous options to fill the gap for you.

        • The handling-physical-documents won’t be relevant to you for now (but might be interesting), but

        • you WILL need to know how to search the online records. I think that will be a quicker training, though, and I can just talk you through that—probably with written instructions, but we can handle it via Zoom or a video as needed.

        • And you’ll likely benefit from anything Ms. Appiah shares regarding how to work with historic documents (as in, tips on how to look up contextual information and how to read old handwriting, etc.).

      • Watch the website, and I’ll post resources for you to come.

      • DO come to Zoom class on Friday!

  • Heads up to all: I will open a Forum next week asking you to reflect on your tour experiences. Those of you who took the today on Monday, 3/15, might want to go ahead and type up your notes while it’s fresh on your mind. (I’m not asking you to post yet so as to not spoil the tour for those going next week.) The prompt will be something like, “What were your major take-aways from your historical tour, in general? Where did you notice connections to writing/literacy/documentation, etc., and what did you make of those connections?”

For Friday, 3/19:

  • On-Grounds students:

    • Set up your appointment for Special Collections for next week. (Tip: You might want to set up 2 appointments, several days apart, in case you need to request follow-up items. The descriptions in Virgo are sometimes sparse, which can make requests a little bit of a guessing game.)

    • Look through this worksheet for the collections to “claim”—only sign up for 1 set of these materials, unless you talk to me first. You’re welcome to request more items that AREN’T on the worksheet, but we’re trying to keep you from ordering materials on top of each other.

  • Remote students:

    • Watch the video from Wednesday’s class (and check out the artifacts images).

      • Notes:

        • The video link will be live as soon as the video uploads to YouTube.

        • I’ll make a nicer gallery page of the images eventually, but for now, the PDF should suffice. You might want to keep it open in the last 5 minutes of the video, when your on-Grounds classmates are telling you about what they’re seeing.

        • On that note—the first 25 minutes are how-to-find-things instructions, some of which are relevant to you and some of which aren’t. I directed you to the main library website so you can be searching around during the presentation. The last 5 minutes are your classmates talking about artifacts, so you can get a feel for what we examined in person.

        • This is Ms. Appiah’s Tip Sheet from Wednesday’s presentation; this is the handout students used during the exercise.

    • Search Virgo for digital materials. Advanced search—>limit to Special Collections+Online Materials (both options under the menus on the left side of your screen)—>add search terms

  • All students:

For Monday, 3/22:

  • Touring Students:

    • On-Grounds Group (Claire, Jennie, Jey, Thomas, and Christopher)—
      Meet at the Rotunda steps, a few minutes before 11.

    • Virtual Group (Eddie, Jerry, Jared, Stephanie, and Charan)—
      I’m sorry to report that your virtual tour guide has had to cancel. You do NOT need to sign in synchronously for class time. The live tour guide has agreed to recording, so I will record that tour and post the video for you. Still wish you could be “with us,” but I think the actual footage sounds potentially nicer than the static images in another Zoom session—fingers crossed, and updates to come.

  • Non-touring students:

    • Post to the Forum regarding YOUR tour experience from the 15th (prompt coming shortly).

  • All students:

    • Keep working on your independent research.

      • NOTE! As you’re in the archives taking photos/scans, please drop whatever images you can into this shared Drive folder.

      • Since we can’t touch the same folders but there may still be overlap in subject matter, the more collaborate we can be, the better. You don’t need to take beautiful high-res scans of dozens of pages—but you could take sort of lazy/bad pictures of dozens of pages, and then choose just a few to do over in better quality. Please share as much as you’re able!

      • Place items in folders or bind them into single PDFs if you can to make it easier for your peers to find/open things (I’ve done that with some collections I had already); if you’re not sure what else to do, just dump them in the folder so people can at least see them.

