Author: Jason W. Ellis

Remember that your 750-Word Expanded Definition document is due as a post on OpenLab before class on Tuesday, October 15.

In the last class, we talked about some places where you can find definitions for the technical term or phrase that you selected for this project. A good place to begin is the OED, but the Computer Tech resource guide on the library’s website might be a better place for technical terms–look under Encyclopedia on the left menu.

The next part of your project involves finding and discussing how the term is used in different contexts, such as articles, magazines, websites, discussion boards, and social media. The idea is to find example sentences in different sources–academic and general audience sources–that use the term that you have selected. Then, cite them and discuss how the term is used in that specific context. This might include its meaning, the audience reading the term in this context, and how the term in this context relates to other uses of the term in different contexts that you cite. Remember: context means how the term relates to other words around itself, how specific meaning are indicated or deduced, and any other relevant consideration surrounding the term (social, historical, political, etc. connections). Finding the term in context will be easy. The difficult part is picking good examples that give you interesting context to discuss.

Overall, your completed 750-Word Expanded Definition memo should follow this format:

Your Name's Expanded Definition of YOUR TERM

TO: Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM: Your Name
DATE: Due Date
SUBJECT: Expanded Definition of YOUR TERM

Introduction   [Heading Level 2]  
What is the purpose of this document? What term are you defining? How are you discussing the way it is defined and the way it is used in context? Describe a road map for what follows (definitions and context). This content should be published as paragraphs, unlike the heading for this section, which is a level 2 heading.

Definitions [Heading Level 2]
Quote several definitions of the term that you selected. Provide quotes and parenthetical citations for each definition, and include your sources in the References section at the end of the document. Each definition that you include deserves discussion in your words about what it means and how it relates to the other definitions that you include. Consider how they are alike, how are they different, who might use one versus another, etc. 

Context [Heading Level 2]
Quote several sentences from a variety of sources that use the term in context. A range of sources would provide the best source material for your discussion of how the term is used in these contexts. For example, a quote from an academic journal or two, a quote from a newspaper or magazine, a quote from a blog, and a quote from social media would give you a range of uses that might have different audiences. For each quote, you should devote at least as much space as the quote discussing what it means in that context and how it relates to the other quotes in context. Each quote should be in quotes, have a parenthetical citation, and a bibliographic entry in your references at the end of your document.

Working Definition [Heading Level 2]
Based on the definitions that you quoted and discussed, and the contextual uses of the term that you quoted and discussed, write a working definition of the term that's relevant to your career field or major, which you will need to identify (this is the specific context for your working definition).

References [Heading Level 2]
Order your APA-formatted bibliographic references by the author's last name, alphabetically. 

For APA citations, refer to the Purdue OWL’s APA guide and if you do any indirect quotes, use this guide on the Simon Fraser Library’s website.

To turn in your work, you will create a new post on our OpenLab site as you did for the 500-Word Summary project. The steps below should get you started.

If you have questions about posting, please email me at jellis at citytech.cuny.edu sooner rather than later. Don’t wait until the last minute.

And, remember that this project is due before class on Tuesday, October 15.

Our class syllabus describes the 750-1000-word expanded definition project as:

Individually, you will write a 750-1000 word expanded definition of a technical or scientific term, with cover memo, which demonstrates:

1. correct memorandum format.

2. knowledge of the etymology and historical development of the term.

3. examples of the term’s use in various written contexts.

4. ability to compare and contrast various uses of the term.

5. use and citation of sources with proper attribution.

6. awareness of audience.

At least three library-sourced citations are required and should be cited following APA format.

In this project, you will want to select a term, example of jargon, or phrase with special or significant meaning to your major or future career. With this term, you will research and discuss what the term means, how the term’s meaning evolved over time, how its meaning invites debate, and how the term is used in real contexts.

Before delving too deep into the project, it is imperative that you select a meaningful and useful term for your project. The term should be relevant to your interests and studies. I would recommend that you choose a term that is more specific and less broad, but there could be exceptions to this recommendation.

To begin the process of writing this project, I would like you to write a brief memo addressed to Prof. Ellis with the subject: “Expanded Definition Phase One.” Begin with a sentence describing how this memo provides a record of your brainstorming. Then, write a list of at least 20 terms, words, acronyms, or phrases relevant to your studies and/or career. It is from this list that you’ll choose the one that you write your expanded definition project on. For now, you don’t have to choose which one. After you’ve completed your list, copy-and-paste it into a comment to this post, and leave your memo open in the word processor that you used to write it (for the next step).

We will discuss your memos before moving on.

Next, let’s learn about your terms. With your memo still open in your word processor of choice, choose three of the terms that you feel the most strongly about. Move them to the top of your memo’s list of terms. Using the Oxford English Dictionary (on-campus link or off-campus link), find definitions of these terms, copy the definition and etymology into your memo, indent the definition as a block quote, and follow it with an APA bibliographic citation, for example:

RAM, n.6. (2019). In Oxford English Dictionary Online. Retrieved from https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/269056.

or

integrated, adj., b. (2019). In Oxford English Dictionary Online. Retrieved from https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/97354.

Click the “Cite” link on each OED definition to quickly get the information that you need, but you will need to reformat it in APA style as I have demonstrated above.

Be sure to remove/correct the proxy information in the URL.

Save your memo and use this as the basis for your research.

Before our next class, consider these three terms and choose one that you want to write your project about. With the term selected, you should familiarize yourself with the Wikipedia entry (or associated entry) for that term. While you won’t be citing Wikipedia for this project, you can learn from what is shared there, and you can use the citations included on the entry for your own research.

Also, use the online reference books available through the library to learn more about the term that you selected. This is high-quality content written by experts.

Be prepared to work on this project with a selected term for our next class. The more that you learn about the term now, the easier your research and writing will be. Keep track of any research that you do by adding links to your memo and saving PDFs to your personal storage.