Good morning.
Today we will review the work–the summaries –submitted last week. We will then address the short report/essay (#5) you were to develop over this last week. The topic must be one which you can tie to the piece on creativity as an academic study. The idea is to expand on a subject by reviewing related topical material. A requirement is that you use at least three reports as source material. This means you will introduce each, summarizing the findings, provide some direct quotation, all of which should contribute to the thesis of the essay. You will have some time to complete the assignment in class.
Possible Topics (and you can think of more):
- Enhancing or nurturing one's creative potential
- Lessons from the world's great creatives
- How play and dream inform art
- Creativity defined (with examples)
Type the key words combined with plus signs into the search engine (I use Google) and see what news or reports appear. The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, NPR.org, and many other sites regularly publish news on every topic you would find in the New York Times.
Here's my go, a rough draft:
Now I go to Youtube, a marvelous addition to the world of
made things, to watch the posts of the ice skating finals at the Sochi Winter
Olympics, where I will marvel at the athletic skill, power, daring, and grace of
reigning champion Yuan-Kim and others in faraway Russia. After that perhaps I’ll watch the director,
the actors and others speak of how they built spontaneity and risk into the
production of American Hustle (2013) to elicit the most creative
performances possible in a movie that celebrates characters who must
continually recreate themselves: “the
art and soul of survival.”
Here's my go, a rough draft:
On Being Creative
A recent article in the New York Times "Creativity Becomes an Academic Discipline," by Laura
Pappano, reports that college degrees are now being
awarded in the study of creativity and that those who earn such degrees, by
some accounts, have proved themselves to be creative problem solvers, people
who can think out of the box, which might make them strong candidates in the
current job market as certain employers prize creativity. It may seem awkward to speak of majoring or
minoring in creativity per say, that is, separate from any specific field or
endeavor, and in fact in several of the courses mentioned the work required
appears rather academic, a traditional process requiring study of the
literature on creativity and representative individuals, personal observation
and self-reflection, analysis of a problem, discovery, and invention:
In Dr. Burnett’s
Introduction to Creative Studies survey course, students explore definitions of
creativity, characteristics of creative people and strategies to enhance their
own creativity. These include rephrasing problems as questions, learning not to
instinctively shoot down a new idea (first find three positives), and
categorizing problems as needing a solution that requires either action, planning
or invention. A key objective is to get students to look around with fresh eyes
and be curious. The inventive process, she says, starts with “How might you…”
If the course were Composition 101, similar strategies might be
used to enhance student awareness of how good writing gets done. The centrality of trial and error to all
creative endeavour is a key takeaway in creativity studies; one teacher dubbed
his course “Failure 101” to emphasize the fact.
Indeed, “his favorite assignment” sounds much like a writing
assignment: “Construct a résumé based on
things that didn’t work out and find the meaning and influence these have had
on your choices.” He asks students to
connect the dots in their life, and to redefine failure in the context of the
larger journey. We accomplish little if
we are unwilling to risk failure or to grope our way instinctively through the
psychological turmoil and darkness of inexperience, ignorance, and, at times, ineptitude. But we must till we find our footing, else we
risk accomplishing little and losing touch with that which gives life real zest,
meeting the challenges life poses.
