Report Writing Guidelines

For each of the reports that you will write in German 330, I would like you to follow the same format.  Each report should be divided into four parts.  Each part should be about one-half to three-quarters of one page long, and all four parts should be combined for a total length of two to three pages per report.  Each part should be written as follows:

1) In the first part of the report, you will discuss the form of the text or work that you are studying.  What is the general structure of the work or text? What are the materials or language used to create it?  What is the genre, the kind of work, the category to which it belongs?  What are the dates of its planning and creation?   What is it?   How does it work?  

2) In the second part of the report, you will investigate the content of the text or the work.  For whom was it created? What is the general project? What stylistic elements are a part of the text or work?  What concepts, ideas, and meanings are conveyed or imposed through the work?  Why is it important or interesting to a student of Cultural History?  What does this work tell us about culture, language, history, art and the human experience?  What does this work do to break a mold or to enforce a new order?  Where does it belong?  Who read it or used it?  Who reads or uses it now? 

3) In the third part of the report, you will look at the historical context: the way that the text or work interacts with the historical moment.  What is the question that this work answers?  What is the historical or cultural itch that this work scratches?  How did it resonate with things that people were doing, thinking and creating at that time?  How was this work appropriated in different times and by different people for their own purposes?  Did the Nazis or other groups (mis-)use it?  Is the work conducive to misuse, trivialization, confusion, etc?  Why?  How is this work aimed at other works and at other ways of thinking and seeing the world?  

4) In the fourth part of the report, you will create a short annotated bibliography that describes some of the secondary literature that has been written about the text or work.  You should include at least five articles or books on this list.  You do NOT need to read the entire article or book, you must merely write down a general description of it.  For each article or book, give an MLA-style citation (see example on the next page) and then write 2-4 lines that briefly describe the scope and findings of the article or book.   How is this work discussed?  What have people used the work to do?  Who has done something interesting with it?   How does this article or book shed light upon the cultural significance of the text or work and place it in a meaningful historical context? 

Report Grading Sheet

(This form will be used to grade each of your reports, and then will be stapled to each report and returned to you) 

The paper is two pages long plus annotated bibliography, avoids large fonts and margins, and has clearly identifiable sections devoted to form, content and context. 

Points out of 10:

The writing in this paper is clear, informative, interesting, and accurate. 

Points out of 10:

The paper serves as a useful introduction into one specific cultural/historical work and ties that artifact into a larger context taking place in the specific era we are studying. 

Points out of 10:

When writing about the form of a work or and an artifact, the writer observes and studies the artifact closely and then describes it succinctly.

Points out of 10:

When writing about the content of a work or an artifact, the writer uses background material to ascertain the meaning, purpose and/or importance of a work or an artifact, and describes the importance or meaning carefully and clearly. 

Points out of 10:

When writing about the historical context, the writer connects the paper’s central work or artifact to “the big picture:” showing how it is involved in larger historical and cultural forces, phenomena, ideas and/or movements.

Points out of 10:

The writer uses very specific proofs to illustrate the points that s/he is making in her/ his written reports.  Points out of 10:

The writer properly uses in-text citations, and/or correctly paraphrases and cites the work of others. S/he introduces and analyzes quotes and paraphrases properly and thoroughly.  Points out of 10:

The writer avoids any sort of plagiarism in this written assignment. The paper’s annotated bibliography correctly cites all of the sources the writer has used (using MLA format or an approved alternative format). Points out of 10:

In the bibliography, the writer demonstrates that s/he knows the proper balance between refereed academic media and broader media sources such as the internet, and demonstrates that s/he is discerning and critical about the sources used. 

Points out of 10

For the four required papers in German:  The paper is written in clear, understandable and grammatically correct German, free of awkward translations and improper idiomatic expressions. Points subtracted for German:

Sample Citation from an Annotated Bibliography:

If my report was on Paul Celan’s poem “Todesfuge,” for example, I could write the following annotated citation:

Felstiner, John.  Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor, Jew.  New Haven: Yale University Press.  1995.  

In the second chapter of his book about the poet Paul Celan, John Felstiner shows that “Todesfuge” refers to many different images of the Nazi concentration camps. Celan places ironic images of an idealized Germanness and a doomed Jewishness together in a frightening rhythmic frenzy, mimicking the music of the orchestra at Auschwitz. 

Note: Alphabetize all of your citations. Several MLA style guides are on reserve for you in the library to answer all of your citation style questions.  REMEMBER: only 2 of your citations can be from the internet, and Professor Kelling’s Deutsche Kulturgeschichte or Reinhardt’s Germany 2000 Years should be on the bibliography of every single paper.