Goucher College Writing Assignment Bank

1.  Special Collections and Archives Research for Freshman Composition (and other disciplines)

2. What level of student is this assignment most appropriate for, and are there any essential skills typically taught at Goucher which the assignment requires the students already to have mastered adequately?

    It would be most effective for second-semester freshmen with basic library research skills and a command of logical argument, some skill in college-level evidence use, documentation, etc.  First-semester students would need more focus and assistance in their analysis.  Consider enlisting the aid of Goucher's student Archival Assistants and/or Writing Center tutors, and make sure you have planned the project well in advance with the Special Collections and Archives Librarian (x6347).

3. What writing skills and/or concepts are taught, developed or reinforced by this assignment?

    Hands-on analysis of unique or rare artifacts and documents.  Historical research in typical print resources including histories of the college, the Dictionary of National Biography (U.K.) and Who's Who, and Anglo-American histories from 1500 to the present.  Internet-based research, source evaluation, topic analysis, use of combined sources in descriptive analysis, audience need and belief analysis.

4. Describe the assignment in a few paragraphs and/or provide a classroom handout.

    For the East Carolina University freshman composition assignment, see Matthew Reynolds and Dale Sauter, "Engaging Undergraduates in Special Collections through English Composition: Collaborating for Student Success," C&RL News 69:6 (June 2008),available online at:

 http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2008/june08/ALA_print_layout_1_491119_491119.cfm

        The upper division version was taught at Goucher in Fall 2007 as a capstone assignment for English 241: Archeology of Text.  Click here for the assignment.  Examples of the results, drawing upon both rare books and archival documents, can be seen below.

5. What tips and suggestions can you offer about using this assignment? Especially, when in the semester will the assignment work best (if that matters) and how much time probably should be allotted to the assignment, in class and from the time you hand it out until the due date of the revised final drafts?

        Click here for a short introduction to Goucher Special Collections of early printed books, Jane Austen, political memorabilia, Mark Twain, and other materials.  Talk to the SCA librarian about the kinds of materials available in the archives, but in general they include late-Nineteenth- and early-Twentieth Century correspondence, photographs, cultural artifacts, campus club records, student publications and projects, administration and faculty records, and some important faculty collections (e.g., the Corrin and Winslow collections of C19-20 political memorabilia).  The assignment works best near the middle or end of the semester, when students are more confident in their writing skills and can take the risks on the research side of the composing process.  In English 241, it took five weeks from introduction to final presentations, but that also included Thanksgiving Vacation.  A shorter version for composition courses might get students to describe the historical context of a single object or group of objects in three weeks: one week to introduce SCA and develop skills; one week for hands-on and online research; one week to write the report and present it.  This is an ideal project to spin into an online exhibit, using digital images and excerpts from the students' writing.  Contact the SCA librarian to see if the library would want to set up a gallery related to the project or incorporate the students' work in an existing finding aid or exhibit.

6. What typical problems and predictable catastrophes might be encountered, and how might these be prevented?

        Faculty members must contact the Special Collections and Archives librarian at least a semester before the course is taught, to arrange support services, including digitization of fragile materials.  Students also will need SCA training to be able to safely handle these documents and artifacts.  This is best arranged by helping the SCA librarian set up small group training sessions outside class.  Students also need training and practice using the print and online research tools.

7. If you have one or two, please provide examples/models of successful student responses to the assignment. If possible, please get students' permission and provide a digital copy.

Cassie Brand: Dance cards from C19-20 Goucher alumna scrapbooks and from the Nimitz Library Archives and Special Collections (USNA).  Images from 1920s-era scrapbook collected by Mary Lee Keith, Goucher 1924: bifolium with USNA dance cards c. 1921-4; recto with USNA dance cards; June 3, 1921 Farewell Ball Cover; June 3, 1921 Farewell Ball Dances 4-9; June 3, 1921 Farewell Ball Dances 10-15; June 3, 1921 Farewell Ball Dances 16-21;  June 3, 1921 Farewell Ball Dances 22-24 & Committee Page; 1922 Farewell Ball Cover; 1922 Farewell Ball Title Page; 1922 Farewell Ball Dances 1-5; 1922 Farewell Ball Dances 6-10 & 11-15; 1922 Farewell Ball Dances 16-20 & Committee Page; 1922 Farewell Ball Program printer's colophon.  Baltimore American, Wednesday, June 11, 1924, "Goucher Girls Shock Staid St. Michaels in Knickers and Socks," Cover Story.

Meredith Steinfels:  MS [typed] letter from H. L. Mencken to Sara Haardt (12/7/1927) ["The Kaiser sent me"]; MS recto letter from H. L. Mencken to Sara Haardt (1/17/1928) ["I surely hope you"];  MS verso letter from H. L. Mencken to Sara Haardt (1/17/1928) ["I surely hope you"]; MS [typed] letter from Sara Haardt to H. L. Mencken (11/8/1927) ["Thank you so much for the telegrams"]; MS letter from Sara Haardt to H. L. Mencken (11/23/1927) ["Do let me know how Willie Wollcott is"], Mencken-Haardt double portrait, 1933 "Made by Cecelia Danforth Earechson" (?--HLM pencil note above).  Haardt-Mencken Collection images from Goucher College's Special Collections are displayed courtesy of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, which retains their copyright.

8. Suggest a strategy and criteria for responding to rough drafts and for grading final drafts--what are you looking for in good to excellent work, and what mistakes do you typically encounter in the finished product?

       Involve the class members in helping each other analyze their chosen materials.  More "eyeballs on the page" will help students to see better, and this is at least as much about seeing the materials as it is about reading them.  Students can critique each other's projects, either as part of the grading process, or as a preliminary "workshop" to polish their work.  Discuss what use might be made of the materials by researchers from many fields.  For instance, Cassie Brand's dance card research is most obviously a branch of Sociology and Anthropology, charting courtship strategies that enabled Goucher women to encourage and control their interactions with the Naval Academy midshipmen.  It also records changes in popular culture like dance styles, naming conventions, news clippings and other features of the ordinary lived experience of a long-past generation (see Baltimore American, Wednesday, June 11, 1924, "Goucher Girls Shock Staid St. Michaels in Knickers and Socks," Cover Story). 

9. Provide copyright information from sources if any of the text is borrowed, or indicate whether you wish to retain the copyright, yourself.

Yes, the English 241 students, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library wish to retain copyright.

10. Can you briefly suggest ways this assignment might be adapted for teachers in another academic discipline?

        When you introduce the assignment, brainstorm with your students about the "ways of seeing" your discipline practices.  How does it determine what constitutes evidence and what questions does it ask of the evidence?  That can be a valuable exercise at any level of the discipline, but in this case, it will prepare them to work methodically when confronted with a wide variety of unusual artifacts.

11. Will you give your permission to allow this assignment to be posted to a web site?

Yes.

12. Please provide your name and title as you would wish it to appear in an acknowledgment.