How and why poets do research in U-M archives Robert Hayden, The Middle Passage and essay on The Middle Passage (handout) Discussion of hypertext approach to poems. 

Schedule sessions on Claris hypertext program

Scribe: Kate

Scribe: Jim 

Scribe: Kari

Reading (all in course pack): From Gillian Avery, Behold the Child: American Children and Their Books and images from early childrens books; From David Shields, Civil Tongues and Polite Letters in British America, description of the poetic parlor game, crambo. From John Ashton, Chapbooks of the Eighteenth Century, riddles and verse tales From Dorothy Porter, ed., Early Negro Writing, broadsides by Phyllis Wheatley, others.

I. Please hand in to me the following: 

1. your commonplace book for midterm check 
2. a "presentatation question or statement" for your Bentley project. This should be a statement of your overall project. "How did verse publications reflect daily life for UM students in 1920?" "How did rituals related to the UM athletic program help create a sense of community? What was that community like?" "What was the career of a 'literary lady' like in Victorian Michigan?" "What is the relationship between politics and family for a 1960s radical?" "Did local abolitionists depend on a national cultural network in the 1840s?" Your questions can be different from these suggestions, of course, but should set an agenda more or less in this fashion. 
3. a list of "research questions" for your Bentley project, with brief comments on your research plan for each question. If you need help with a research plan on a specific issue, just indicate that. Here's what you will learn from this: whether you have too many questions or not, and whether your questions are specific enough or not. If you end up with more questions than you can possibly answer in the next two weeks, you will need to narrow your "presentation question" and define your investigation more precisely. Also, you may find that there are some contextual questions that are too elaborate to answer--perhaps Methodist churches in 19th century Michigan pose research problems that are too great to overcome. This is the time to think hard about cutting to the chase, without losing sight of the richness and complexity of your material. I hope that whenever possible you will include some questions that have to do specifically with Ann Arbor/UM. 

By today, you should have made a computer transcription of your most important poem or poems. This means: type it into a wordprocessing file (microsoft word is best for me). If it is a published item, copy it as exactly as possible in terms of capitalization, italics, and so forth. If it is a manuscript item, that's trickier. See handout.

I will want to collect your disks (or you can send the transcript to me as an e-mail attachment) in order to start accumulating material to upload onto my IFS space when the time comes. I'll do the same thing with the scans, or with the scanned photographs.

Also by Monday: please draw a "site diagram." This is your "table of contents"--everything you plan in terms of links and explanation should be indicated. This will be your guide as you actually proceed to write your explanations and develop specific web links to scanned materials and helpful web sites. Once you've done this (and you can do it earlier, too, of course) you can start writing. 

Bring in drafts (make 7 copies) of your written web project material. This written material should include text for a title page with a title plus brief summary of your presentation question or thesis statement. Also the following as appropriate: a one-paragraph introduction and explanation of your document(s), reference to this course assignment, including date and place (brief); a biography of your author or an account of the newspaper or magazine youre working with; an explanation of where in the Bentley these materials were found. 

You will be writing hypertext links explaining specific things about the poem you selectedglossing unfamiliar words, noting its place and circumstances of publication, illuminating relation of text to illustrations or images, commenting on genres or forms of verse. All of you will want to present some historical/cultural context. 

You might not be finished, but you should have substantial drafts of most of your project. This will mean that you will be making tough decisions about what to leave outso youll need a clear idea of what your big question, your key theme or argument is in order to decide what to explain, what not to explain.

We will do a peer editing exercise in class. 

TODAY: POETRY READING BY LORNA GOODISON RACKHAM AMPHITHEATRE, 5:00

Kristin Hass, Carried to the Wall, Introduction, chs 1 and 4

WORK PLAN FOR FINAL PROJECT DUE TODAY

Final Project Options. I would like to receive a 1-paragraph proposal from you on April 5 stating what kind of project you will do, what your topic will be, and what your work plan is.

Elements that should be common to any of the following kinds of projects: accuracy, intelligence and quality of concept, writing, and presentation; thoroughness of preparation, connection to issues of the course, ability to articulate and probe those issues, inclusion of bibliography of works consulted. All project should involve the amount of effort you would normally put into a 10-12 page critical or research essay. 

• Research paper (based on Bentley project or on other course work or on a particular theme or issue). Can include illustrations and images. 
• Critical or interpretive paper (based on Bentley project or on other course work or on a particular theme or issue). Can include illustrations and images. 
• Fully developed web site as research and teaching resource, with suggested uses 
• Room 22 resource: detailed plan and materials for poetry of place or poetry of everyday life unit with Ann Arbor 4th graders. Investigate current curriculum for 4th graders, think about relation to other subjects in that year (art/music/science etc.), look closely at their reading and writing program. If the teacher Chris Reeves is interested and willing, work with her on this. 

Debriefing and evaluation. Discussion of poetry as inspiration in the nineties.