Discussion Prep

Assignment Overview

(roughly) Bi-weekly
Students work individually
Students copy-paste 2-3 specific quotations from the readings and add one declarative and/or interrogative sentence about each quotation
Submitted via Canvas discussion forum
Due by the beginning of the pertinent class period

Assignment Details

IS583 an experiential course that moves between discussion of readings and applied lab sessions week-to-week. A central goal of the class will be to bring its two facets into conversation: to use our readings and discussions to contextualize our applied work in laboratories, and to use our applied work in laboratories to enrich our understanding of concepts from our readings. Taken together, our discussions and labs will give students a sense of both the theory and praxis of DH.

If you look at the schedule, you will see our weeks divided into six units, each with one Discussion and one Lab session. For each class period, you will find a graded discussion forum in Canvas, which you will use to complete the discussion prep assignment below. These discussion posts will simply be graded Complete/Incomplete. The readings for each discussion section are on the heavy side, but keep in mind that we alternate between discussion and lab weeks, so you will have approximately two weeks to prepare readings between each discussion section.

For each discussion week of class there are readings listed under Core and Penumbra. The core readings are just that: central to that class topic. The penumbral readings try to capture a broader spectrum of scholarship pertinent to the week’s theme, which I could not require because time is, sadly, finite. For each discussion week you should read all of the Core and choose one of the Penumbral readings—the latter based on your own interests—to read and be prepared to reference as a means of expanding our conversation together. I strongly recommend you do not simply read the first penumbral reading each week—I have organized the readings chronologically, so the order does not speak to importance or relevance. Instead, find a penumbral reading that seems most relevant to your own education, career plans, teaching, or research.

What to submit

To prepare for our discussions, each discussion week you should choose 2-3 specific passages from the core and penumbral readings; copy and paste these passages into your contribution to the discussion board. You should then draft 2-3 substantial questions or critical observations that highlight details of interest from those selections, connect ideas across the week’s readings (or even across different weeks), or probe the boundaries or limitations of the assigned texts. The goal of this assignment is not to test your knowledge of our readings, but to prompt dialog, so I try not to be prescriptive. In general, however, your discussion prep should:

Choose specific passages that reward close reading together, quoting them directly and citing them appropriately.
Move beyond basic questions or observations of fact and instead work toward questions or observations of significance.
Demonstrate close thought about the frameworks of our texts, as well as about the relationships among them.
Emerge from (and refer to) specific ideas, pages, quotations, scenes, &c. from our specific assigned texts rather than broad or generic concepts.
Genuinely open toward discussion and debate during class (i.e. no leading the witness, your honor).
I would add to these one more, which I do not require but which I always encourage: Engage with our texts through a spirit of [generous thinking](https://generousthinking.hcommons.org/1-introduction/critique-and-competition/). I try to include a range of perspectives in our readings, and you will certainly disagree with some ideas in some of them. I assign a number of articles with which I disagree, because they articulate ideas I believe worthy of serious consideration! As we read and discuss together, we will find many opportunities for critique, so I would encourage you to work first toward understanding and contextualization—to pause, just a moment, when you feel that first impulse toward deconstruction to consider whether you are reading generously or suspiciously, and whether the mode you have chosen is in fact the right one for the rhetorical moment. Class discussion is not the same as social media, and our in-class takes need not always be the hottest possible.

Particularly in a graduate class, students are often tempted to write 3 lengthy paragraphs, but I strongly urge you stick to 3 well-developed sentences, either declarative (an observation) or interrogative (a question), about your chosen quotations.

Discussion prep & discussion

One reason I ask students to complete discussion prep is to get them thinking ahead of class, so that we arrive with ideas at the ready. I also require this assignment because I know students’ preferences around engagement vary greatly: while some students thrive in improvisational discussion settings, others read carefully and thoughtfully but are uncertain or anxious about contributing to class conversations. A fantastic way to contribute to a class discussion is by referring directly to your prep assignment—you can and should regularly say things like: “In my discussion prep I focused on this quotation <read quotation> which raised these ideas for me <read observation/question>.”