    • Note: The official Unit 3 assignment isn’t posted yet, but it’s predictable—you’ll select 2-5 exhibit pieces (be sure to take good pictures of these when you’re in Special Collections—I recommend Microsoft OfficeLens for this type of image capture!) and create a contact sheet/support folder again, then write another 3-5 page essay arguing about the historical writing culture at UVA, using your exhibits for support.

    • Let me know if you’re having any questions/difficulties with material access, etc.

For Wednesday, 3/24:

  • Remote students:

  • All students:

    • Post to the Forum regarding YOUR tour experience from the 15th.

    • Keep working on your independent research. Reposting instructions from Monday:

      • NOTE! As you’re in the archives taking photos/scans, please drop whatever images you can into this shared Drive folder.

      • Since we can’t touch the same folders but there may still be overlap in subject matter, the more collaborate we can be, the better. You don’t need to take beautiful high-res scans of dozens of pages—but you could take sort of lazy/bad pictures of dozens of pages, and then choose just a few to do over in better quality. Please share as much as you’re able!

      • Place items in folders or bind them into single PDFs if you can to make it easier for your peers to find/open things (I’ve done that with some collections I had already); if you’re not sure what else to do, just dump them in the folder so people can at least see them.

For Friday, 3/26:

  • Glance through this basic resource on primary v. secondary sources. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but it will at least help you get into a helpful mindset for Friday, when we’ll talk about how to write an essay working with both primary and secondary sources, since you’ll frame and use those source types differently.

  • Keep working on your independent research. Reposting instructions from Monday:

  • NOTE! As you’re in the archives taking photos/scans, please drop whatever images you can into this shared Drive folder.

  • Since we can’t touch the same folders but there may still be overlap in subject matter, the more collaborate we can be, the better. You don’t need to take beautiful high-res scans of dozens of pages—but you could take sort of lazy/bad pictures of dozens of pages, and then choose just a few to do over in better quality. Please share as much as you’re able!

  • Place items in folders or bind them into single PDFs if you can to make it easier for your peers to find/open things (I’ve done that with some collections I had already); if you’re not sure what else to do, just dump them in the folder so people can at least see them.

In-Class on Friday, 3/26:

Tips for navigating primary/secondary sources in writing:

  1. Keep clear “who is who” in your own mind.

    • Keep a running bibliography—don’t just throw it together at the end, or you’ll have a hard time keeping track of the voices in your paper.

    • Take time to look up your various authors, both primary and secondary. You might make brief notes to yourself about the people, like “UVA student, 1824” or “historian at Yale, 1976” or “current UVA professor in anthropology” or whatever. Typically, you’ll want to note professional position/role and date.

    • Spend extra time researching your primary source authors—really try to find out as much about them as you’re able; don’t use them as pawns, treat them with respect/recognition as people.

    • Consider sketching out a timeline and/or geographical map for yourself.

  2. Manage your verb tenses.

    • Now is not the time to write as if everyone is in the present. Now is the time to manage the timeline for yourself and your readers by being intentional with your verb tenses. Most simply, of course, keep historic documents in the past tense and current documents in the present tense. There are nuances here, though—consider perfect and continuous forms of past and present verbs, as well: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-tenses/

  3. Be very clear in your citations throughout your paper—be explicit about who’s saying/doing what in your running prose, use in-text citations (parentheticals or footnotes, as you prefer) to indicate the end of one voice and open the floor to another, and of course make sure you’ve provided full bibliographic information at the paper’s end.

  4. Include clear physical descriptions of primary texts—help us “see”/”feel” what you’re working with (a box of old type-written pages from the 70s, paper a little fragile but mostly feeling like it was printed pretty recently; a letter from the early 1800s that was folded many times over, with writing that twists and turns, crammed into every bit of available space, a broken wax seal on one side, paper yellowed and fragile, a hefty leather-bound volume from the late 1800s with gold embossed letters on the front and gilded pages . . .?).

    • Consider including photographs/figures to complement (not replace) the verbal descriptions.

