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For Project 2, you will use writing not simply as a mode of communication but as a tool for exploration and knowledge transformation. Rather than sticking with a single, narrow topic or argument from start to finish, you will use the writing process to explore questions and source texts. More specifically, you will notice connections across ideas and texts; you will think of new questions and revise existing questions; you will seek out complexity and contend with the reality that questions often lead to more questions rather than clear answers. In this way, you will aim to take on what writing scholar Elizabeth Wardle calls a “problem-exploring disposition,” a mindset that prioritizes “curiosity, reflection, consideration of multiple possibilities, [and] a willingness to engage in a recursive process of trial and error.”
To encourage this disposition, this assignment will take the form of an exploratory process paper. It will ask you to frequently move back and forth between reading critically, identifying questions, and writing. You will start by identifying a topic spark that interests you, then explore that spark through further reading and writing without a clear sense of direction or final outcome. During this process, you will seek to move towards new/complex questions that emerge, and away from questions or ideas that begin to feel obvious or settled. By the end of Project 2, you will hopefully have landed on a question, or set of questions, that feels more specific, complex, and engaging than your initial spark. That said, it’s perfectly fine if that doesn’t happen! Since exploratory writing involves uncertainty, it’s impossible to entirely predict the final outcome. But regardless of that outcome, by the end of Project 2 you will:
write paper that synthesizes multiple sources (~3-5) to explore and create conversation in relation to your spark question(s) of interest
depict your initial spark/motivation clearly and concretely (you might tie your spark to an idea from a course reading, an idea from a text chosen/read by your small group, a personal experience or observation, or something else that has sparked your curiosity)
read, analyze, and incorporate a range of sources (e.g., different types of sources, different positionalities, different viewpoints) to explore your spark, including at least one course reading (a whole class reading, or a text chosen/read by your small group)
guide readers through your process of exploration; introduce new sources clearly; provide adequate background information and/or key terminology; create conversation by making connections across sources (how does each new source relate to the previous ones? are there areas of affirmation, difference, or extension?); use new sources to reevaluate ideas from previous sources, refine existing questions, raise new questions, and otherwise engage in exploration and synthesis
reflect on how and why writers credit sources; use writing strategies to clearly differentiate between the words and ideas of each source and your own words and ideas in your final essay (in APA style or another citation style)
reflect on the results of your exploration, including what it did/didn’t reveal
The work of Project 2 will unfold over the next several weeks. For an overview of key deadlines, go to the Project 2 Major Deadlines Links to an external site.portion of our syllabus.
Part 2 | Key Concepts for Project 2: Writing as Exploration, Writing As Conversation
Writing As Conversation
“Conversation” is a useful metaphor for thinking about this project, and writing in academic settings is often describes with phrases like writing as conversation, or as contributing to ongoing conversation. Scholars across disciplines and areas of study spend time reading and thinking about the work and ideas of other scholars (ones who have come before them and ones who are their contemporaries), and they enter into “conversation” with other texts and ideas by responding to, extending, questioning, challenging and making new connections to these ideas in new ways.
For Project 2, you will be asked to engage with at least three texts, at least one of which is a course reading or a text selected and read by your small group ( the source is added at the end!!). In other words, you will bring at least three others into conversation with one another, and with you as the writer. Those “others” might include a variety of positions or perspectives, such as journalists, researchers, government agencies, and stakeholders who are connected with your topic of interest. While you do not have to engage with all of these perspectives and material types, you should aim for variety, and try to incorporate different perspectives and different types of information. If your topic choice relates to housing affordability in Minneapolis, for example, you would want to consider not just homeowners, or just those excluded from home ownership, or just local policymakers. Similarly, you would not want to consider just lived experiences (e.g., an interview with someone facing affordability issues), or just government documents (e.g., current Minneapolis zoning policy), or just empirical research (e.g., a study on the relationship between zoning and affordability).
Doing the work of “joining a conversation” requires time, effort and practice in multiple areas: learning to read carefully, critically and curiously; asking questions as you read; making connections to your own experiences and ideas and to other texts as you read; and taking the time to explore and grapple with the ideas that you are reading about, or extend them into new contexts. When you do this, you will sometimes quote, sometimes to summarize, sometimes reference these texts. Your work will be to show how your sources relate to, challenge, connect or extend each other and your own thinking.
here is my spark text link (or my topic):
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/podcasts/the-daily/the-war-on-the-sat.html
I attached my writing about the topic with the sparks ( you can improve it)
Please add 3 other sources other than mine and relate them together.
Final note for choosing the sources:
Articulate your initial reasons for choosing this particular source; Project 2 asks you to depict your exploratory process to readers, so it’s important for you to consider the rationale behind your choices.
Introduce the new source (and its key ideas) to readers:
As with your spark text, don’t feel like you have to summarize the whole thing. Aim to give readers enough of a general overview to understand the source’s focus but feel free to pay more attention to parts of the text that are important to you/your questions.
Consider including details related to the rhetorical context. For example, if the author has firsthand experience or expertise in relation to your topic, that information could help show why it’s important to the conversation and exploration you are building
Make connections to your spark source. Where do you see ideas being reinforced, expanded on, or challenged? Where do you see entirely new ideas or information? Depict key points of connection, tension, etc. for readers.
Reevaluate your initial questions and consider new questions. Which question(s) has the source helped address, and to what extent? What new questions have emerged? Ultimately, depict which questions (remaining or new) seem most worth exploring as you continue with Project 2.
– Very Important!
When the spark text raises questions and you want to write them in the paper, please include how did the spark text raise that question for you? What did the episode say? Try incorporating the podcast episode more deeply into your work.
When you’re going to introduce new sources, try to link them to the questions that has been raised from the podcast episode (spark text) and explain why you chose this source. If new questions has been raised in the new source, talk about how it was raised and what did the source say? (Similar to what you’re going to do in the spark text.). Then try to answere these questions by introducing another source.
Please in your paper as a whole, try contending with what the podcast episode (spark text) discusses, and how it does/doesn’t align with your other sources.
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