👉 assemblage, n. | /əˈsɛmblɪdʒ/
1. A bringing or coming together; a meeting or gathering; the state of being gathered or collected.
In pairs, you will work to research, select, and pitch an article to the class for inclusion in our course Assemblage of Knowledge. The process below details how we will engage in this collaborative assemblage.
Think about what you're passionate about. What might you want to read about this semester? What type of media (TV, film, music, advertisements, YouTube, etc.) do you want to explore? What social, cultural, and political issues are you interested in discussing as part of this class?
The Journal of Popular Culture, The Journal of American Culture, Time, Harper's Magazine, The Nation, The Atlantic, Dissent, Newsweek, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New Republic, The American Prospect.
Avoid popular magazines like People, Us, Glamour, etc. They do not contain the type of articles we are looking to read and analyze for this course.
Also, anything that has been recognized by the Popular Culture Association as award-worthy is a good choice.
We'll work during our library session to refine key terms, but start thinking about how you can put your interests into key phrases or terms.
You will turn in a document about your article containing the following information:
The article’s title
The article’s author(s)
Publication title
Date of publication
Volume and/or issue number
Page numbers
A brief (4-6 sentences) summary of the article
MLA Citation for the article (both in-text and bibliographic)
Where you found the article (don't just put "BC Library." Put the database you used to find the article."
You will pitch your article to the class. The class will then vote on which articles they wish to be part of our syllabus.
I will review the votes for all articles. If your article wins, then you are automatically assigned to that article. If your article doesn’t win, I will pair you with someone based on the strength of your vote for another article. Then, I’ll look at the length of each article and group individual articles so that the reading load is manageable and around any shared topics. Finally, I’ll input that information into our syllabus and send it to the class.
On your assigned date, you and your partner will:
Give a brief presentation about your article, focusing on the contextual information surrounding your publication.
Facilitate class discussion for about 25-30 minutes.
If you are not presenting that day, you’re responsible for reading the article under discussion and contributing substantially to the discussion at least once per article.
Contextual information about the author: educational background, work history, publication record, race, gender, political leanings
Contextual information about the publication: date, where published, the publication's reputation, editors, political affiliations
A Google Sites page that includes the following:
An original, one-to-two paragraph summary of the piece (an expanded version of the abstract you submitted to pitch the article).
Background information on the author(s) and publication (author(s)’ educational background, work history, publication record, race, gender, political leanings; publication date, the location where published, the publication’s reputation, editors, political affiliations)
5-7 Discussion Questions. Strong discussion questions:
Draw our attention to the rhetorical features of the article. Remember the work that we did early in the semester looking at a "writer's project" based on the framework that Joseph Harris provides in Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts.
What is this writer trying to achieve, and what specific points in the text most strongly demonstrate this aim?
What issues or problems does the writer explore? Where is a moment in the text where this exploration is particularly strong?
How does this writer relate their examples to ideas?
Where does the writer go for examples and evidence?
What texts are cited and discussed?
Place the article in conversation with any of the other course readings.
What might ______ say about ________'s argument in "__________"?
Would _______ agree with ________'s argument? Why or why not?
Connect the article with a current (or past) political, social, or economic issue.
How might our political views regarding __________ influence popular culture's representations of _________?
Connect the article with aspects of your life at BC or life outside of BC.
Where in this article can you connect the writers aims/materials/methods to other courses you have taken or are currently taking at BC? How?
What specific moments in this article prompted you to shift your thinking about something in your own life? How?
An image that connects or helps to explain your page (You can use Canva to create this image). Be prepared to explain how your image connects to the content of your article. You should consider colors, typefaces, photographs, text, and images used.
Do I provide background information on the article?
Do I provide contextual information on the author(s)?
Do I have a brief, 1-2 paragraph summary of the article written in my own words?
Do I have 5-7 discussion questions prepared for the class?
Do my discussion questions help the class to understand, complicate, analyze, and/or apply the concepts and arguments presented in this article?
Have I put all of this information onto my Google site page so that it can easily be accessed by all members of the course?
Have I created an original image that connects to my article, and can I explain how the choices I made regarding color, typeface, photographs, texts, etc. connect to the article?
Have I proofread my work using Grammarly or another grammar/spell checker?
Have I checked-in with my partner so that we know who will take the lead at particular points during this session?
Boston College is what is called an "R1 institution," which designates "highest research activity," according to the standards set by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Research is central to Boston College's mission to "examin[e] the complex problems of our contemporary world, propos[e] new solutions and new ways of thinking about religion and culture, science and technology, art and education, business and ethics."
If your future goals include graduate education (medical school, law school, business school, education school, pursuing your master's degree or doctoral degree), learning the skills to research are essential. If you do not plan to go to graduate school, you will likely engage in many formal and informal research projects as part of your job. If your job never requires you to engage in research, you will still benefit from the critical thinking skills that you develop as part of this process.
In this assignment, you practice the following skills: researching, reading scholarly material, summarizing a text, summarizing others’ ideas, citing sources, researching contextual information, questioning texts, facilitating a discussion, collaborating with peers, constructing visual rhetorics, creating a multimedia work.
For specific due dates, see the course schedule. You'll first choose your article and develop your abstract. You'll then pitch this to the class. I'll then add the readings, dates, and partners to the syllabus.
The rest of your work for this deliverable is due on the date you are assigned. When you are not presenting, you are responsible for reading that week’s assigned article and engaging in the discussion that your peers facilitate in class.