Curriculum II: The Individual and Society
Section 1, MWF 2:30-3:20 – SSC 107
Section 2, TR 2:30-4:20 – SSC 105
Contact Information
Lisa Heldke
Old Main 104B
Office Hours: T 3:30,
W 2:30, Th 9:00
Email, phone:
heldke@gac.edu, 933-7029
Carolyn O’Grady
Mattson 111
Office Hours: by appt.
Email, phone:
cogrady@gac.edu, 6148
We encourage you to come talk to us at any point about the issues
the class is discussing, or for consultation on papers or help with
understanding a reading assignment. Feel free to schedule an
appointment if none of these times works for you.
Some advice about email and phone contact:
 Do NOT send assignments via email.
 Get yourself a class “buddy” who will collect handouts if you
are gone, hand in your assignments if you can’t, and generally
tell you what you missed. You are responsible for all
information that you miss when you are absent.
 We do not have email at home, so we won’t be able to reply to
email questions on weekends or evenings.
 We will send any updates, changes to the reading assignment,
or additions to informal writing assignments AT LEAST 24
hours before the relevant class period; please check your email
if you think there might be a change brewing. If it comes fewer
than 24 hours before class, you are NOT responsible for it!
 Make an email folder for this class, and keep emails we send
you—ESPECIALLY including the electronic syllabus copy!
Texts
Bloom, Postville
Cavett, Voices of Rondo
Fine, Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant
Work
Fink, Cutting into the Meatpacking Line
Foley, The Heartland Chronicles
Readings available on-line or on Moodle.
Interesting Websites
Here are some websites related to the class. We invite you to peruse them. Some of these will be used in
class. If you find other sites that might be of interest to class members, please tell the rest of us!
http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/112rondo.html
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/place/home.html
http://www.western.edu/headwaters/archives/headwaters12_papers/cross_paper.html
http://www.stanford.edu/~davidf/ethnography.html
http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/ethno.htm (includes a bib of works ON ethnog)
http://ceel.psc.isr.umich.edu/ (ethnog of everyday life)
http://mundanebehavior.org/index2.htm
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Access to education
Every student has a right to be able to learn in this class. If you have learning disabilities,
please see your instructor NOW about ways we can work to make the class work well for you.
Bring any documentation you have about your learning disability. we will of course keep this
information confidential. You can provide documentation of a particular disability by going to
the Advising Center (204 Johnson Student Union). Call Lori Bickett in Academic Advising
(x7072).
About this class
This course will introduce you to the study of individual behavior, social interaction or social
institutions. The basic assumption, issues and methods of the behavioral and social sciences will
be explored, and you will be asked to reflect on the role of the social sciences in understanding
and evaluating society. The interplay of individuals with society will be analyzed over a variety
of cultural settings.
We will examine the concept of “place” as the metatheme for this course. Each of the course
texts uses social science methods to explore a different kind of “place.” In addition, these texts
will help us explore the methodology of the social sicences and you will do a substantial research
project that will introduce you to social science research. This will not be a lecture course. You
can expect that we will spend most of the class time talking with each other about how we
understand the concepts of the course and the reading we're doing. Among the questions we will
consider this semester are these:
 What is the meaning of “place” and do all places share similar characteristics?
 What does it mean to be “from” a place, or is this an outdated notion given our
peripatetic, 21st century lives?
 What happens when members who share a place or a community disagree about its
future? Who has the “right” to decide to make changes in this community?
 How does a place shape our identities?
 How did the authors we will read find out their information? How did they shape the
research question(s) they pursued?
 How do the research tools of the social sciences differ in terms of the kinds of insights
they can offer us? And more specifically, what are the differences (and similarities) in the
kind of research discussed in each of our course texts?
 What ethical issues are raised by the authors’ research and by conducting research in
general?
How much time?
Plan that you will spend a minimum of two hours outside of class for every hour in class. (If
you’re preparing for class in less time than this, you’re not well prepared.) You'll need more time
than that in weeks in which you have a paper or presentation due. So, figure that this is, at the
least, a twelve hour per week commitment.
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Course components
You must complete all coursework in order to pass this class.
1. Formal essays (three essays, 60% of final grade)
2. Poster session (20 % of final grade)
3. Participation (20% of final grade)
4. Attendance (see below)
1. Formal essays: You will write three formal essays for the course. Detailed instructions about
these assignments are found at the end of the syllabus.
