INTRODUCTION TO THE FINAL PROJECT Fall Semester 2011
FOLK STUDIES 276: INTRODUCTION TO FOLK STUDIES
Project Proposal DUE: Friday, October 28
Final paper and collection materials DUE: Monday, December 5 (20% of your final grade)
Option #1: Folklore Fieldwork
In this option, your primary research method will be folklore fieldwork. This means that you will use
the tools of ethnography and/or interviewing in order to document folklore and attempt to understand
what that folklore means to the people involved. You might observe an event or ritual; tape record
people telling stories or playing music; interview someone about their traditional art form, belief
system, or work culture; or document your own participation in some event or cultural practice. The
first step is to identify a topic that is of interest to you, that you have access to, and that you can
reasonably defend as related to folklore as we have defined it in this class.
Option #2: Archival Research
In this option, your primary research will be archival, and your source will be the WKU Folklife Archives.
You might focus on a particular genre of narrative, a cycle of legends or jokes found in multiple
collections, or the contents of a specific collection. The first step is to identify a topic that is of interest
to you and that can be examined within the existing collections of the Folklife Archives (not the
Kentucky Museum collections more generally).
Option #3: Integration of Research in the Field and in the Archives
In this option, you will do your own fieldwork and examine materials in the Folklife Archives, most
likely in order to compare your own research results with the research of others.
No matter which option you choose, you will:
1. Submit a proposal and receive feedback and approval for going forward with your research.
2. Conduct background research that includes both scholarly and non-scholarly sources.
3. Conduct primary research, using folklore methods and theories.
4. Write an 7-9 page paper in which you both describe and interpret the “data” you gather,
utilizing concepts and methods learned in this course. Later in the semester, you will receive
additional instructions on how to write this paper. For now, focus on your research.
5. Submit your final paper along with your research materials. These materials will depend on
your research, and might include fieldnotes, interview recordings and transcriptions,
photographs, photocopies and/or descriptions of archival materials, etc. **If you wish for your
paper to be considered for submission to the folklore archives, you must also submit signed
release forms and a donor form.
6. Present your findings to the class.
**Your topic must be accessible—in other words you should not plan to do your project on your own
family folklore if your family lives in California, unless you are planning a mid-semester visit. You must
be able to conduct your primary fieldwork in person and not over the phone.
PROPOSAL DUE: October 28
Proposal length: 2 double-spaced pages
In this proposal, you will identify which of the above options you have chosen and describe your plans
for carrying out research. You must do some preliminary research in order to write a successful
proposal. Questions to consider:
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Who or what are you planning to research? What makes it appropriate for a folklore project?
What genres of folklore do you expect to collect?
What are your research questions? (What do you hope to learn?)
How, specifically, are you going to observe or collect this information?
Will you depend primarily on observation, interviews, archival sources, or a combination?
What are your first steps? What steps have you already taken?
o What background research have you done? What secondary sources have you located?
o Who have you identified to interview? What did your search of the Folklife archive
holdings turn up? If you plan to do Option 2, you MUST consult the archives prior to
writing your proposal and provide a description of items or collections that you intend to
examine.
What equipment do you plan to use (if you plan to conduct interviews and/or take
photographs)?
You are encouraged to meet with me as you develop ideas for your proposal. If your proposal does not
include a well thought-through project plan of action, you will be required to meet with me to discuss it
and to resubmit your proposal. If you do not submit a proposal and receive approval to begin
research, I will not accept your final paper and you will receive an “F” on this assignment.
Criteria for evaluation
In this assignment you will:
 put the methods and theories learned over the course of this semester into practice;
 conduct original research using standard methodologies in the field of Folk Studies;
 write a paper in which you incorporate both description and interpretation of your fieldwork
and/or archival data and in which you utilize specific concepts learned in this course;
 respectfully represent those with whom you worked in the field;
 present your research to the class; and
 write a paper that makes appropriate use of sentence structure, word choice, grammar,
spelling, and punctuation that enables rather than hinders clear and effective communication.