BIS 461
Studies in U.S. Intellectual and Cultural
History:
The 1960s
Summer 2004
David S. Goldstein, Ph.D.
Article Abstracts Assignment
Abstract #1
due in
Midquarter Portfolio (online) at 5:50 p.m. sharp on Monday, July 26;
Abstract #2 due in Midquarter Portfolio (online) at 5:50 p.m. sharp on
Wednesday, Aug. 11
The purpose of
these abstracts is to allow you to learn more about an aspect of the
1960s that interests you, to share what you have learned with others,
and to hone your critical reading, thinking, and writing skills.
You will follow the
same procedure for both abstracts:
The first step
is to identify an aspect of the 1960s about which you would like to
learn more. Reading your in-class pre-write from the first night
of class and glancing through Edward P. Morgan's chapter notes at
the end of The Sixties
Experience: Hard Lessons about Modern America could be a
starting strategy.
Once you have identified a potential topic, make a list of potential
search terms (keywords) so you can conduct a search of an academic
database. Again, your in-class pre-write from June 21 can
help. Underline terms in your pre-write that might work as
keywords for your database search, and add any more that you can think
of.
To find articles, I recommend using the Expanded Academic Index database at
<http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/wash_eai?db=EAIM>,
the America: History and Life
database at <http://serials.abc-clio.com/active/start?_appname=serials&initialdb=AHL>,
or the JSTOR database at <http://www.jstor.org/cgi-bin/jstor/gensearch>,
(all of which will require a proxy set-up if you are not using a
campus computer to access them, about which you can find information at
<http://www.lib.washington.edu/help/connect.html>).
You probably should find at least four articles so that you will have
some choices about which articles to abstract. Your two abstracts
may be on articles on the same topic or on different topics, wherever
your curiosity takes you.
On Wednesday, June 30, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. (the last hour of class)
in LB1-222, Sarah Leadley, a research librarian at the Campus Library,
will conduct an optional computer lab session to help you use the
academic databases to find articles. If you already are confident
about your use of the academic databases, you do not need to attend the
optional session, in which case you may leave class that day at
7:30.
(We will meet in our regular classroom, UW1-030, for the first part of
class that day, from 6:00 to 7:30.)
Choose the article that you want to read and abstract. Although
Expanded Academic Index, America: History and Life, and JSTOR contain
mostly scholarly materials, they also contain some non-scholarly
materials, so make sure that the articles that you identify as ones
that you might want to abstract are scholarly. For guidance, read
the Campus Library's excellent document at <http://www.uwb.edu/library/guides/sources.html>.
Then, read "Writing Abstracts" at <http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/bizwrite/abstracts.html>.
You will write an informational
abstract, so pay particular attention to that section.
Then, using Microsoft Word
(not Wordperfect, Microsoft Works, or any other word processing
application), write an abstract of about 250 words
(no fewer than 200 and no more than 300, according to the "Word Count"
tool in the "Tools" section of Microsoft Word). Be sure to
include a standard academic heading for your document (see Tip #20 in
"Tips for Better Prose" at <http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Prose.html>),
and please double-space everything,
even though the sample abstract shown on the "Writing Abstracts" web
page is single-spaced. Also, be sure to provide all of the
following information about your article:
- author's full
name
- full and
accurate title of article
- title of journal
in which the article was originally published (see item #7 in "Tips for
Better Prose")
- volume and
number and date of publication
- page
numbers of original article as it was originally published (see item
#19 in "Tips for
Better Prose")
You will submit
Abstract #1 in your online mid-quarter learning portfolio no later
than
5:50 p.m. on Monday, July 26.
You will submit Abstract #2 in
your online course-end learning
portfolio no
later than 5:50 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 11.
Criteria for
grading the abstracts. Please carefully read "Criteria for
Assessing
Writing" at <http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/WritingAssess.html>
for an explanation of these items:
|
Content (including accuracy and completeness)
|
70 percent
|
|
Organization
|
15 percent
|
|
Conventions
|
15 percent
|
|
TOTAL
|
15 percent of course grade (each abstract)
|
Let me emphasize
that I expect
your best
effort in this and every exercise. Your most serious work now will
enable me to provide the most helpful comments, which in turn will
improve your grade on later assignments. In other words, this
assignment helps determine your grade in this course both directly
(with the score it earns) and indirectly (with its capacity to teach
you how to improve your writing), so it is worth the investment of
your time and effort to do the best you can.
Some additional
advice:
- Get in the habit of saving your work often
(maybe every ten minutes) so you do not lose everything when your
computer freezes. It also is a good idea to keep multiple copies in
different places, such as on a different computer, on diskettes or Zip
disks, or in your electronic "shell" on the UW student computer server.
I
usually e-mail important files to myself at the end of the work day, so
if my computer blows up, I still can retrieve my work.
- Visit the Writing Center (see <http://www.bothell.washington.edu/writingcenter/>).
They are professionals trained to help you
become a better writer, so visit them! Remember that their goal is to
help you become a better writer, not to make this particular paper
better, so you are responsible for applying what they teach you to this
paper and others that you will write.
- I do not have time to read rough drafts,
but I am very glad to discuss your paper as you work on it. You would
be wise to visit me during office hours (see syllabus) to make sure you
are on the right track
and to get advice about any particular difficulties you might be
encountering.
- Re-read this assignment sheet just before
submitting the final copy of your paper to make sure it meets all of
the
requirements.
- If you are an Interdisciplinary Studies major, remember to keep
your graded paper for the
graduation portfolio that you will complete in your senior seminar (see
<http://www.bothell.washington.edu/IAS/degrees/BLS/requirements.html#graduate>).
This page last
updated June 27,
2004.
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