 Primary Research Proposal (15%)
 Primary Research Essay (35%)
 Final Summative Essay (20%)
2. Presenting a poster session on your research (20%): Near the end of the term, you will
create a poster that graphically illustrates the salient findings of your primary research paper.
We will use two (Lisa) or three (Carolyn) class periods as poster session days. One half or
one third of the class will bring their posters each day; the other half or two thirds of the class
will circulate among the poster presenters, asking them questions about their research.
(Social scientists frequently use poster sessions at their conferences, as a way for people to
learn a bit about a lot of different research projects. This project thus gives you an
opportunity to experience something of a real-life presentation session. You may invite
friends to attend this session, if you wish.)
3. Participation (20%): Participation is central to this class. Your well-prepared presence is
essential. We will do as much in-class discussion as is feasible—both in large and in small
groups. The better prepared you are, the more of this we can do. Come with questions,
comments, challenges for the class. You will assign yourself a participation grade at the end
of the term, based on how well you've been prepared, how you've listened to others and how
you have contributed to the discussion.
4. Attendance: we regard all absences as "excused"; that is, we assume that, as busy,
responsible adults, you will occasionally find yourself unable to attend class, whether it is
because of illness, transportation problems, special events, family crises, etc. we do not
differentiate among these reasons, and expect you to be responsible for your attendance. This
is a discussion class; missing discussion is like missing a writing assignment. Unlike a
writing assignment, however, it cannot be made up. Therefore, absences affect your course
grade:
 1-2 absences: no effect
 3-5 absences: grade will be lowered one full letter at the professor’s discretion
 6-7 absences: grade will be lowered two full letters at the professor’s discretion
 8 or more absences (that is, one-third of our class meetings): subject to our discretion,
you will fail the course.
If you have a medical condition or some other situation that necessitates frequent absences,
please speak with your professor immediately.
Late work policy
All assignments are due in class on the day specified in the schedule.
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A note on plagiarism
If you pass off someone else's words or ideas as your own, you have plagiarized—whether
you do so intentionally or by accident, and whether you do so in a formal paper or an informal
writing. That is true whether you quote directly, or paraphrase someone else's ideas. Those ideas
may have appeared in books, been exchanged in conversation, or been posted on the web. The
source does not matter; you must cite them. Please consult a style manual, your professor, the
Writing Center, or another person whose writing skills you trust, if you have any questions about
what constitutes plagiarism in your written work.
Suffice it to say, plagiarism is a violation of college policy, and is also a violation of the
policies of this class. If you plagiarize, you will receive a zero on that assignment, and we will
report the incident to the dean. If you plagiarize a second time, we will give you an F for the
class, and inform the dean of the reason for the grade. You will also be under our permanent
curse, as payback for the time it took us to track down your purchased essay on some slimy
internet site full of papers that are frankly nowhere near as well written as the one you would
have written yourself if you had just started yours sometime before three a.m. the night before it
was due.
To avoid inadvertent plagiarism, take meticulous notes, documenting the source of every
piece of information you collect. Do not rely upon your memory; six weeks from now when
you’re finishing this paper at three a.m., you aren’t going to recall that those particular words
aren’t yours, but are in fact the content of someone else’s website.
Honor Code
As a community of scholars, the faculty and students of Gustavus Adolphus College have
formulated an academic honesty policy and honor code system, printed in the Academic Bulletin
and the Gustavus Guide. As a student at Gustavus, you are asked to agree to uphold the honor
code. This means you will abide by the academic honesty policy, and abide by decisions of the
joint student/faculty Honor Board. we do not ask you to sign the honor code; we assume you will
adhere to it, and we will proceed accordingly unless you give us reason to suspect otherwise.
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Curriculum II: The Individual and Society
Class Schedule for Section 1
MWF 2:30-3:20 – SSC 107 (Carolyn O’Grady)
Week 1
W 9/6
F 9/8
Moodle)
Intros, housekeeping details, overview of the semester
Read for today Sanders: “Preface,” “After the Flood,” and “Settling Down” (on
As you read, consider these questions:
 What does Sanders say about “place”?
 How does/doesn’t this resonate in your own life?
 Is Sanders a researcher? Why/why not?
