Blog Post #5, for Tuesday, April 21st:

Blog Post #5 (40 points): Integrating Relevant Academic Sources

Answer all of the following in a post, by class on Tuesday, April 21th:

- What claims are you making on the texts? What is your thesis on the two texts?
o Include both texts in thesis statement (main claim)
o Include in that thesis statement the theme that you see in both texts…

- What questions are you exploring in your research based on the main claim?

- What academic articles – besides two tales– are you using to support topic?

o If you haven’t: Find and read articles that describe behavior you’re discussing in comparing two tales of Diaspora.
o Look for articles in disciplines such as Psychology, Sociology, History, Science…

o Explain what idea in the article is useful and to be used in Essay 2 – pick out a relevant quote and clarify how it relates to your two comparative texts.

Blog Response #4 for April 2

Blog Response #4 (15 pts):

1) Name chapters 17, 18 and 19

2) Along with providing a name for each chapter, give a minimum 5-7 sentence explanation for each chapter name. In that explanation, provide specifics. Use names, places, specific actions.

DUE: by class-time on April 2nd. For those wanting to hand in a copy of blog instead of maintaining blog, this is fine. But response is still due at beginning of class this Thursday.

Back from Spring Break

After week 8's fun trip to the Columbia Library, you were asked to find your comparative text for Essay 2.

Hopefully, you have chosen, and will bring that text to class tomorrow, Tuesday, March 31st.

Also, some people ran off without getting the reading assignment. It will imperative (important) that you have read up to Chapter 20 of A Long Way Gone by Tuesday-ish. The homework for Thursday will involve a blog response on these chapters.

The blog response guidelines will be given tomorrow in class. 

Homework: Blogger Response #3 and Article on Diaspora

Homework for Tuesday, March 17th: Blogger Response #3 (25 points)

Our second essay is structured to practice the following: research strategies, writing from secondary sources (books, articles, data, etc.) found during research, and also connecting ideas found in research material to both our original text (A Long Way Gone) and our personal experience and interests.

A major goal of the research process is to more clearly understand how the world operates, and how, as scholars, we can cross disciplines and cross subject material to better understand human behavior, beliefs, ideology and theories.

Also, research allows us to apply found knowledge to help un-complicate and understand the world(s) we live in.


Prompt:

1) The reading part is long this weekend. Read up until the end of Chapter 15 by Tuesday. As you read, start to consider this a tale of diaspora (as we will discuss in class).

2) Post a 3-paragraph exploration of how Beah’s journey through the war causes him to address – mentally and physically – his personal and cultural beliefs. Focus on one cultural/social change that takes place in these chapters; one that interests you personally.

What kind of “culture clash” or “loss of culture” is Beah starting (or continuing) to experience? How does Beah deal with this cultural/social change? Use textual evidence to support your interpretation.

Towards the end of your response, connect Beah’s journey to a topic you would like to research; a topic that connects in some way to diaspora. In other words, explain how Beah’s journey includes a conflict that other people might find happens to them when their culture is uprooted and they are forced to live in “another world.”

One common topic of diaspora is “language barriers.” When a people are uprooted and forced to move (or even choose to move) they most likely deal with language conflicts in some way. Whether an entirely new language, or even if one moves from the American South to NYC – language conflicts are common in diaspora.

The Next Step (also homework for Tuesday, 3/17):

3) After posting Blogger Response #3, get on http://lib.colum.edu and search the article databases for “diaspora” and your topic. So, if you wanted to look into “language barriers” type in both terms into the on-line database. You may also ask a librarian for help, if you do your work at the library.

4) For Tuesday’s class: find an article on diaspora topic you want to explore. So, it could be an article that discusses…language barriers connected to diaspora. Do one of two things:

- Bring the article to class

and/or

- Bring up a written summary of the article – title of piece, its thesis/focus, and why you are interested in the article

Blogger Response #2 (25 pts)

Due: post to your blog before class on Thursday, March 5th.

Your Response Prompt:

As we continue to discuss A Long Way Gone and the themes of hunger, escape, or family, it is important to write on each theme more in-depth. In this response, you are asked to go back within the first 7 chapters of the memoir and reflect upon how Beah has transformed so far, and also discuss what factors play a role in his transformation.

In the blog response, do the following:

1) Enter in the title of the post: The Transformation of Beah’s ____ (of course, in this part enter your theme: hunger, escape or family …or, do you have another theme?)

2) Within the actual post, respond to the topic by going back into the first 7-plus chapters and picking out AT LEAST THREE (3) passages that speak to your theme.

Compare and contrast Beah’s transformation by discussing each passage, focusing on:

a) What is happening at that time/ where is he at in his journey, and
b) What Beah’s mental state of mind is in each moment, and explain how he changes – mentally and/or physically.

Goals:

Our writing goal is to use the theme and prompt to work on writing development and focus.
The idea is to get beyond just stating that Beah changes, but to discuss how and why he does change.

In order for you to do so, you must go back and engage in the text. Those who practice Active Reading strategies, notating the themes as they read, will be at an advantage in doing this response.

Length Requirement:

This response is worth 25 points, and with that value comes the expectation of a detailed response. Consider what is being asked of you, to compare and contrast three separate passages from our text.

In doing so, you will also have to provide some clarification/context for each passage. The most successful blog responses will engage with the text, quote lines and explain them.

One strategy is to write out your response first within a Word document or in a notebook. Your response should be approximately three-quarters of a single-spaced, typed document.

The challenge is yours, to provide an in-depth exploration of Beah’s change!