Laura Donnelly, one of our doctoral candidates, wanted me to tell you about a class that she will be teaching next spring: ENGL 2070, Gender & Contemporary Poetry. To learn more about the class, click here: Download Gender and Contemporary Course Spring 2010
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October 2009
10/24/2009
10/22/2009
Annotated Bibliography Advice
In class on October 21, you were bombarded with Halloween candy and with advice on writing Annotated Bibliographies. Here are copies of some of the handouts that should be relevant as you work on your own this week:
Download Revised ENGL 2000 Annotated Bibliography Assignment Sheet
Download ENGL 2000 Annotated Bibliography Rubric
Download Annotated Bibliography Guide ENGL 2000
I revised the assignment sheet to point you to the rubric that we talked about in class; I'll be using that rubric when I evaluate your annotated bibliography, as it includes the specific definitions of what makes an effective or a less effective annotation.
In order to get the latest information on MLA format, use the Purdue OWL's MLA Guide. Given that you will be using articles or book chapters from either electronic or print media, this guide should help you to create accurate citations.
Finally, if you have any questions regarding this assignment, e-mail me at gatarbox@yahoo.com. I'd be more than happy to help out.
PS: I uploaded my Annotated Bibliography of YA literature on my main blog -- feel free to browse, especially if you have an interest in this sort of literature.
10/20/2009
Day One of Filming -- Sally Johnson Talks About Interviewing Dr. Schulman
Today, representatives from student teams interviewed Dr. Katherine Joslin about the activist and author Jane Addams, Dr. Nicolas Witschi about the American West in fiction and film, and Dr. Jana Schulman about gender roles and Beowulf. I want to commend Rosie Capps, Sally Johnson, Kevin Klump, and Nicole Madigan for their wonderful interview skills.
In this brief video clip, Sally Johnson talks about how her team reacted when they found out that they were going to work with Dr. Schulman...and she explains how it turned out. I didn't edit this clip, so it has a bit of an informal feel -- editing starts next week -- in the meantime, enjoy! Download 20091020134416 (use Windows media player).
10/19/2009
Publishing Internship Opportunities
This in from WMU Professor Anthony Ellis, an Associate Editor with Comparative Drama:
Comparative Drama, WMU’s scholarly journal devoted to the study of drama, invites applications for an internship position in Academic Publishing for the Spring, 2010 semester.
The journal seeks three exceptional students to participate in the journal’s production for a semester term. The students will gain valuable, hands-on publishing experience and exposure to advanced academic writing.
Interns will meet with an editor once a week and attend editorial meetings. Responsibilities include reading essay contributions, fact checking, researching humanities databases, and assisting with editing and correspondence.
All undergraduate English majors are encouraged to apply. The internship will be helpful especially for students pursuing careers in publishing and/or who wish to attend graduate school. The internship will serve as an elective toward the English major. For students majoring in Practical Writing, the internship can substitute for 3620, “Readings in Creative Nonfiction,” or 3700, “Writing Creative Nonfiction.” Contact comparative-drama@wmich.edu for more information.
ENGL 2000 Students: If you are interested in this opportunity, ask Gwen for an application form!
10/18/2009
Preparing for Class on Wednesday, October 21
Photo:
Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times
Photo Caption: Jessica Poth, 17, from Ann Arbor, Mich., reads as her friend plays in a video game tournament at a library. Many libraries use games to draw young people to reading.
* * *
On Wednesday, October 21st, we'll spend a class period going over annotated bibliographies and citation -- I know that sounds about as exciting as a trip to the dentist! However, I'm bringing in some great people to help out, including Bonnie McLean, who will be representing the ENGL 6300 students who have developed the exercises we'll use.
Although it's not necessary to do any advance prep for the class, we'll be basing our work on this article: "Using Video Games to Hook Readers," from The New York Times series, The Future of Reading. As an aside, I'll be interested to learn from any gamers in the class if they have built links between the narratives found in video games and the narratives that they might be studying in literature, film, or creative writing courses.
During the second part of class, I'm going to talk to you about the poster presentations that we'll be working on, beginning in early November, and you'll have ample time to fill out your weekly team reports and to let me know how things are going with your individual annotated bibliographies.
10/13/2009
Katie O'Brien visits ENGL 6300
Citation Collaboration with Graduate Students by Katie O'Brien (spoilers edited out by Dr. Tarbox):
On October 8th I visited Dr. Tarbox's ENGL 6300 class of graduate students to collaborate on how they would teach English 2000 citation. The graduate students came from all different backgrounds- from creative writing to medieval studies. It was nice for me to interact with them because I am considering graduate school, and it is good seeing students from a similar space (rather than the abstract idea of possibly attending in the future).