Write for today:
A short essay in which you reflect on the meaning "place" has in your life. You
might consider places that have been significant for you and why; how you have
been affected by particular places; or why certain places make you more or less
comfortable. There is no "right" way to approach this topic. Your task is to tell us
something about what "place" means to you.
Length: At least two pages
Evaluation Criteria: This is an un-graded reflective essay. However, be as
intentional in crafting this essay (using the conventions of good writing) as you
would with any formal paper. Remember: this will be the first written assignment
you turn in to us. It gives us an opportunity to learn more about you, and also to
learn about your skills as a writer.
Format: Typed, double-spaced
Week 2
M 9/11
W 9/13
F 9/15
F 9/15Sun 9/17
Week 3
M 9/18
W 9/20
F 9/22
Week 4
M 9/25
Read Cross, “Sense of Place”
Read Rossman ch. 3: “Planning the research” (on Moodle)
Read Emerson et al, chapter 2: “In the field: participating, observing, and jotting
notes” (on Moodle)
Mankato pow-wow sometime this weekend.
This is REQUIRED attendance, with a field observation assignment.
Read Rossman, ch. 2: “The researcher as learner” (on Moodle)
We will also debrief the pow-wow and your field notes.
Read Rossman, ch 5: “Gathering data in the field” (on Moodle)
You’ll get an assignment today to do one interview by Friday.
Debrief interview assignment (and hand it in).
Read your assigned section of Voices of Rondo (Jigsaw)
Peruse one of the following websites on Rondo:
http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/112rondo.html
Individual & Society
W 9/27
F 9/29
Week 5
M 10/2
W 10/4
F 10/6
Week 6
M 10/9
W 10/11
F 10/13
Week 7
10/15-21
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http://www.whchurch.org/content/page_285.htm
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/09/23_gehrkek_rondo/
Proposal first draft DUE
Read: The Heartland Chronicles Intro, ch. 1, ch. 2
Read: The Heartland Chronicles, ch. 5, ch. 6
NOBEL – no class. But please try to attend at least one talk, and practice
participant observation.
Read The Heartland Chronicles, ch. 7, Epilogue, and “The Heartland Chronicles
Revisited” (on Moodle)
Read Kitchens, Intro & Appendix
Read Kitchens, ch. 1, ch. 3
Read Kitchens, ch. 4, ch. 8 (Lisa will take class today!)
M 10/16
W 10/18
F 10/20
Coming Out Week – Attend one workshop or talk during this week and practice
your skills of participant observation. Be prepared to talk about what you attended
during class this week.
Proposal second draft DUE
Proposals returned. We’ll discuss them in class.
Flex day
Week 8
10/23-24
W 10/25
F 10/27
Fall Break
Read Cutting into the Meatpacking Line, Intro & ch. 1
Flex day
Week 9
M 10/30
W 11/1
F 11/3
Read Cutting into the Meatpacking Line, ch. 2
Read Cutting into the Meatpacking Line, ch. 3, ch. 4
Tentative: guest speaker
Week 10
M 11/6
W 11/8
F 11/10
Read Cutting into the Meatpacking Line, ch. 5 & epilogue
Discuss paper assignment #2
Read Postville to p. 143
Week 11
M 11/13
W 11/15
F 11/17
Read Postville pp. 144-227 and 315-end
Discuss paper assignment #3
Individual & Society
Week 12
M 11/20
W 11/22
11/23-26
Week 13
M 11/27
Fall 2006
flex day
Paper assignment #2 due by 5:00 p.m.
Thanksgiving
Read any three of the following texts (all on Moodle):
 Fine, et al: “For Whom?”
 Ladson-Billings: “Racialized Discourses”
 Gamson: “Sexualities, Queer Theory”
 Oleson: “Feminisms and Qualitative Research”
W 11/29
F 12/1
Prep for poster session
Week 14
M 12/4
W 12/6
F 12/8
Poster session
Poster session
Poster session
Week 15
M 12/11
W 12/13
Pulling it all together
Course debriefing & evaluations
Finals Week
M 12/18
Assignment #3 due by noon
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Formal Paper Assignments: Detailed Instructions
The writing assignments in this class are interconnected or nested. For your first assignment, you’ll write a very formal research proposal.
You’ll then carry out that research (a series of interviews); your second formal paper will write up your findings from this research. Finally,
you will write a final essay in which you integrate what you have learned about the concept of place from the class readings, your own
research, our class discussions, and your own reflections.
