Ok, 242. With this prompt we begin thinking about more concretely about your paper for this course, as well as how to collaboratively cluster around a keyword, collectively share your research, and offer each other feedback during the writing process.
Before we begin, let’s consider something Raymond Williams writes in the introduction to Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society:
The questions are not only about meaning; in most cases, inevitably, they are about meanings. . . . The original meanings of words are always interesting. But what is often most interesting is the subsequent variation. . . . [I]mportant social and historical processes occur within language, in ways which indicate how integral the problems of meanings and of relationships really are. (16, 20-21, 22)
As a primer for your paper, this prompt asks you not only to define a word. It also asks you to privilege variation and to start highlighting where and how variation occurs. As the class progresses, you’ll gather more materials (e.g., through an annotated bibliography and Zotero) that allow you to better determine how, exactly, social and historical processes happen within the keyword your cluster selected.
That said, the first step is having a keyword shared between everyone in your cluster (of six or seven people). Got that word? Ok then. Below are the next steps.
In your own blog entry, please:
Embed a custom image from or related to the modernist period that correlates with your cluster’s keyword.
Next, in just a few sentences, explain why you selected that image.
After that response, look up your keyword in the OED, copy the definition(s), and include them in your entry. (Try a block quote! Once you’ve copied the definition into your entry, highlight it. Next, in the toolbar above your writing pane, click the quotation mark icon just to the left of the left-align icon. Your highlighted text should now be indented. Neat!)
Once you have provided an image and the OED definition(s), you should then turn to modernist literature and quote your keyword in action. This quote can come from something we’ve read in class, or it can come from something you’ve read on your own time. The only hitch? The source must be a novel or a poem.
In just a few more sentences, explain why you selected the source and quote.
Now, please find one more modernist source for your keyword. The source medium (e.g., film, book, audio recording, magazine, or image) can be whatever you choose. (Need ideas? See me for resources. We’ll cover some in future classes, but I can offer suggestions now, if need be.)
Once again, explain your selection.
Finally, write a paragraph on your keyword thoughts at this juncture and, more specifically, respond to the following:
- Right now, what don’t you know about your keyword that you need to know?
- Thus far, what’s the single most interesting thing you’ve learned about your keyword?
- How does your keyword help people better understand modernism (be it historically, culturally, and/or aesthetically)?
As you research, I recommend using Zotero to gather and store your materials. That way, you can find them later, and you can easily share them with your peers. Another bright idea is to create a folder for your keyword within our Zotero Modernist Studies Group. (Some folders, like “poetry” and “novels”, already exist.)
A response to this prompt is due on the blog before class on Monday, April 19th. Please categorize your entry under “keyword” and provide three tags (one of which should be your actual keyword).
Very soon, you’ll take one of the sources you provide here and elaborate on it by writing a detailed, complex paragraph. That said, choose your sources wisely. They could come back to haunt you.
See me with questions!
April 5th, 2010 → 3:54 pm @ jentery