We started out the session by talking citation in terms of negative space. Negative space is an art technique in which the eyes are trained to look at the blank areas- such as the arrow in between the E and the X in the “FedEx” logo.
What this would mean for English 2000 is that we would be learning when NOT to cite, as much as when to cite. It is a very different approach to what I have been taught before- so I am interested in how it will work.
We decided to break down the day into two different units- plagiarism and how-to-cite/ citation exercises. One thing that will be addressed is available resources, such as the “Purdue OWL”. Then there will be a couple of mini-exercises for us to do involving a “March Madness” kind of competition. And there will be prizes - which is always a good thing.
10/08/2009
Preparing for Kate Langan's Visit
On October 14, 2009, Kate Langan, our library liaison, will visit ENGL 2000 to help student learning teams conduct research into their assigned faculty members' areas of interest.
In preparation for Kate's visit, students should read pages 17-22 in their course packets. Once learning teams have developed a better grasp of their presenters' topics, they will create higher level questions to ask during one-on-one interviews to be conducted during the week of October 19th.
English Studies Faculty Members and Our Reference Librarian Visit ENGL 2000
On October 7, 2009, ten members of the Department of English faculty and our reference librarian, Kate Langan, visited ENGL 2000 to share a key influence, author, or text that helped shape their careers. Faculty presenters were: Dr. Jonathan Bush, Dr. Anthony Ellis, Dr. Steve Feffer, Dr. Katherine Joslin, Dr. Lisa Minnick, Dr. Ilana Nash, Dr. Gwen Raaberg, Dr. Jana Schulman, Dr. Karen Vocke, and Dr. Nicolas Witschi.
Dr. Ilana Nash speaks to Team 1 regarding her research in youth literature, gender studies, and popular culture.
After giving an individual talk, presenters were paired with learning teams in order to elaborate on their topics. During the week of October 19th, learning teams will conduct follow-up interviews with their presenters, basing their questions upon the research that they will conduct next week.
Dr. Jonathan Bush (foreground) and Dr. Jana Schulman (background) speak with their learning teams.
Dr. Lisa Minnick discusses linguistics with the learning team that will conduct a follow-up interview with her later this month.
Dr. Karen Vocke discusses her work on literacy in migrant populations with her learning team. Dr. Mustafa Mirzeler, a member of the ENGL 2000 Steering Committee, observes the discussion.
Dr. Steve Feffer talks about contemporary drama with his learning team.
Dr. Nicolas Witschi and his team discuss iconography of the American west.
10/05/2009
Sigma Tau Delta's English Studies Conference -- Call for Papers
From one of our team coaches, Laura Citino:
This is our official Call for Papers for Sigma Tau Delta's annual English Studies Conference (ESC)!
The ESC is a yearly conference held by Sigma Tau Delta that celebrates student work in the field of English studies at WMU. Anything English related is fair game to submit, and we mean that very literally. That includes poetry (single poems or a collection), prose, creative non-fiction, linguistics papers, literary analysis, lit/cultural theory, poetry explications, English education and pedagogy (but not teaching tips or lesson plans, please), etc etc.
If you have a piece of English-related work but you're not sure if it fits as conference material, feel free to shoot us an email! Also, please tell all your literary-minded and creative friends! Presenters do not have to be members of Sigma Tau Delta in order to participate.
We also allow whole panel submissions - so if you and a couple students are in the same class or have written similar papers that would complement each other in one panel, please feel free to submit them all together!
Please keep in mind that works-in-progress are always welcome! As is the case with all professional conferences, we expect that you will further polish and improve upon drafts before presenting them at a conference.
We ask that no more than two submissions be sent in per person, and to keep these submissions in different genres. We all love to see a ton of variety and loads of new faces at our conferences!
More practical info: the conference will take place Friday, November 6th from 12:30-5:00PM in in various classrooms and meeting rooms in Brown Hall.
The deadline for submissions is October 23rd. Please send all submissions to escsub@gmail.com. Include your name, contact information, and a short biography for the program along with your submission.
Sound good? Of course it does. Tell all your friends and strangers on the street (but not the unsavory-looking ones) and get those submissions in! As always, if you have any questions please feel free to email us back!
We hope to hear from you by the 23rd!
Laura Citino
Communications Officer
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Sigma Tau Delta
Alpha Nu Pi Chapter
Western Michigan University
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