For the first and second papers, you may do this research alone, or you may work in groups of two or three. If you choose to do this, be
aware that your work will not be graded individually; you are producing a group project. Also be aware that working in a group makes some
things easier, but other things much more complicated; don’t choose this option simply to get out of work. We will expect significant
accountability in a group project where responsibilities are shared.
1. Primary Research Proposal (Interviews)
In a nutshell:
o Topic: Propose and justify a research project
o Audience: your professor. (You are writing this to propose a research project that we
will be supervising.)
o Length: Four pages double spaced, plus the appendix
o Proofread, staple, number pages
o First draft due: September 27 (both professors)
o Final draft due: October 17 (Heldke), October 18 (O’Grady)
Your first paper for this course is actually a formal proposal for a research project. The
proposal sets out the topic you will pursue in your second paper, the Primary Research Paper.
(The Primary Research Paper, your second paper, will use interview to explore the way in
which a group of people inhabit and relate to one particular place, a place of your choosing.)
For this first paper, you will identify a particular, actual place that will serve as the focus for
your research (e.g., a dorm, chapel, River Rock Café, Wal-Mart, the place you always spend
summer vacation, your home town, the gym, etc.). Then you will propose a set of interviews that
you will actually carry out for the second paper. This first paper also proposes or identifies a
question you want to answer through those interviews.
In shaping your proposal, think of it in these terms: You are designing a project that will use
interview methodology to explore some question related to the concept of “place.” To give you a
place to start, we have provided several possible themes that can be shaped into a research
question based on your own interests. In your proposal, then, you will describe what physical
place/space you have chosen to center your research, articulate what your question is, and what
you hope to find out about it through interviewing several people (3-5 individuals). (Note that if
you are doing this project in a group, each person in your group must interview at least two
people.)
Possible themes/questions (there may be something you’re passionate about that isn’t on this
list. If so, talk to us about what you have in mind):
 The way geography shapes community
 Place and identity
 Place and change (how does a place change us? Or does it? How do we change a
place? Or do we?)
 Work and place (or place and play)
 What it means to be “at home” in a place.
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What does it mean to be “from” a place?
What kinds of place(s) offer the most possibilities for crafting a satisfying (or
meaningful) life?
Spiritual dimensions of place.
Who has the most “right” to a particular place?
Regional chauvinism.
Insider/outsider dynamics of a place.
The effect of natural disasters on a place or on a community.
Place and the environment.
Urban planning and its effect on place.
Aesthetics of (a) place.
Wilderness as a place.
Issues of social justice and place.
Architecture and place.
Regard the proposal as a persuasive paper. You are a researcher whose task is to demonstrate
to your reader that you have designed a careful and realistic plan for a research project on an
interesting and important topic. Show that you have thought carefully about the topic and
about every step of the research.
By the time you hand in your proposal, you won’t have done any actual interviews. However,
you will have lined up your interviewees, gotten their permission, and made sure that they
know that someone else (your instructor, and perhaps a classmate) will be reading their
interviews. You will have established the way your interviewees want to be identified—first
name only, first and last, pseudonym of their choosing. In short, you will have guaranteed
that, once your proposal is approved, you can go right out and begin your interviews.
(Note, if you are doing this project as a group, each member of the group is expected to
contribute in some substantive way to this assignment. Attach to your paper a one-page
description of the specific contributions made by each member of your group.)
The proposal should:
o Explain the topic of the research and establish its significance;
o Describe your participants, including relevant background information, your
relationship to them, and how you expect this relationship to affect the research;
o Explain the research method(s) you plan to use, their purposes and benefits;
o Summarize what you want to find out, in roughly one paragraph;
o Include an appendix listing all questions you will ask during your interview;
o Break down all necessary tasks and provide a timeline for carrying them out (dated,
week by week);
o Include a title that is interesting, specific, and descriptive.
Evaluation criteria:
o How well does the proposal work as a persuasive paper? What strategies did you use
to convey the interest and importance of the topic, and how effective are they?
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o Do you provide a clear sense of the research methods you will use, and their purpose?