Humans are naturally creative, we have had to be in
order to survive; our world is increasingly a world of made things and the best
of them, utilitarian or artistic, serve to make living easier and richer: a chair provides comfortable rest, a bowl,
fork and spoon practical means of conveying food to our mouths, clothing warmth
and protection, and story, poetry, music, film and all the arts ancient and
modern, above all, sustenance for our souls. The more we develop our creative capacities
the more potential we have to enhance our lives and those of others. The old myth is that creative endeavor
requires some sort of divine gift or genius, but giftedness may be greatly
overrated. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in Human, All-Too Human (1878) about the
process artists must dedicate themselves to in order to achieve greatness:
Artists have a vested interest in our believing in the
flash of revelation, the so-called inspiration . . .[shining] down from heaven
as a ray of grace. In reality, the
imagination of the good artist or thinker produces continuously good, mediocre,
and bad things, but his judgment, trained and sharpened to a fine point,
rejects selects, connects . . . All great artists and thinkers [are] great
workers, indefatigable not only in inventing, but also in rejecting, sifting,
transforming, ordering. (qtd. In Shenk)
One has only to
read the history of any great artist to discover the artist’s commitment to a
process whereby natural endowments or talents were honed by experience and
training and a sense of purpose that outweighed the considerable difficulties
of achieving work of great merit. Stephen McCranie, a young commercial cartoonist,
writes and illustrates a blog called DoodleAlley detailing some of his creative “issues” in a fresh and
clear style, some of which the frame here illustrates.
Shenk, David. The Genius In All Of Us. New York. Random House, 2011. Print.
Below is another example of one quarter's assignment, which began with an article about a cat that made a 200-mile journey home after getting lost.
Sample Cat Report (Essay 5):
Cats on the Loose: A Problem in Need of a Solution
For all the cat lovers who read the article by Pam Belluck titled “A Cat’s 200-Mile Trek Leaves Scientists Guessing” (New York Times January 19, 2013) it is perhaps comforting to learn that domestic cats have an as yet little-understood ability to navigate home over long distances. Holly, a four-year-old house cat, got lost on a family outing to Daytona Beach, Fla., and over the next two months walked to within a mile of her owner’s home in West Palm Beach, Fla. Fortunately, she was wearing a microchip that allowed rescuers to reunite her with her owners. Holly’s thinness and bleeding paws attested to the hardships of her journey and that she was lucky to survive. Scientists do not know how cats navigate over long distances. Writes Belluck, “There is in fact little scientific dogma on cat navigation. Migratory animals like birds, turtles and insects have been studied more closely, and use magnetic fields, olfactory cues, or orientation by the sun.”
But in other, less heart-warming reports, we have a joint study by the University of Georgia and National Geographic Society called Kitty Cams that confirms that cats given the freedom to roam often expose themselves to significant harm and pose significant threats to small mammals, reptiles, and birds living in the wild. The Kitty Cams study estimates that domestic cats may kill as many as half a billion birds or more and several billion small mammals each year. Another report by scientists with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute raised alarms worldwide in contending that “un-owned and owned free-ranging domestic cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and between 6.9 and 20.7 billion small mammals each year in the contiguous United States” (“Feral and Free-Ranging Pet Cats Kill Far More Birds in the Continental United States Than Previously Believed, Smithsonian Study Finds”). The study indicates, moreover, that “it is un-owned cats—such as farm and barn cats, strays, colony cats, and feral cats—that cause the majority of the mortality, roughly 69 percent of bird deaths and 89 percent of mammal deaths.” Scientists have concluded that cats represent a greater mortality threat to wild birds, whose numbers are declining, than other threats often cited such as environmental toxins, bridges, skyscrapers, and towers.
The reports of cat predation are being challenged by cat welfare advocates who see a threat to feral cat populations (Alley Cat Allies “Tell the Smithsonian: Stop Spreading Junk Science That Will Kill Cats!”). Neuter and spay programs have been very effective at reducing the number of stray and feral cats, and the number of cats being euthanized, but the population problem persists. The large numbers of colonies of feral cats, even those fed and cared for by volunteers, pose a risk to wildlife that many authorities see as untenable. Debate centers on how to effectively reduce the number of stray and feral cats and thus conserve and protect important wildlife species (Mott “U.S. Faces Growing Feral Cat Problem”).
As the owner of a cat that relishes the hunt, and succeeds far too often, I have concluded that my Ruby, an ordinary black short-haired domestic cat, will have to stay indoors far more often than she would like, for her own safety and that of the wild creatures that live in or visit my neighborhood.
