Readings and Lecture Commentaries (Spring 2018)

Due: You will write 3 scheduled commentaries on the readings (all listed on the syllabus and in our Moodle schedule) and 2 lecture commentaries you sign up for, all should be uploaded to Moodle by Friday, 5pm (for the readings commentaries) and by Monday 5 pm after the lectures.

Length and Format: ~500 words, or if it were a Word doc, it would be 2 pages, double spaced, 12 pt font, 1 inch margins. Your commentary can include images and/or video (see my policy on the ethical use of images) but it should incorporate at least 500 words of text.

For the readings commentaries, they should be informal (doesn't need a formal expository structure with intro and conclusion, etc., tone is still serious but more informal) that address the prompts and refer explicitly (direct quotes or close paraphrases, with page numbers) to at least one of the course readings and one outside news or popular article relevant to the issues at hand. All references to the readings should be cited with in-text, paranthetical citation (ie., Lopez 1998: 10). No reference list is needed unless you cite sources outside the syllabus, but all images or video used should have a way for viewers to see their source, title or creator, and if possible, creation date (ie., in a caption, a rollover box, or in-text reference).

Note when your upload your commentaries, they go to me only; they will not be shared with anyone unless you want to (feel free to post them on the course blog!). Please post the link to your outside article on the course blog with a short explanatory note or quote from it--that will be shared with the class.

As for the lecture commentaries, they are not reviews (what you liked or disliked), but commentaries that look at a particular issue or theme in the lectures with explicit reference (direct quotes, paraphrased arguments, with page numbers) to one or more of our course readings. 

Evaluation: Even though these are informal commentaries, this is still a writing assignment. I will evaluate based on (in order of priority):

1) Extent to which you respond to the prompt and refer to course readings, and demonstrate clear understanding of basic terms presented in the course;

2) The creativity and originality of your ideas;

3) The clarity of your organization and writing;