Do you state your research plan clearly?
o Do you state clearly what you want to find out, and why? Are the questions in the
appendix useful for your purpose, open-ended, nonjudgmental, and likely to elicit
stories?
o Do you identify tasks clearly, and state when they must be done?
o Is the paper well organized? (This is not about “flow”; it’s about whether the structure
of the paper helps to persuade the reader that this is a topic worth pursuing.)
o Do you identify an audience for your research?
2. Primary Research Paper
In a nutshell:
o Topic: An exploration of your participants’ stories
o Research method required: Interview
o Research method suggested: Field observation
o Models, sources of inspiration: Our course texts, particularly their use of interviews.
o Audience: To be determined by you. Include an appendix in which you specify the
audience you’ve decided upon, and state your reasons for writing to this group. (Who
would find your research project useful? Why?)
o Length: 7-12 pages double spaced, plus the appendix about the audience (please note
that if you are doing a group project, your paper should be closer to the 12 page
limit).
o Include a list of works cited, that includes your interviews and any other works you
chose to incorporate.
o Proofread, staple, number pages!
o Due: November 21 (Heldke), November 22 (O’Grady)
Your primary research paper is an informative paper. The purpose of the primary research
paper is to explore your participants’ experiences and present their stories, organized around
a clear thesis or focus (e.g., around your research question as you originally formulated it, or
as it changed during the course of your research).
Our course readings should serve as examples, inspirations, and suggestions for how to do
this kind of exploration. (Obviously there are many different ways you can go about it.)
Your research for this primary research paper is your set of interviews with three to five
different informants. (At this stage of the process, you do not need to do any other research,
unless you want to.) These should be documented, using MLA-style, fully and consistently,
as specified in your writing handbook. If you use outside sources other than interviews,
document them MLA- style as well. You should plan on interviewing each of your
informants two, and possibly three times. The first interview will build a rapport with your
subject, and will establish the focus for your future discussions. The second interview will
cover the real ground of your topic. The third interview will enable you to come back and ask
follow up questions that may have arisen when you were interviewing another informant.
We encourage you to also consider doing a field observation at the site of your place. Use the
techniques you practiced at the pow wow, and incorporate this research into your final paper.
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(Note, if you are doing this project as a group, each member of the group is expected to
contribute in some substantive way to this assignment. Attach to your paper a one-page
description of the specific contributions made by each member of your group.)
The paper should include:
o An introduction, that makes use of the work you did in the proposal, but revises it
for the new purpose of this paper. Your goal now is to set up the information from the
interviews, showing why and how it’s significant. (In the proposal, you had to try to
convince the reader you have a good plan for how to carry out the project. Now, the
research is done so it should stand on its own.) Your introduction contains the first
clear statement of your thesis.
o The body of the paper, that present the participants’ experiences and perspectives. It
may work best to organize the body by participant, giving each person’s story in turn.
Doing so will enable the reader to connect the details for each participant more easily,
and will bring out each of their voices. However, the material from your interviews
may “ask” to be organized in a different way. Pay attention to the material you have
gathered; let it help you decide what it is trying to say.
o The conclusion (which may be rather extensive), that introduces your own
commentary. Here, you will identify the central themes that emerged in the
interviews, discuss their significance, and identify questions for further research (your
own or other possible researchers’).
o Overall, the paper should have a thesis that has emerged from the primary research.
Make your thesis clear in the intro and elaborate on it in the conclusion. The body of
the paper should be the illustration of that thesis. This idea holds the paper together
and encompasses what’s most important in it.
o In determining an audience, think about who might likely be interested in being
informed about the topic you have chosen? Your appendix should stipulate who that
audience is, and how you wrote in order to address it.
Evaluation criteria:
o There's a clear focus that is not overly broad for a paper of this length. If you feel
there's no room to go into anything in much depth, or that the body of your paper is
rambling all over the place, your focus is probably too broad.
o There's a strong sense of purpose to the paper, and frequently a sense of purpose is
connected to audience awareness. Usually the primary purpose in a paper like this is
to inform some group of people—parents, health care providers, school
administrators, teachers, other students, or some other specific constituency. What are
you trying to inform them of? Why are these issues important for them to
understand?
o The paper should go beyond what's generally assumed. Consider the subtleties of
your topic and the complexities and contradictions of your participants’ experiences;
raising questions and making readers more aware of these complexities is far more
valuable than repeating familiar ideas or stating neat and tidy conclusions. In
summing up your results, also be careful to avoid overly broad generalizations based
on your small group of participants.