  5. Here are two excerpts from Walter Isaacson, who handles this balance nicely. (Bonus—Isaacson also models well how to use first person in professional prose.)

    1. From Einstein: His Life and Universe

    2. From Leonardo Da Vinci

For Friday, 4/2:

  • Begin drafting your Unit 3 papers and bring your work in progress to class, in a form that you can share with others (a shared Google doc link, for example). We’ll be workshopping these to address developmental/idea-level issues. You’ll mostly work in small groups, but I will ask for 1-2 volunteers to let us practice on your papers with the entire class—so if you’re open to all-group feedback, consider being one of those volunteers. (We'd be talking about your ideas and global issues related to your paper, to model how those conversations should go in the small-group breakout rooms.)

For Wednesday, 4/7:

  • Consider the features contributing to your own “authorial voice”—what choices have you made, how are they coming across, and where could you be more intentional to convey the voice you want your readers to hear?

    • Choose 2-3 features from the list below to focus on. In particular, try writing 1-2 paragraphs DIFFERENTLY. (So for example, you might have one paragraph with more extravagant sentences, lots of dependent clauses and modifiers, etc., but a second version that strips away those things and reads with straightforward concision. Or one version that includes direct quotations; another with only footnotes. Or one that includes an anecdote or vivid description, other that focuses on numeric data. Etc.)

    • Submit your contrasting drafts to this folder. Get input from 1-2 outside readers (classmates via your GroupMe, siblings or friends, etc.)—how is the voice striking them?

  • Revise the rest of your paper as you see fit to adjust the voice to one you wish to convey; come to class ready for more specific/detailed exercises related to style on Wednesday.)

Features that convey “authorial voice”

  • selection of subject matter (both global and local—as in, what your paper is “about” but also what kinds of subjects you include/exclude in sub-sections, support, etc.)

  • tone (authoritative, probing, sarcastic, cynical, idealistic, warm/hospitable, collaborative, humorous, etc.)

  • choice of words

    • vocabulary/lexicon

    • word type (adjectives/adverbs, or none; types of nouns, verbs; use of prepositions; compound words)

  • punctuation choices (for one easy resource on your punctuation options, I like The Punctuation Guide)

  • ratio of “approaches”/”mini-genres” in your text (e.g., exposition, description, reflection, synthesis, quotation/paraphrase v. passing references and footnotes, narrative, numeric data, etc.)

  • sentence length and form

  • details (physical or abstract—numbers, emotions)—what the author is paying close attention to

  • pace (sentence length, paragraph length, document length—and density in any/all of these!)

Examples referenced in Monday’s class:

  1. Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos

  2. Jane Alison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode

  3. Oliver Sack’s Awakenings (and a more academic counterpart—same material, different audience)

For Monday, 4/5:

  • Write a complete draft of your Unit 3 papers.

    • Drop your draft to this folder before Monday’s class time. Make these “shared” documents for quick access on Monday.

    • Try to have the content complete and really be ready to focus on style issues—both global style things, mostly voice; and local style things, like syntax/mechanics. We’ll jump into these items on Monday during class time.

  • Post to the Forum re: your Special Collections experiences.

In-Class on Wednesday, 4/7:

Paper Review Guide for All

https://docs.google.com/document/d/150GwqTRpFTbrEnpxGZslumgYZhJVn0YWj3xnmdACIIQ/edit

Links to Graded Essay #2, Personal Folders

For Friday, 4/9:

  • Reminder: We do NOT meet for class on Friday; I am at a conference that day.

  • Finish your Essay #3; post the final draft for grading to this folder. All materials due before midnight on Friday.

    • Drop your final exhibit pieces (contact sheet and support files) to this folder.
      *If you need to review how to prepare these pieces, visit the Unit Two page.

    • Hint: The library records for your archival materials include citations for you. Visit the record page and look for citation links; copy & paste.

