Good day, and welcome back.
It is week seven. Today you have class time to work on the final drafts of the short research essay we began by summarizing a story about a Congolese group of artists, whose work is on exhibit in New York. You are to develop one or another of the topics with related news and information and an image to include a visual source of interest and focus. All sources cited must be referenced by title and author in the essay body, and you are to use at least one direct quotation.
We have just four more classes to completion of the quarter. Thus far you have been assigned a total of five compositions; these include the short research with an image focus (#4), the summary/response (3), the autobiographical narrative (2), the descriptive essay (#1) and the diagnostic.
Below is an example of one quarter's short report assignment. It begins with a story about a cat that made a 200-mile journey home after getting lost, and proceeds to integrate other cat news/reports then current. The report did not require use of an anchoring image, though there were many that might have served, if only to embellish, including the one of my cat Ruby, posted below. You will want to indicate where the image has been published and the various sources that allow you to put it into context or explain its history and significance.
Sample Short Report:
Cats on the Loose: A Problem in Need of a Solution
For all the cat lovers who read the article by Pam Belluck titled “A Cat’s 200-Mile Trek Leaves Scientists Guessing” (nytimes.com, January 19, 2013) it is perhaps comforting to learn that domestic cats have an as yet little-understood ability to navigate home over long distances. Holly, a four-year-old house cat, got lost on a family outing to Daytona Beach, Fla., and over the next two months walked to within a mile of her owner’s home in West Palm Beach, Fla. Fortunately, she was wearing a microchip that allowed rescuers to reunite her with her owners. Holly’s thinness and bleeding paws attested to the hardships of her journey and that she was lucky to survive. Scientists do not know how cats navigate over long distances. Writes Belluck, “There is in fact little scientific dogma on cat navigation. Migratory animals like birds, turtles and insects have been studied more closely, and use magnetic fields, olfactory cues, or orientation by the sun.”
But in other, less heart-warming reports, we have a joint study by the University of Georgia and National Geographic Society called Kitty Cams that confirms that cats given the freedom to roam often expose themselves to significant harm and pose significant threats to small mammals, reptiles, and birds living in the wild. The Kitty Cams study estimates that domestic cats may kill as many as half a billion birds or more and several billion small mammals each year. Another report by scientists with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute raised alarms worldwide in contending that “un-owned and owned free-ranging domestic cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and between 6.9 and 20.7 billion small mammals each year in the contiguous United States” (“Feral and Free-Ranging Pet Cats Kill Far More Birds in the Continental United States Than Previously Believed, Smithsonian Study Finds”). The study indicates, moreover, that “it is un-owned cats—such as farm and barn cats, strays, colony cats, and feral cats—that cause the majority of the mortality, roughly 69 percent of bird deaths and 89 percent of mammal deaths.” Scientists have concluded that cats represent a greater mortality threat to wild birds, whose numbers are declining, than other threats often cited such as environmental toxins, bridges, skyscrapers, and towers.
The reports of cat predation are being challenged by cat welfare advocates who see a threat to feral cat populations (Alley Cat Allies “Tell the Smithsonian: Stop Spreading Junk Science That Will Kill Cats!”). Neuter and spay programs have been very effective at reducing the number of stray and feral cats, and the number of cats being euthanized, but the population problem persists. The large numbers of colonies of feral cats, even those fed and cared for by volunteers, pose a risk to wildlife that many authorities see as untenable. Debate centers on how to effectively reduce the number of stray and feral cats and thus conserve and protect important wildlife species (Mott “U.S. Faces Growing Feral Cat Problem”).
As the owner of a cat that relishes the hunt, and succeeds far too often, I have concluded that my Ruby, an ordinary black short-haired domestic cat, will have to stay indoors far more often than she would like, for her own safety and that of the wild creatures that live in or visit my neighborhood.
Note: The report above does not include a Works Cited list, nor a published photo or other image, but it has the in-text references that provide readers the key terms (author and article title) that would be used in a Works Cited page list. The specific reference information and the order in which it is to be formatted is illustrated in the set of MLA examples below.
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“The man who has forgotten to be thankful has fallen asleep in life.”
–Robert Louis Stevenson
–Robert Louis Stevenson
The field report (5) is coming due soon, as will be the short research project on a topic you discover (6), and lastly, the in-class final (7). The in-class final is to be done in class week 11, not at home. The field report is described below and due week 9.
In fact, there are several museums in the downtown area, including The Old Ft. Lauderdale Historical Museum and another devoted to science and discovery.
