At the root of academic writing and research is a process of discovery
At the root of academic writing and research is a process of discovery, and in this sense academic writing and research are deeply connected. We will continue to emphasize in this course that academic writing is in so many respects a process of response and dialogue. This is equally true in research. Scholars respond to scholars, and ideas dialogue, as it were, with ideas. Before beginning this exercise, read the “Introduction” and Chapters Three, Four, and Five from Graff and Birkenstein’s They Say/I Say handbook posted in the Week 4 Learning Modules folder (PDF copies are also posted under Course Materials).
For this short research assignment, first learn to navigate the Library databases and find one article written about either Sophocles’ Oedipus the King or Susan Glaspell’s Trifles. The article you read must be from an academic journal (more on this below). Find an article that interests you and one that you can handle (some can be quite difficult, so choose one you can understand well). Then write a response to each of the following: 1. Summarize the article in 3-5 sentences. 2. Describe one place in the article where the author cites and responds to another scholarly source (that is, an example where the author refers to what another author has written about Oedipus the King or Trifles). 3. Explain how the article responds to the source. Does the author agree? Disagree? Or both agree and disagree? (See Graff/Birkenstein’s “Chapter Four: Three Ways to Respond” assigned this week for more about how to respond to a source). Describe in a paragraph (5-7 sentences in length) how effectively you think the author responds to the source.
Using Troy University’s Library Databases Directions: To find full-text scholarly articles, from the TROY University Library webpage (http://library.troy.edu/) click on the “Online Databases” link. To search for scholarly journals, you should use both the general databases and more specific subject area databases (see the list of subject specific databases on the left of the databases page). List of Some Useful General Databases: Academic Search Complete, Expanded Academic ASAP, JSTOR, MLA International Bibliography, Literature Resource Center, Literature Online, and Project MUSE. Under the search options in each database, you should limit your search by clicking “Full Text” to retrieve only articles that can be read online. Read section R1-c in your Writer’s Reference textbook for more information about general and subject-specific databases and advice about how to search a database by refining keyword searches.
After you’ve posted your research assignment, write a 50-word response to two of your classmates’ assignments evaluating how well they understood Graff and Birkenstein’s “They Say/I Say” chapters (posted in the Week 4 Learning Modules folder) and used what they read to write a clear summary and analysis of how the author of their scholarly article responded to sources.
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