Assignment for the Weeks Ahead

Dear All,

As you have had a very heavy reading and responding load this week and will now be embarking on your final research papers, I am revising the assignment for the next two weeks. You will have completed, by my count by tonight at midnight, 11 annotated bibliographies. I am not going to ask you to write annotated bibliographies for the coming weeks on the course material. Familiarize yourself with the readings and the photographs, but there is no need to post anything to the blog. Rather, in the time that you have over this next week, begin to gather all the research you can on your proposed research topic. (Most all of you should have received my feedback on your proposal; as soon as I receive all of the proposals, I will grade them and email you your proposal grade.) You will then need to begin to assemble an annotated bibliography (consisting of at least eight entries) for your paper. Please look for scholarly sources. Use the library and the online article database. If you need help accessing articles, please just email me! This is meant to be a RESEARCH paper--not a paper that is simply written out of thin air and your observations. In other words, you need to describe what you see and infer, cite what you read, and back up your arguments with scholarly sources. Email me a draft whenever you please, so long as you get me something BEFORE Thanksgiving break. This way I will be able to respond to you over break. This will give you time to revise your papers before the end of the semester. 

Again, here are my expectations for the research essay: 

Your research paper must be between 2,500 – 3,000 words. Eight annotated sources (analyzing photographs and/or articles) will be required for the paper. You may use the annotated bibliographies you have already written only if they apply to your thesis. Should you decide to focus on only one or two photographer’s works, you may write several annotated bibliographies on the same photograph, provided your research changes your perspective enough to justify repeated bibliographies.

Your research paper will be an original scholarly in-depth essay on either:A) the works of one photographer studied in this class, orB) the works of two (or more) photographers studied in this class.C) A well-argued proposal will justify an individual, creative approach to what your paper will cover. 

You will:1) describe and analyze several specific photographs, and 2) place them both within scholarly contexts (quoting other scholars who have analyzed these works before you), and 3) place them within appropriate political and cultural frameworks.

Ultimately, your voice should be reflected in your argument. This means that you should be striving to say something original in a voice that sounds like your own, rather than some scholar you are mimicking.

Your research paper should further the scholarship of either or both African and/or African American photography, and demonstrate theoretical understanding of at least two of the following: photographic studio, documentary, art, and neocolonial and feminist theories.