Presentation After-Party (Tuesday 5/17)

Buffalo Wing University
10312 Willard Way
Fairfax, VA 22030-2508
(703) 273-6336

I believe the presentations end at 7:20, and then comes the BIS program reception, so we'll probably head over around 8:15.

All invited, and friends & family welcome. Thanks to Lorna Beltran for making arrangements.

Conventions for Titles

I am copying some text I wrote to my morning class because I believe I said more or less the same thing to you guys. Just some further examples.

Sorry this got rushed in class, so I'm writing a note here to put my thoughts in order. About conventions for titles for academic papers, there is usually a one-part format or a two-part format. In the two-part format you have more flexibility with the first part to be a bit more creative/informal/general, and then the second part is the more hardcore research part. Usually you want that part of the title to be somehow expressive of the precise topic, or better yet the method or thesis.

Bad: "Needle In a Haystack"

Bad: "So That's Where Bin Laden Was. Huh."

Better: "New Investigative Tactics in Terrorist Counterinsurgency"

Best: "Satellite Forensics as a New Investigative Tool for Terrorist Counterinsurgency"

Best: "A Quantitative Analysis of the Counterinsurgency Applications of Satellite Forensics"

Best: "A Dance Suite Exploring the Counterinsurgency Applications of Satellite Forensics"

Best: "Satellite Forensics as a Complement to Interrogation in Terrorist Counterinsurgency Operations"

Other Best: "Needle In a Haystack - Satellite Forensics as a New Investigative Tool for Terrorist Counterinsurgency"

Other Best: "Needle In a Haystack - A Quantitative Analysis of the Counterinsurgency Applications of Satellite Forensics"

Other Best: "Needle In a Haystack - A Dance Suite Exploring the Counterinsurgency Applications of Satellite Forensics"

Other Best: "Needle In a Haystack - Satellite Forensics as a Complement to Interrogation in Terrorist Counterinsurgency Operations"

The End of the Road

Can you believe next week is our last class? We will be doing course evaluations, BIS exit survey, lessons learned, and of course sharing & caring. I've also had a request for a brief workshop on project titles.

I am expecting everyone to submit final projects on paper or as a PDF file (email or Google Docs), by Sunday night 5/8. Earlier is fine, but if it's going to be later we need to make an explicit arrangement.

At this point, don't expect general "read my draft" comments, but I can answer specific questions. I'm a little behind and will be writing to some of you today (Thursday).

Holy S*** You Guys Write a Lot

Keep up the good work, though. This is what one of the characters on The Wire calls, "one of them good problems."

Reminder: We are still in the midst of the last personal conference cycle, so the class will not meet on 4/18~4/19. We will have two more classes, 4/25~4/26 and 5/2~5/3.

Class #6 Post-Game and Reminders for April

For those who missed the last class, we've changed the schedule. There will be no class on Monday 4/4 or Tuesday 4/5 and we will be meeting for individual conferences next week. Please check your Google Docs for the sign-up. Sorry for posting this message so late.

Request: Anyone sending me a document that contains some stuff I've already read, and some stuff I haven't... can you please use the highlighting tool (maybe blue or green) to show me what's new? Or just email me which pages to pay closest attention to. Thanks.

Announcement: It appears that April 25/26 was the decisive winner of the opinion poll, so I am adjusting the schedule accordingly. The agenda for that meeting includes "The Sentence Doctor" as well as the underwear story if I haven't told it yet this semester, any last-minute dilemmas about citation formatting, and Aaron's philosophy on writing conclusions and a group workshop therewith. Yeah I just used the word "therewith," deal with it.

Class #5 Post-Game and Reminders for Later

The class will not meet again until the end of the month. (Monday March 28 ~ Tuesday March 29). Please note that the first draft of your Methods & Analysis sections, or whatever you are calling them, is due that day. I prefer to receive this as a single document. If you make any notable changes to your Introduction & Lit Review please include that as well.

I will be available by email in the meantime. This should be an interesting stretch of the interstate.

The Editing Process: Apparently the Washington Post put a story online that wasn't actually finished, and accidentally included all the editors' notes. Thought you might enjoy this as we seem to be in a similar phase with 490.

Class #4 Post-Game and Reminders for Next Week

-Please use the Google Document I shared to sign up for a conference time if you have not yet had one this term.-Please make sure you have completed your comments on your partners' literature reviews, as we began in class tonight.
-I am expecting to receive all the second draft Intro/Lit Reviews by Tuesday 3/1. (These are the ones I'm grading.) If we you arranged an alternate deadline with me, please email me a reminder! Note that you will include five more annotated bibliography sources with this submission.
-Potential subjects for the 2/28~3/1 class include Aaron's famous anti-methodology exercise, a section outline or concept map for your analysis section, and "everything you ever wanted to know about grammar & style editing but were afraid to ask."

