tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post116542530383216056..comments2024-03-15T01:11:32.832-07:00Comments on Bardiac: Using Other CriticsBardiachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1165563568097358132006-12-07T23:39:00.000-08:002006-12-07T23:39:00.000-08:00I don't know if I have any ideas that will help yo...I don't know if I have any ideas that will help your student -- I'm still a student myself. And I figured out how to engage critical essays more productively, but started in the same way that you did, I think -- a fair amount of trashing them (mea culpa). <BR/><BR/>I STILL pay a lot of attention to the way that essay writers use the sources in their articles -- and that's been tremendously useful, and has helped me learn a lot about the way that criticism has changed over the years. Maybe you could make that a component of your assignment? (which sounds quite helpful to me, for what it's worth)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1165502403889475302006-12-07T06:40:00.000-08:002006-12-07T06:40:00.000-08:00Bardiac, this is such a helpful post as I think ab...Bardiac, this is such a helpful post as I think about planning my next graduate course. I confess to having gone through three graduate degrees without anyone trying to teach me to what sort of use I was supposed to be putting other critics' work.<BR/><BR/>Dr. Crazy, I'd love to have those handouts, too, if you don't mind sharing.Tirunculahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16788199657297216288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1165453157956614712006-12-06T16:59:00.000-08:002006-12-06T16:59:00.000-08:00One thing that I think helps me with this in my up...One thing that I think helps me with this in my upper-level classes is that when they propose their topics, I have them list five sources that they think will be useful (not annotated or anything - just in MLA format) on the proposal. Then, when I give the proposal back, I can nip this tendency in the bud by noting the issue and also by suggesting a couple of more recent sources that I think would be useful for the paper.<BR/><BR/>Another thing I try to do is to talk about critical trends in an offhand way in class, as well as to have them use some criticism in their proposals. By connecting the work we do in class to criticism and by constructing it as literary criticism, I think that gives them a clue that I'm expecting them to engage with critics - not just to use them to support their claims.<BR/><BR/>If you want, send me an email, Bardiac. I've got some handouts that I've made up that I give to my upper-level students that you might find useful (I seem to think I talk about this on one of them, though that might not be true... I don't remember, but all of that stuff is on my work computer so I can't tell for sure!)Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-1165450541846832752006-12-06T16:15:00.000-08:002006-12-06T16:15:00.000-08:00What a great post! Would you mind if I passed thi...What a great post! Would you mind if I passed this on to my (small group of) graduate students next semester?Pilgrim/Heretichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08588407758172717893noreply@blogger.com