  • We’ll start on Unit 4 come next Monday. Plan to do some early drafting for that project before Monday’s class.

For Monday, 4/12:

  • Congrats on finishing this paper! I know you put a LOT of work into this paper as well as the last one, and I just want to reiterate what good work you’re all doing!

  • Take a break; enjoy the weekend! We’ll get back to work on Monday. :)

In-Class on Monday, 4/12:

  • Respond to the latest Forum prompt, on what’s been coming up so far as you’ve been writing for your Special Collections donation.

For Wednesday, 4/14:

  • Continue working on your Unit #4 project.

  • In class on Wednesday, we’ll do something similar to Monday—there’ll be an optional “working room” for open writing time, or you can stay in the main room with me. In the main room, we’ll do some optional writing exercises for fun.

For Friday, 4/16:

  • Jared and Jerry: be sure to drop your drafts to the Drive folder above before class.
    *If you need an extension to 5 pm or midnight, please let me know.

  • Everyone: Read Anthony’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

  • Everyone: Read Eddie’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

For Monday, 4/19:

  • Casey and Sivan: be sure to drop your drafts to the Drive folder before class.

  • Everyone: Read Jerry’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

  • Everyone: Read Jared’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

For Wednesday, 4/21:

  • Christopher and Stephanie: be sure to drop your drafts to the Drive folder before class.

  • Everyone: Read Casey’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

  • Everyone: Read Sivan’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

For Friday, 4/23:

  • Sarah and Thomas: be sure to drop your drafts to the Drive folder before class.

  • Everyone: Read Christopher’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

  • Everyone: Read Stephanie’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

For Monday, 4/26:

  • Mackenzie and Jennie: be sure to drop your drafts to the Drive folder before class.

  • Everyone: Read Thomas’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

  • Everyone: Read Sarah’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

For Wednesday, 4/28:

  • Claire and Charan: be sure to drop your drafts to the Drive folder before class.

  • Everyone: Read Mackenzie’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

  • Everyone: Read Jennie’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

For Monday, 5/3:

  • Everyone: Read Jey’s draft for Special Collections donation.

    • Fill out this Google form.

    • Add TWO comments to the Google doc. Don’t copy edit—instead, use the comment feature to:

      • Respond to big-picture items—

        • “write back” to the author about ideas you find engaging, or places you’d want to debate (where applicable), etc.

        • explain where you’re getting confused in terms of arrangement

        • suggest areas to add more

      • Respond to line or paragraph level items that are confusing or not working somehow—explain what’s not working for you and suggest alternative possibilities.

  • Everyone: Continue working on your final project submissions, which are due Wednesday, 5/5, before 5 p.m.
    *For those of you submitting hard copies, we can arrange physically delivery on Wednesday afternoon or you can submit a digital copy for now, and we can arrange for physical delivery later, as needed. My primary concerns are that (a) I have your work in SOME form on time for grading and (b) we don’t let the physical submissions get lost!

  • Everyone: Please complete this simple form to let me know if you have additional regrade requests, or if you’re all clear.

For Wednesday, 5/5:

  • Come to class! We have end-of-term things to wrap up!

  • Complete your Major Assignment #4! Due before midnight.
    *FOR CLARIFICATION: You do NOT need to include a contact sheet for this assignment! Apologies for the confusion.

In-class on Wednesday, 5/5:

Please complete the following surveys/forms:

  1. University Course Evaluation: https://in.virginia.edu/CourseXperience
    *The link above takes you to a list of ALL your courses. Select our course from your list.

  2. Dept.-equivalent Evaluation: https://virginia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4Or3KhJ2oI8aeWi

  3. Permissions Preferences Form: https://virginia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b7XWyFiW7g1ISA6

Next Up: See you at the final exam!

  • When is it? Monday, 5/10, from 9 a.m - 12 p.m. EST. We will begin promptly, to make sure we’re not rushed for time.

  • What is it? Details are on this page.