Class #3 Post-Game and Reminders

Reminders:

-No class on 2/14~2/15. President's Day is not a day off at GMU, so class will meet as usual on 2/21~2/22.
-Please use the Google Document I shared to sign up for a conference time if you want/need one in the next two weeks.
-Please comment on your partners' introductions in the following way. First, read each partners' introduction. Second, consider the seven rubric categories given on page 11 of the course syllabus. Rate your partner "developing" in two categories, "competent" in three categories and "exemplary" in two categories. Write a brief note of explanation about one of the exemplary scores and one of the developing scores. (It can be assumed that Aaron forced you to choose developing and that maybe you actually think better of it and so on.) Then repeat for any remaining partners. You can convey this evaluation to your partners by email, Google Docs, or however else you like. Great work to everyone who has done this so far.
-Redraft of literature review due next week with 10 new annotated bibliography entries. (I also need the previous entries for the students who didn't take my 390 section.) This will be our major focus in class on 2/21 ~ 2/22.

Annotated Bibliography Format: Remember, this is only suggested.  

1) Bibliographic Citation for source according to the discipline-specific style standard you've selected. 

2) Thesis or main idea of source... WHAT is being argued. 

3) Evidence or method of source... HOW is it being argued. 

4) Audience of source... WHO are the readers it addresses. 

5) Purpose of source... WHY is it written? What is the author trying to accomplish? These last four could be accomplished in 2-4 sentences. You can write more if it's helpful, but don't write a novel.  

6) Is the source your "family," "friend," "enemy," or a "one-night-stand"? ("Strangers" and "help wanted" are important to classify but shouldn't be included in your annotated bibliography. Remember you will always reassess your sources, so even friends may become strangers.  

7) What makes this source useful to you? 

8) What are the limitations of the source, or reasons it might not be useful? 

9) This source relates to one (or more) of your others sources how? Those last four could also be done in 2-4 sentences.

Class #2 Post-Game and Reminders for Next Week

Reminders:

-Review Craft of Research chapters 6-11
-Write first draft of Introduction (includes interdisciplinary rationale) and share on Google Docs to me and your assigned partners.
-Meet with your faculty advisor and get him/her to fill out the form (email and fax OK, see previous post for link to the form)

Class #1 Post-Game and Reminders for Next Week

Update: All links fixed. I think.

It was great meeting all the new people and reacquainting with the old people. One thing I forgot to announce in the Tuesday afternoon section... you are free to switch to the Monday night section, which would benefit me by evening things out. (10 in one and 21 in the other!) Or if you need to attend the other one once or twice because of a scheduling conflict, that would be fine too. It's not the best because your assigned partners won't be there, but as a back-up let's say.

Reminders:

-Share 390 proposal with Aaron on Google Docs if you have not already done so. (This is only necessary for last semester's students if you have made substantive changes.) Email attachment is fine as a backup if you're having trouble with Google Docs. Note: you will generally not get a confirmation from Aaron when you send a document, because he gets like 50 every day and can't immediately respond to all of them. You will get notification if something didn't work!
-Write a test post in the blog comments if you have not already done so.
-Read Boix-Mansilla & Duraisingh article. 
-Read sample papers and mark as instructed. The samples and instructions are posted in the "Sample Projects" page above.
-Meet with your faculty mentor as soon as possible. Here's the form to give them. Click that link, then File -> Download original, and you can print the PDF or email it to them.

Welcome

This is the course blog for BIS 490. I will mainly use it to make announcements and adjustments to our schedule; you will use it to post your answers to any homework exercises I may give, and to extend our classroom discussion.

You can preview the course syllabus for the Monday night section and the Tuesday afternoon section.

Please write a test post in the reply below so I can make sure the blog is working for everyone. You can either use an existing Google/Gmail I.D. or make a Blogger I.D. Let me know if you have any difficulty and I can help. It would be best if your test post was some kind of question or comment about the syllabus. Read it carefully!

As noted in my email, I recommend Graff and Birkenstein's They Say / I Say and I recommend against the Strunk and White guide on the bookstore's required reading list. The other textbooks are ones you already bought for previous courses, or articles I will post or xerox.

I look forward to meeting all of you soon.