Reviews and descriptions of cultural fare–of nature parks, historical attractions, art exhibits and fairs, live music shows, restaurants, bars, and clubs old and new, sporting events, lectures, book signings and discussions, community classes and workshops –serve to inform people of what's going on about town and provide them incentive to get out and experience some of what the area has to offer. In this assignment you must report on a local place or local event from an eye-witness perspective–you must go there, experience whatever is on offer, and write about it in such a way that readers feel they have gotten to see and know the place through your first-hand experience of it.
The particular focus and perspective you bring to your subject, your knowledge and ideas and observations of it, and the degree of interest and engagement with the subject you show–these are central to the essay’s success. Whether you are visiting a park, a beach, a museum, theater, restaurant, yoga studio, even a cemetery (we have a delightful one nearby that is a birder's mecca), etcetera–descriptions of the scene or environs, the activity, the individual artworks, performances, ambiance, food, service, etcetera will bring the piece to life and convey a you-are-there sensation to readers. Your readers will be relying on your knowledge, powers of observation and storytelling abilities. Your informed judgment, taste, and opinions will be an important element. approach you create, the thesis idea controlling and unifying the work, will make for certain selections and emphases that reflect you the observer, your history, interests, tastes, etc.
The eye-witness report is a species of primary research. You may find you want background reading on whatever aspects of your subject require context, to fully develop your thesis or main ideas. To repeat, this essay will require you actually go somewhere in person and record material facts and observations before putting the piece together. Your thesis tells you what to include, to emphasize, and what to ignore. The essay should run a minimum of 5oo-6oo words, including introductory, body, and closing paragraphs, and title.
Remember the who, what, where, when, why roster of specifics.
Read the following article about a favorite getaway destination of Swedes and as you do notice how the author includes specifics of place, his personal journey, and the cultural context of Gotland. This is the form you want to model, however near and familiar your focus destination. You will be a personal guide to your readers, revealing a place in all its particular appeal:
This assignment provides you opportunity to travel locally and write about the experience. In fact, the road trip form has a particular free and spontaneous quality to it that you may want to try or incorporate in part. Look here at how the author begins his report/profile of Lynda Barry, a well-know cartoonist and storyteller, who teaches workshops targeted to non-writers or those who have almost given up: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/magazine/cartoonist-lynda-barry-will-make-you-believe-in-yourself.html
Field reporting often involves character sketches and narrative work. The story element must be made stimulating for readers to feel transported. The story involves you and the featured subject of your work.
Remember: this is not to be a story about a trip or place visited some time in your past. It is to be undertaken as an investigation of sorts with the writing in mind. Take notes. Your writing must be authenticated by particular observations drawn from the field. Local subjects only: Monroe, Collier, Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach county.
*If you visit an exhibit, include the museum or site name, location, and featured artist(s), including the exhibit’s run dates in your report. Focus would necessarily be on some theme observed in one or more works or overall. You would identify representative works (by title) and present a verbal description–medium, size, subject, form, and color–so that readers can "see" the work and understand the conclusions you draw from it.
*If you visit a natural area, try to tie the visit in to some current news (a news "hook") or ongoing area of interest (natural history/studies, ecology, environmental justice, marine life, art) to create audience appeal, to lend purpose and weight to the piece.
*If you like to eat and drink, explore. Food culture is of great interest to many these days and offers many choices for primary research or "eye-witness" reports: green markets, groceries, restaurants, bars, etcetera.
*If you visit a natural area, try to tie the visit in to some current news (a news "hook") or ongoing area of interest (natural history/studies, ecology, environmental justice, marine life, art) to create audience appeal, to lend purpose and weight to the piece.
*If you like to eat and drink, explore. Food culture is of great interest to many these days and offers many choices for primary research or "eye-witness" reports: green markets, groceries, restaurants, bars, etcetera.
If you go to a museum the primary focus would be to see the various exhibits and selectively cover what you find most interesting. The URL of the NSU Museum of Art on Las Olas: http://nsuartmuseum.org
In fact, there are several museums in the downtown area, including The Old Ft. Lauderdale Historical Museum and another devoted to science and discovery.
Essay 5 (due week 9, 500 words): An EyeWitness/Field Report: You must attend in person a local event, community function, business enterprise, entertainment venue, museum, restaurant or hotel establishment, nature preserve or park, area of historical interest, etcetera– in order to gather information from direct experience. You cannot rely on the reports of others or the site's own published information alone. The writing of the piece requires you bring to readers the vicarious experience of being there in person. themselves; that is, by engaging readers in your own experience on the ground. Background research may help fill out and provide context for the report of course, and you are encouraged to find out as much as you can in the way of origins or history of the establishment, event or area for possible inclusion in the report.
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