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o The introduction should be engaging and demonstrate what’s at stake with the topic.
Do you find the introduction interesting to read? Does it set up the rest of your paper?
It should demonstrate the significance of the primary research, its context, and how it
was done. If your paper strays from the intro, then you've lost your focus.
o The organization of the body of your paper should somehow reflect your focus and
point. If you're not clear about your focus and point or if the focus is too broad, your
entire paper will reflect this; it will end up with no coherent vision that holds
everything together. Your paper needs to work as a whole, which means that all the
parts are interrelated, and occur in an interesting and effective sequence. Transitions
are important to flow and coherence, but transitions can be difficult to write if the
larger understanding of how everything works together in the paper isn’t in place.
o Assume that your audience does not know the people you interviewed. Include
enough details about their experiences as they relate to your topic to help your reader
know this person better. Help readers to enter your participants’ lives. You determine
which specifics and details from each person's life to leave out of your paper by
figuring out which are not relevant to your focus and topic. In terms of the level of
detail, on a scale of 1-10, around half of your paper should have that level 10 detail.
For each participant, choose an example or two to write about in significant detail,
examples that most strongly support whatever your point and purpose are.
o Your participants need to have a voice in the paper through direct quotations. It's
only fair, since it involves their experience; plus it adds lots of interest and texture.
o General commentary about the larger issues should appear near the end of the paper,
so your commentary doesn't distract readers from participants’ stories, and you're
working your way to the larger, grander point at the end of the essay. This conclusion
should tie in with the introduction, in terms of focus, style, and other rhetorical
strategies. If it doesn't, then you've gotten off focus somewhere and need to do some
rewriting. The conclusion also should strongly reflect your point and purpose, which
means it should reflect the paper as a whole, particularly the larger issues you're
dealing with: common themes from the participants’ stories and their significance for
understanding cultural norms, and any important questions raised by your interviews.
Social scientists writing in academic journals typically close articles with questions
for future research. This might be a useful way to draw out some of the important
issues in the paper, which you may then go on to consider in your secondary research
paper (which you don't need to refer to here, since this paper should stand on its
own).
o In terms of grammar and style, the paper should read very smoothly. Your sentence
lengths and constructions should vary. Look for places where you have a number of
sentences about the same length and find ways to vary their length; consider
combining sentences. Also look for sentences that are clunky, awkward, and difficult
to read and understand. Reading the paper aloud can help you discover these. Rewrite
them until they sound better. Try to vary your punctuation. An A paper may have an
occasional grammar or punctuation mistake but isn't plagued with them; more than
one or so a page starts to be a problem. Dealing with grammar and style takes a
certain amount of vigilance on your part. And remember, Spell-Check doesn't catch
everything, and sometimes gives you wrong answers, especially in the case of
homonyms. Use headings and paragraph division to help the reader follow the paper.
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o Finally, the most important criterion of an A paper for us is ambition: it satisfies the
criteria of the assignment, but most importantly, it has its own purpose, which sets it
apart from other papers. This can be expressed in many ways; what all ambitious
papers have in common is that they're not written merely to do the assignment but
show that the writer has their own purpose, which gives meaning to all the effort put
into conceptualizing, organizing, detail work, and polishing.
3. Summative Paper
In a nutshell:
o Topic: The evolution of your concept of place
o Research methods required: Library investigation, synthesis of multiple sources.
o Models, sources of inspiration: Our course texts, your research for your project, our
class discussions,
o Audience: Your classmates and professor
o Length: 8 pages double spaced.
o Include a list of works cited and of works consulted.
o Proofread, staple, number pages.
o Due: December 18 (both)
Your final summative paper is a reflection and analysis on the evolution of your thoughts
about place this semester. You will revisit the topic of your very first writing for the course,
in which you discussed your sense of place in an informal way. Here’s the (two part)
question: 1)In what specific ways has your sense of place deepened, or otherwise changed
this semester? For instance, what do you know now that you didn’t know in September?
What aspects of place now seem important to you, that didn’t seem important then? 2)Why
does this matter? (For instance, how will it affect the way you inhabit a place?)
Your summative essay will integrate class discussions, your research for your second paper,
the course texts, some new scholarly research you will conduct on your own—and any other
work you’ve done that you believe is relevant to this topic.
