Exer­cise 1: Con­ven­tions of Nar­ra­tive and Belief
(Dig­i­tal Sto­ry­telling Project warm-up)

• due Sept 9: post on your Word­Press (or in D2L)
• 10 points
• 500 words (min­i­mum; 700 max)

 
 

» Instruc­tions & Objec­tives:

Prac­tice apply­ing crit­i­cal per­spec­tive, rec­og­niz­ing nar­ra­tive con­ven­tions: dis­cuss one non­fic­tion story (one from last week, either already read/heard/watched or a new selection).
Use 3 key terms / con­cepts to dis­cuss thought­fully and pur­pose­fully, avoid­ing sum­mary (espe­cially story descrip­tion): iden­tify the cat­e­gory, using a spe­cific exam­ple to illus­trate, and the effect or sig­nif­i­cance.

Pro­tip: use cat­e­gories from “Designs of Mean­ing” plus terms/concepts from “Life’s Sto­ries” (or other sources).

Besides this effi­cient and spe­cific dis­cus­sion, also iden­tify one belief expressed by the story. Briefly note if this is stated explic­itly (when? extent?) or con­veyed indi­rectly (if so, how?).
→ No need to ana­lyze, refute, engage the belief itself; rather, just iden­tify what it is and how it is communicated—especially if it is subtle/suggested and you have inferred (by what clues/indicators?).

Finally, be sure to con­clude with a view toward Project 1: name one idea for poten­tial appli­ca­tion in com­pos­ing your dig­i­tal nar­ra­tive. Even if spec­u­lat­ing, try con­sid­er­ing the “take­way” of what you’ve learned from your analy­sis of the story (and sto­ry­telling par­tic­u­larly), as a ben­e­fit for prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tion (com­pos­ing); or, insight about the con­ven­tions of nar­ra­tive — how it works, and/or the rela­tion with con­vey­ing belief (stat­ing, illus­trat­ing, recount­ing), as a par­tic­u­lar form of knowl­edge and communication.
→ This con­clu­sion can be brief (2 sen­tences?), pro­gress­ing from your analy­sis dis­cus­sion (with­out repeat­ing) and look­ing toward the project. 

 

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Assess­ment Cri­te­ria (from syl­labus):
Posted to per­sonal blog (or D2L), these infor­mal com­po­si­tions illus­trate atten­tive read­ing of assigned mate­ri­als, progress toward project, and engage­ment with class top­ics rel­a­tive to schedule.
Credit is assigned for (1) sub­mit­ting on-time, with required length and media (if assigned);
(2) demon­strat­ing atten­tion to class top­ics, con­tent knowl­edge, and crit­i­cal think­ing, par­tic­u­larly by describ­ing insights and connections;
(3) pro­vid­ing thought­ful and rel­e­vant responses to prompts, through spe­cial­ized discourse;
(4) with spe­cific exam­ples from per­sonal knowl­edge and/or respec­tive readings,
(5) while extend­ing rhetor­i­cal knowl­edge and mas­tery of writ­ing con­ven­tions, prac­tic­ing effi­cient prose (i.e. min­i­miz­ing /avoiding sum­mary, rep­e­ti­tion, digres­sion, and unnec­es­sary discussion).

 

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