What are YOUR interests? Final Paper Initial Research Blog

What question or set of questions are you finding yourself most interested in, in our ecocritical readings and discussion?

For this assignment, go over your notes and the syllabus, and also look ahead to what's in store to read for the remainder of the semester. Do this to refresh your memory, or anticipate gaps we'll be filling in as a class.  From these discussions and past/future readings, what has stood out to you?

In your blog posts due October 10, in lieu of classes, please brainstorm what you might want to write about for your final paper.  Try posing a possible research question or two, and include texts from our class that you would like to use to explore your question(s).  What are some key terms you'll use to explore further in your research?  What is your research "plan of attack"?

Then, do some of that initial canvasing for scholarly articles, popular cultural texts, blogs, etc-- what are others saying about this idea?  Get a sense of the current discussion and literature about the idea, and report on it.  What are the results of your initial research?  Report on this in your blog post.

In sum, your assignment consists of several steps:

1) go over the syllabus and our class notes,
2) brainstorm ideas that stood out to you,
3) compose a possible research question or two,
4) outline a research plan,
5) do just an initial bit of that research, and
6) write about it on the blog.

This is in lieu of classes and readings next week, so it should offer a nice opportunity to take a step back and assess what you've learned, what compels you about the questions of the class, and articulate a plan to give you greater purpose in the class for the rest of the semester.   This will be a great way to stake your own claim in the work we're doing.

We'll be writing paper proposals with the results of this work, so consider this just the beginning...

Take a step back and survey the "landscape" of ecocriticism.  What do YOU see?

Writing Contest-- Final Project Option

I love to make final projects in my classes opportunities for students to write for a broader audience and purpose than our class.  To that end, if I or you see anything that's worth considering writing for (instead of a final research paper), let's share those with each other.

Here's one from me.  It's a call for submissions for authors "under 30" about "coming of age after the end of nature."

This is precisely what we've talked so much about in class already-- 

If there's no "nature," what is there? 

Where does this leave your generation?



Read below. If you think it might be interesting to write for this purpose and on this topic, then use the final paper assignment in this class to do so, and we can work together on revising it.

Here are the details:

Call for Submissions:

Cosmic Outlaws: Coming of Age after the End of Nature
“When the wind and the grass are no longer part of the human spirit, … 
man becomes, as it were, a kind of cosmic outlaw.”  ~ Henry Beston

We are seeking essays, poetry, or fiction by writers age 30 and under 
for a literary anthology exploring changing human relationships with 
the natural world.  What are the challenges, fears, dreams, and sources 
of resilience of young writers—“Cosmic Outlaws” who have grown up on a 
fundamentally changing planet?

Submission Guidelines:

• Essays and short fiction up to 4,000 words
• Up to 3 poems
• Include your name, address, e-address and phone number and a brief 
bio with all submissions

Deadline:  December 31, 2012

Send submissions to both:

Julie Dunlap  juliejdunlap@earthlink.net /6371 Tinted Hill/Columbia, MD 
21045

and 

Susan A. Cohen  sacohen3@aacc.edu/40 Johnson Road/Pasadena, MD 21122

Thank you for your help in forwarding this call for submissions to your 
undergraduate and graduate students, colleagues, and friends.

Peace, Susan