The goal for this assignment is twofold: for you to review and reflect on all the ideas you’ve
encountered in this course, and also to consider the effects these ideas might have upon your own
life. What have you learned? Why does that matter?
Specific types and amounts of research material:
o At least three of the texts used in the class
o At least one additional relevant academic source—an academic journal or book. This
source may help to illuminate a point you are making, or it may be used to show a
perspective contrary to your own.
Your sources may be used to support your own assertions in this final paper, and to offer
contrary or contradictory opinions. (In other words, you needn’t include only people who
agree with you; an engaging essay will likely include a discussion of contrasting positions.)
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Fall 2006
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o An introduction that identifies the salient points you’ll be making in the essay, and that
engages the reader (your classmates and professor). Why should we want to read this
essay about your learning?
o In the body, a section that discusses and documents the specific ways your thinking
about place has evolved. You may use your earlier writing as a springboard for your
thoughts, perhaps revisiting particular claims you made in it, and showing how those
claims have changed or become more sophisticated and subtle as a result of your
thinking.
o Also in the body (perhaps in a separate section), a discussion of why this matters to you.
What will change or deepen or become more important in your life as a result of this
new understanding?
o A conclusion that sums up the essay, but that also takes the reader beyond it, perhaps
suggesting some continued thinking you plan to do, or pointing toward a possible
direction the reader might take your thoughts.
In the body of the paper, you must discuss each of your sources in some detail; do not
presume that your reader already knows the point that they are making (even if it’s a course text).
Rehearse the relevant part of the text, shaping it to highlight the aspects you are interested in.
Include a Works Cited page!!!
Evaluation Criteria:
o Title: clear? specific? interesting?
o Introduction: establishes interest? conveys strong sense of purpose? states thesis
clearly?
o Body: identifies particular concepts learned? meaningfully integrates source materials
in explaining these concepts? substantively discusses the relevance of this learning?
o Conclusion: sums up salient points interestingly? takes the reader a bit beyond the
body of the essay? how does it work with the introduction (both the opening strategy
and the overall framing)?
o Overall: focus and coherence? completeness, development of ideas, suggestions for
further work? organization? Style?
Poster Session:
In a nutshell:
 Topic: The important findings of your primary research project
 Audience: The audience you identified in your primary research project. Imagine that you
are presenting this poster at a conference comprised of members of your target audience.
How would you present that information to them in the most useful and interesting way?
 Due: in class
In social science disciplines, a very common way to present one’s research at a conference is
in a poster session. In a poster session, a number of presenters will display their research (on a
poster) in a room with other presenters. The “audience” circulates among the presenters,
stopping to examine a poster that interests them, and asking the presenter questions to learn more
about the project.
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Fall 2006
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You will create a poster, based upon your primary research project, and designed to interest
your target audience in the substance of your research. Then, you and your classmates will take
turns being presenters and audience for each other, when we hold poster sessions in our class.
Your goal in creating a poster, and serving as presenter, is to convey the important aspects of
your research in a way that engages your audience, and prompts them to seek out additional
information. You will do this using both word and image.
The poster should include:
 A concise abstract that sums up the entire paper in a short paragraph
 Brief, concise narrative sections that sketch out important ideas from the paper
 Graphics that help to convey these ideas. They may be photos or drawings, or they may
be charts or graphs—or they may be a mixture of these. Understand that these are not
decorations; they are meant to convey the information in an additional dimension.
 A title
 The names of the presenters
 References, sources (your interviewees, primarily. These may be anonymous; you must
still document them)
 Acknowledgements (anyone you need to thank for their assistance?)
Here are some websites about creating a poster, and presenting a poster session, that you will
find helpful. They are written specifically for students, and some of them particularly focus on
posters in the social sciences.
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/speaking/poster/
http://www.plu.edu/~libr/workshops/multimedia/posters.html
http://www.lcsc.edu/ss150/poster.htm
Evaluation Criteria:
 The poster has a clear, identifiable title, and a focused, informative abstract.
 Information is presented in a concise yet rich manner. Detail is sufficient to make your
points clearly, but doesn’t overburden the viewer.
 Text is supported by meaningful, clear graphic material.
 The poster is constructed to somehow invite or elicit questions from viewers.
 The poster clearly has been constructed for your target audience.
 The overall impact of the poster is engaging, clear and neat.