ENGL6524: Projects

Nineties+ (30)

Nineties+ are two-part weekly writings set up to invite responses to the very small (specific moments in a reading) or the very large (generalizable ideas spanning a set of readings). A completed Ninety+ has both a Ninety and a +.

What’s a Ninety?

Nineties are focused pieces of writing that combine scopic awareness, style, and response to the assigned reading in the form of a question or a connection. The number ninety refers to word count; so, a ninety is a 90-word response: a wee genre designed to leave you feeling, in many cases, like you have more to say. But because we don't want to inconvenience ourselves too much with counting, a ninety can be between 85 and 95 words. Below 85, not a ninety. But above 95, in that case it must carry to the next multiple, 180 words (or, more precisely, 175-185 words). The logic of 90s owes to Lauren Berlant and Kathleen Stewart's The Hundreds, a project where they wrote in dialogue with one another while adhering to units of writing that were 100 words or a multiple of 100. For ENGL6524, the goal each week is to write at least one Ninety. The goal for the semester is to write toward 11 nineties, or to aspire to the number of 90s that correspond with any particular grade on the grading contract in your Google Folder. Nineties may be featured in class as focuses for our whole class or small group discussions in any week. Nineties shall be posted each week in your Google Folder no later than 1 p.m. before class on Monday; this deadline is also noted on the class schedule. I have added an annotated 90 to the document in your Google Folder where you will record the entries you develop this semester. The annotated version notes that each entry should include the following: a) title, b) datestamp, c) body text, d) wordcount, e) initials and author count (tally for you this semester), and f) sources, including associative references, listed with last name and year.

What About a +?

Plusses are brief notes (i.e., 15-20 words) keying on one thing you would like to discuss in class. Plusses can be motivated by keen interest or curiosity, or by uncertainty. In effect, a + says something like, “I hope we can talk about the first paragraph on p. 101,” or “Chronotopes are fascinating but it would help to come up with more concrete examples,” or “How will I know whether I subscribe to critical realism?” The plus adds a second layer directed toward class discussion, so while the Ninety you write may engage the readings in any way you want, the + anticipates dialogue and co-inquiry in the afternoon class session.

Theory Deck/Microanthology (60)

The Theory Deck/Microanthology is a semester-long project designed for you to gain experience with assembling a small collection of texts, then creating features and sections that sharpen the collection as a generative device—generative for prospective theory-building, for emerging or long-held research interests, for teaching, or for community memory, repair, visibility, or uplift. The project is called a microanthology because its formal features are cast with anthologies (or antho-logics) in mind, providing readers with insight into the throughlines you find (and invite us in the introduction to follow with you). The project is called a theory deck because it sets one priority on choosing theoretical texts and stepping back from those texts to include some of their antecedents or predecessors. A second priority is to bring together pieces whose relationships are some combo of integral and/or exploratory, and whose arrangement blooms theoretical—churning questions, advocating for perspectives, posing new and distinctive terminologies, puzzling over phenomena yet underexamined in Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, and more. Insofar as considering it a "deck," it might be helpful to think in terms of other decks you are already familiar with: card decks, Tarot decks, etc. The shuffle-ability of such decks introduces a quality of recombination, which in turn opens new possibilities again and again. Decks are delimited and potentially (re)inventive, owing to the units and patterns that constitute them. You should begin this project in September, first by sketching and talking through possibilities, by doing some lookups and cursory reading, and by keeping in mind the required sections and suggested scopes noted below. Looking closely at the required components (especially the cover, the introduction, and the glossary) should help you make choices about which germinal articles your theory deck/microanthology will include.

Required Sections and Optional Sections

• Required: Cover. Your TDM shall include an anthology cover reflecting design choices resonant with the project’s contents (as well as your own sense of style, mood, visual interestingness, and so on). Suggested scope: Front cover, or front and back (you pick).
• Required: Table of contents.
• Required: 2-3 germinal articles or chapters that together anchor an emerging theoretical interest for you.
• Required: For each germinal article or chapter, select two theoretical antecedents, or precursor texts. Each Theory Deck/Microanthology will include between 6-9 chapters, articles, or comparable elements by other writers and assembled by you.
• Required: An introduction to the anthology that discusses the interrelationships among the whole set in terms of its exigence, key questions, themes, and more. Suggested scope: 1500-2000 words.
• Required: A glossary (of haunting). The glossary should feature 6-10 keywords or phrases with elaborated definitions. Suggested scope: 1200-1800 words.
• Option: An email interview with the author of one of the articles, chapters, or antecedents in the collection. Suggested scope: three questions; include full or abridged responses (you pick).
• Option: A teaching guide that lays out 1-2 possible activities to engage the materials, questions for discussion (or writing), approaches you would recommend for teaching with this microanthology.
• Option: A multimodal extension, such as an audio or video reflection or trailer. Suggested scope: 3-5 minutes.
• Open option: Suggest an additional section, if you’d like.

Timing & Scope & Additional Details

• Draft deadlines are posted on the class schedule: One-slide Planning Pitch, Mon., Sept. 30; TDM Part One, Mon., Oct. 28; TDM Part Two, Mon., Nov. 18; Three-slide Presentation, Mon., Dec. 2; TDM Whole/Complete, Wed., Dec. 4 by 11:59 p.m. ET.
• The planning pitch (9/30) and presentation (12/2) are occasions when you share your work with the class. Slides corresponding to each pitch/presentation will be built in our class slide deck.
• Draft deadlines (10/18 and 11/18) are for posting well-begun drafts in your Google Folder for review and feedback.
• We will discuss as a class decisions about circulation and technical production. For example, is it adequate to have the TDMs built within a Google Folder, or would it be preferable for us to prefer instead (and collectively) a higher visibility platform, such as PressBooks?

A somewhat understated goal motivating the Theory Deck/Microanthology is to gain applied practice with small sets of texts which are then put into dialogue with on another while keying on how they function as a “bloom space” to express new light on an issue or phenomenon, how they lead you to more shapely research questions, or how they lend terminology prime for redefinition or recombination. This practice aligns well with the qualifying exams process in the Virginia Tech Rhetoric and Writing program, and it is also comparable to the moves involved with forming and focusing the early sections of a dissertation, in addition to many other genres of scholarly writing.

Reflection (10)

For this semester's sign-off (due Monday, December 9 by 11:59 p.m. ET), write an informal reflection that 1) accounts for significant shifts or insights with regard to your learning about (or with) Theories of Written Communication, or, that 2) identifies selected, specific moments of surprise or insight linked with course readings, course activities or conversations, the overall build-up of the theory deck/microanthology, writing and responses you received, or any other self-initiated extension of the course that you consider connected to the course goals or to the teaching you aspire to do, and/or that 3) contextualizes aspects of your semester that stand out as significant for any reason. The reflection should be at least 1000 words but not more than 1800 words.

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