Link to Google Drive folder of the project. Includes documents for shared use, e.g. list of individual projects. You can add materials, information, questions, comments to documents, or upload/create new documents.
Webpage with all the details of how to take part in the Pressbooks project
Update: Dates have been slightly adjusted to reflect the transition to remote learning. Please note that I have no idea how this will all work out as we are no longer able to meet face to face or use physical library materials easily, and as we face continuously changing personal situations. Whatever happens, rule number one is DON’T PANIC: this course is not worth panicking about! Everything we do is “figureoutable” (my new favorite word).
Whatever happens, you always have the right to determine how your final contribution will be used: you don’t have to include it in the public-facing, open access textbook. But personally I think it would be inspiring if we get enough contributions to create a “Pandemic Edition”, showing what is possible even with limited resources.
How do you eat an elephant? Bite by bite!*
This joke won’t win any competitions but the strategy will get your major projects done. Remember that all printed material we’ve used in this course has gone through multiple rounds of revisions before being printed on the page in front of you. And before that, there were many rounds of brainstorming, try-outs, and adjustments to refine the basic ideas. The following assignments will help you divide the elephant of the final project in more manageable hunks, chunks and bites to get you to a successful conclusion of the course, and the semester.
For the final project, you will contribute a new chapter, edit an existing chapter, or add a new section to an existing chapter, for an equivalent of approximately 1200 words. The topic has to be connected to the course’s main idea: “a cultural history of the strange in China”, but this can be interpreted in many different, and creative ways. If in doubt, check with me how we can make it fit.
Please complete these assignments by the due date. This helps me to spread the workload of providing feedback evenly, and ensures you have sufficient time between all the different steps. If you run into difficulties or need more time, communicate with me. Remember I am a resource, too, and I am here to help you get this project completed. Above all, do not wait until something is perfect to share. Show me your garbage!
- Due: Monday March 23: Plan to submit the first step for the final project: pitch the basic idea, and give reasons why you are interested in this particular topic.
- Dig a bit deeper than “dragons are cool” (they are, we agree)
- What in the course so far has guided you to this topic?
- What in the readings or the topics portal has sparked your curiosity?
- Length: 300-500 words
- Post on your site as a blog post, category HST107
- Note: you are not yet locked in, but this indicates a general direction
- Due: Thursday March 26: List of sources (articles, books, sites) you have identified as potentially useful so far:
- Includes “I haven’t looked through this yet but I think it might be useful”, “based on the title,…”, or “I saw a reference to this in another text but I’m waiting on the Interlibrary Loan.”
- Indicate what makes you think this is possibly useful or how it connects to your project idea.
- Aim for at least 3 potential sources.
- Share as google doc, and allow me editing access: this gives us a space to build a collective bibliography for your project.
- Due March 31: A description of your chapter/section’s contents.
- Topic: now firmly settled
- Main ideas you want to highlight: argument, thesis, or research question
- What you hope the reader will learn from the chapter
- Length: 200-400 words
- Post on your site as a blog post, category HST107
- Due April 10: “Annotated bibliography”: List of sources you have read and assessed useful for further use.
- Use Chicago Notes and Bibliography style- use the Bibliography formatting for this exercise.
- Strive for at least three good quality, preferably scholarly, sources (chapters, articles, or full-length books). If you cannot find three reputable sources, provide an overview of your search process: where did you search, which terms etc. Remember for Chinese terms there may be an alternative transcription. This will help me to guide you towards more/other materials.
- Each annotation should include:
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- A brief (3 sentence) summary of the contents of each.
- A brief explanation of how you intend to use this information.
- Shortcomings you noticed in the source (doesn’t answer a particular question, reasons why you think it is not sufficiently scholarly to use, etc.)
- Here are some concrete examples from the OWL at Purdue.
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- Share as google doc, and allow me editing access: this gives us a space to build a collective bibliography for your project (this may be the same google doc as in step 2)
- An outline of your chapter/section Due April 17/ over the weekend
- Include an introduction (or other section) worked out in full prose
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- Why? This helps me to find out where your strengths are as a writer, and which areas have room for improvement.
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- Note that you may have to rewrite your introduction as your writing and research progresses, and as you discover new ideas and insights.
- Post on your site as a blog post, category HST107 OR on Pressbooks (once we have access)
- Include an introduction (or other section) worked out in full prose
- Due Wednesday April 22: A first full draft
- Include references in Chicago Style (notes and bibliography)
- Indicate where you want to make further changes, or need some assistance
- Add to Pressbooks as a chapter or updated chapter
- Due Thursday April 30: A revised, second draft
- This is more or less your final draft for the writing process. Any changes after this will be largely cosmetic (e.g. spelling, formatting of references, and correcting factual mistakes that slipped in)
- Edit your existing Pressbooks draft from step 6
- Due Monday May 4: The fully edited, final version in Pressbooks, ready for the Second Edition.
* A similar strategy can be found in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, which also includes the very useful concept of “sh•tty first drafts” and a lot of wisdom for writers of fiction and non-fiction alike.