Note: The report above does not include a Works Cited list, but it has the in-text references that provide readers the key terms (author and article title) that would be used in a Works Cited page list. The specific reference information and the order in which it is to be formatted is illustrated in the set of MLA examples below.
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Citing Sources in MLA Style
To document your research sources, whether from an article in print or online, an encyclopedia or dictionary item, an interview source, a film, photograph, illustration or other visual material– there is a standard means.
The primary reference is the author of the source, whose last name provides the key or first word to the source item as it is entered on the Works Cited page. This page contains an alphabetical list of all the sources cited in the report. Any directly quoted, paraphrased or summarized information should be referenced or cited in text and then included on the Works Cited page. Thus, on this page one finds the full bibliographic or publication information of each source cited in the report/essay.
The author’s name and the title of the piece should be included in the essay text along with whatever information item you have borrowed or used. This in-text reference may appear as a parenthetical citation (i.e. a set of parentheses like the one I am using now) containing the author's last name and perhaps a page number (for print sources typically) or text title. Sometimes an article or source being used may have no author named; in such instances, use the text title as the key term, the website name, or the most direct means of identifying the source. Do not put URLs in essay text.
At the following URLs you will find discussion of the MLA guidelines and illustrations for integrating sources:
Individual Author of a Book
Hazzard, Shirley. The Great Fire. New York. Farrar, 2003. Print.
Article from a Printed Magazine
Jenkins, Lee. “He’s Gotta Play Hurt.” Sports Illustrated. 26 Oct. 2009: 42-3. Print.
Article from an Online Magazine
Bowden, Mark. “Jihadists in Paradise.” The Atlantic.com. Atlantic Monthly Group, Mar. 2007. Web. 8 Mar. 2007.
Article from an Online Newspaper
Richmond, Riva. “Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay.” New York Times. New York Times, 19 May 2010. Web. 29 May 2010.
Selection from an Online Book
Webster, Augusta. “Not Love.” A Book of Rhyme. London, 1881. Victorian Women Wrtiers Project. Web. 8 Mar. 2007.
Organization Web Page
“Library Statistics.” American Library Association. Amer. Lib. Assn. 2010 Web. 26 Feb. 2010.
Film
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Dir. Peter Jackson. New Line Cinema, 2003. Film.
Program on Television or Radio
“The Wounded Platoon.” Frontline. PBS. WGBH, Boston, 18 May 2010. Television.
Online Video Clip
Murphy, Beth. "Tips for a Good Profile Piece." Project: Report. YouTube, 7 Sept. 2008. Web. 19 Sept. 2008.
Advertisement
Feeding America. Advertisement. Time. 21 Dec. 2009: 59. Print.
Comic or Cartoon
Adams, Scott. “Dilbert.” Comic Strip. Denver Post 1 Mar. 2010: 8C. Print.
Personal, Telephone, or E-mail Interview
Boyd, Dierdra. Personal Interview. 5 Feb. 2012.
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Essay 5/Short Report, due week 6 (500 words): Use of references, formatting of quotations, and the avoidance of plagiarism is part of the essay practice. Learning how to find and use reference sources correctly and purposefully is an essential aspect of writing about subjects beyond your immediate experience and one that requires good reading skills and some measure of critical thinking and judgment.
Addressing current events and topics in the media allows you to tap the interest of readers who want to stay current and well-informed, and allows you to enter and shape the discussion as one who is well-informed and has something to add to the discussion, be it only your opinion. Use direct quotation in support of your claims, but don't overload the essay with quotations. Your voice should be the dominant voice. Identify the various sources you have used for content by author and/or title of work and tie the source information clearly to the specific content borrowed. There should be no confusion about which item of information came from where, or whose speech we hear in a passage. The in-text reference information provides the key word or words that will head each entry in the Works Cited list that follows the report. In essay 5, however, I am not requiring a Works Cited list.
Checklist:
*Make your thesis claim clear and provide adequate evidence to develop and support it
*Acknowledge all material borrowed from source texts.
