Department: Anthropology

Course No: 212W

Credits: 3

Title: The Development of Anthropological Theory

Contact: Sally McBrearty

WQ: Writing

Catalog Copy: Either semester. Three credits. Recommended for seniors. Historical and contemporary theories in social and cultural anthropology.

W_Criteria: 1. Describe how the writing assignments will enable and enhance learning the content of the course. Describe the page requirements of the assignments, and the relative weighting of the "W" component of the course for the course grade.When Students are expected to hand in a summary, it should be a three-page summary of the readings for that day before the class. these summaries student should give a general summary of the concepts discussed in the assigned reading.Quizzes on films will consist of 3 questions (total of 3 pages per quiz).
A long essay (10-12 pages) in which students will choose a topic and select a number of theories seen in class through which they will analyze their topic. Summaries, quizzes will count for 30% of the grade, oral participation 20%, and synthetic essay for 50%. Students will not pass the course without passing the long essay and summaries they have to write for this course.

2. Describe the primary modes of writing instruction in the course (e.g. individual conferences, written commentary, formal instruction to the class, and so on.) summaries: Formal instruction to the class of what a summary is and should accomplish. Written comments are provided on each summary and students are given the opportunity for extra credits to write another summary on another article of their choice to exercise their summary-writing muscle.

Quizzes: Quizzes are intended to help student reflect critically on the films they saw in class. Prior to the quizz they are asked to do the following: a) write down a paragraph or two on what are the main issues/topices discussed in the film.b) locate what anthrppological concepts and theories are illustrated in the film. Students should the film that illustrate theoretecal arguments. In class formal instruction is provided as well as trial runs before the first quizz. Synthetic essay. Individual conferences are used to help students select a topic and theoretical lenses they will use in their analysis. Students submit a first draft the 7th or 8th week into the semester. Written comments are given throughout the paper and a final page in which I recapitulate what they should do to improve or rethink the paper. Students have 5 weeks to improve their paper and may submit other drafts if they wish to.

3. Explain how opportunities for revision will be structured into the writing assignments in the course. Opportunity to revise the summary is not an option in this course. Instead I make extensive comments on their summaries and if they wish to get extra credits they may write another summary on another text. In class we discuss what should their summaries have included after I hand them back to the students. I stress the following: To summarize an article or a book chapter you need to ask and answer the following question:

a) What are the author's main points? To answer this question you need to study carefully the introduction and the conclusion of an article or book chapter. What is the point of having the article or book chapter organized the way it is? Why does this example in the article come first? How does the author deal with one important anthropological concept or issue in the text? How does the author define x or y? What examples or evidence does the author give to support his or her claims?

Synthetic paper: The first draft of the long paper is revised after extensive teacher comments.