Research Writing About Cultural Artifacts

by Anna Faktorovich, Margaret Blatz (Editor)

Overview

English research writing courses in colleges across the world have a tendency to be dull, and similar to each other. They typically review the elements of the research paper and ask students to draft formulaic papers that fit the set guidelines. There have been plenty of textbooks written for these classes that repeat nearly identical information. This market is definitely over-saturated. One alternative is a Research Writing class that focuses on audio-visual entertainment (such as film or music) and other cultural artifacts, as well as diversity-related topics. This class offers more engaging topics for research than the repeating political or social topics that fit the formula of a traditional college research writing class. Students are likely to be more interested in researching films they watch for fun than dusty topics they are not personally invested in. More colleges are likely to start teaching these types of classes especially with help from textbooks like this one that suits this curriculum. American students are reading less, and watching media more, a class that accepts this shift can embrace the students’ preferences, stimulating their imagination and desire to learn. This textbook combines the rigor of a Research Writing class with the imaginative and culturally significant realm of Cultural Studies. Concepts that are typically discussed in Research Writing textbooks, like close reading, thesis statement, and clichés, are covered in full. Complex rhetorical concepts are explained simply and fully. Additionally, the elements of a proper argument are not only digested for students, but are also assisted with discussions of political, economic, social and other types of cultural concepts such as communism or feminism. Teachers who are looking for ideas to inspire their plans, will find assignments across the book to utilize. This book is deliberately short and meant to be a cheap paperback, so that it can be utilized as a quick reference guide and idea book for cultural studies related topics (if not as the primary textbook for a course that entirely combines Research Writing with Cultural Studies).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681144368
Publisher:	Anaphora Literary Press
Publication date:	10/22/2018
Pages:	106
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Anna Faktorovich is the Director and Founder of the Anaphora Literary Press. She previously taught for over four years at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and the Middle Georgia State College. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature and Criticism, an MA in Comparative Literature, and a BA in Economics. She published two academic books with McFarland: Rebellion as Genre in the Novels of Scott, Dickens and Stevenson (2013) and The Formulas of Popular Fiction: Elements of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Religious and Mystery Novels (2014). She edits the Pennsylvania Literary Journal and the Cinematic Codes Review. She won the MLA Bibliography, Kentucky Historical Society and Brown University Military Collection fellowships.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Short Review Essays

Music Video Review Assignment

Concepts Involved in a Review

Summary

Close Reading

Proper Citations of Music Videos

Critical Research into a Single Source

Your Feelings versus Detached Analysis

How to Incorporate Theoretical Concepts

A Sea of Opinions and How to Shape and Defend Your Own

How to Avoid Unclear Writing

Part 2: Argumentative Essays

Class, Ideology and Power Assignment

Internet and Library Research Methods

Searching for Sources at the Library: Technical Guide

Research Philosophy

Internet Information Overload

Readings from the Library

Class, Ideology and Power Concepts

Part 3: Supporting Claims and Anticipating Objections

Logical Point of View

Logical Fallacies

Supporting Claims

Introduction Types

Anticipating Objections and Conflicting Points of View

Part 4: Clarity in Writing Style

Clichés

Empty Abstractions

Comprehension of Terms

Contextualization

Vagueness

Transitions

Part 5: The Rhetorical Form of a Research Essay

Genre

Modes of Discourse

Organization

Gender Bias Essay Assignment

Part 6: Formatting and Writing Essays on a Computer

Double-Spacing versus Single-Spacing

Paragraph Indentation

Fonts

Italics, Quotations, Bold or Underlines

Charts

Pictures

Tables

Inserting Automatic Parts

Footers

Symbols

Thesaurus

Track Changes

Group Writing Assignment

Ethnicity Essay Assignment

Part 7: Elements of Research

MLA Book and Part of a Book Citations

Books

Parts of Books

In-Text Citations

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

Synthesis of Multiple Sources of Information

Part 8: The Research Paper

Research Paper Assignment

Strategies for Idea Invention

Narrowing the Topic

Organizing a Research Paper

Writing Exercise

Part 9: Grabbing Attention

Introductions and Conclusions