* Use quotation marks around all language borrowed word for word
*Identify the author of each source in text or in parentheses following the information item.
*Use the article or website title as a source reference for works without identified authors.
*Review the basic pattern for creating entries on the Works Cited page.
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Essay 6 (due week 9, 500 words): An EyeWitness/Field Report: You must attend in person a local event, community function, business enterprise, entertainment venue, museum, restaurant or hotel establishment, nature preserve or park, area of historical interest, etcetera– in order to gather information from direct experience. You cannot rely on the reports of others or the site's own published information alone. The writing of the piece requires you bring to readers the vicarious experience of being there in person. themselves; that is, by engaging readers in your own experience on the ground. Background research may help fill out and provide context for the report of course, and you are encouraged to find out as much as you can in the way of origins or history of the establishment, event or area for possible inclusion in the report.
Reviews and descriptions of cultural fare–of nature parks, historical attractions, art exhibits and fairs, live music shows, restaurants, bars, and clubs old and new, sporting events, lectures, book signings and discussions, community classes and workshops –serve to inform people of what's going on about town and provide them incentive to get out and experience some of what the area has to offer. In this assignment you must report on a local place or local event from an eye-witness perspective–you must go there, experience whatever is on offer, and write about it in such a way that readers feel they have gotten to see and know the place through your first-hand experience of it.
The particular focus and perspective you bring to your subject, your knowledge and ideas and observations of it, and the degree of interest and engagement with the subject you show–these are central to the essay’s success. Whether you are visiting a park, a beach, a museum, theater, restaraunt, etcetera–descriptions of the scene or environs, the activity, the individual artworks, performances, ambiance, food, service, etcetera will bring the piece to life and convey a you-are-there sensation to readers. Your readers will be relying on your knowledge, powers of observation and storytelling abilities. Your informed judgment, taste, and opinions will be an important element. approach you create, the thesis idea controlling and unifying the work, will make for certain selections and emphases that reflect you the observer, your history, interests, tastes, etc.
The eye-witness report is a species of primary research. You may find you want background reading on whatever aspects of your subject require context, to fully develop your thesis or main ideas. To repeat, this essay will require you actually go somewhere in person and record material facts and observations before putting the piece together. Your thesis tells you what to include, to emphasize, and what to ignore. The essay should run a minimum of 5oo-6oo words, including introductory, body, and closing paragraphs, and title.
Remember the who, what, where, when, why roster of specifics.
If you were to visit an exhibit, you would include the museum name, location, and featured artist(s), including the exhibit’s run dates.
Focus would necessarily be on some theme observed in one or more works or overall. You would identify representative works (by title) and present a verbal description–medium, size, subject, form, and color–so that readers can "see" the work and understand the conclusions you draw from it. If you were to visit a natural area, you might tie the visit in to some current news (a news "hook") or ongoing area of interest (natural history/studies, ecology, environmental justice, marine life, art) to create audience appeal, to lend purpose and weight to the piece. Food culture is of great interest to many these days and offers many choices for primary research or "eye-witness" reports–green markets, restaraunts, bars, etcetera.
The field report (6), 500- 700 words, is due no later than week 9, though I prefer you submit it week 8, which will allow some time for revisions at the beginning of class week 8. Each of you will be responsible for reading your essay to the class week 8 or 9, and that presentation will be part of the grade you receive.
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Reminder: You must soon identify and begin to explore a subject or idea for a short research report on a topic of your choosing. Locate reading material relevant to whatever line of inquiry you intend. Week 10 or 11 you will have due a 700-word length essay in which you put across a claim made persuasive and credible by virtue of supporting facts, expert opinion, testimonials, logical inquiry, visuals, and, perhaps, emotional appeals to the reader's values.
University of Wisconsin Writing Lab: http://www.writing.wisc.edu/
On Comma Use and Common Mistakes: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E6D9163EF934A15756C0A9649D8B63
On Comma Use and Common Mistakes: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E6D9163EF934A15756C0A9649D8B63
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