As we move from the old essay modes into more rhetorical and genre awareness, what are you afraid will get lost? How do you think we can fit in the skills we were teaching into the new curriculum?Ā
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I’m not afraid of losing MLA (or APA, Chicago, etc.), but I do find myself questioning how much time and attention I should give to teaching citation in class. My approach now is to show students MLA resources and underscore that they don’t have to memorize a citation style when they’re asked to write in it, but they should know why we cite, some main genre conventions, and where to find resources in order to properly cite.
I’m having my students write a research paper this semester, but I’m thinking for next semester I might switch the assignment up and have them write in the style of an opinion piece in a magazine or newspaper. That genre has a more tangible audience outside of academia. But obviously opinion pieces aren’t written in MLA style…so do I create other assignments where students write in MLA?
Is it enough to analyze academic articles and look for the common elements of MLA when we read those articles? Do students need to write in MLA style?
This question may be coming from the fact that it is my first semester teaching at City Tech, and I’m wondering how often students are asked to write in MLA/APA/Chicago style in their other classes. I know that it depends on their major. But I think that this question is coming from a place of wanting to prepare students adequately, but not really knowing what is expected from them in terms of citation in other classes.
There seems to be a place for teaching comparison/contrast essays, etc. within the new curriculum. I recommend introducing them as organizational strategies — options, with flexibility. It would not lock them into a particular organizational strategy, but they would be among other creative strategies that they could use. For those who have not been exposed to some of the classical organizational schemes, teaching such options would serve as scaffolds.
Honestly, Amber, this is a good question, and I struggle with it myself. I feel like I’ve kind of half-heartedly taught MLA citation– but it hasn’t been very effective. My favorite idea is to teach citation as a genre awareness. Are you writing a magazine article? Great! Then use links to cite. That said, we are a STEM school. I wonder if we’d be better serving our students to take some time to teach APA ( but in what context? APA doesn’t make much sense in a Humanities article)
I feel confident that those modes are not really foundational enough to writing to be “lost.” And besides, can always be dipped into or out of. Kind of like cookie cutters on dough. They’re patterns, but not the dough itself.
I am actually not afraid of losing any of the conventional essay models. The five paragraph essay in any of these formats is simply an artifact of English and composition classes. I have taught (and elsewhere continue to teach) these models because that was the curriculum. But these essays were effectively just a discipline specific hurdle for students to clear in order to demonstrate college readiness. Research isnāt going anywhere but few of the āresearch papersā that I have graded over the years have been even remotely similar to published research based essays, investigative journalism, or academic journal articles. The same goes for compare/contrast essays.
Arguments will inevitably be a part of all writing – choosing what to include, how to organize, etc. will produce an implicit if not explicit argument. But the skills of analysis, research, and presentation that these models were meant to teach can be taught through forms of writing that are used outside of the classroom. Compare/contrast can take the form of a film review or similar, research as investigative journalism, etc.
As far as citation goes, it seems like teaching students how to recognize when and why to cite would be more transferable than teaching them any specific citation style. I still look up MLA or Chicago style guidelines every time I put together a new paper just to be certain. Knowing when and how to do that rather than remembering whether a comma or a publication date goes into a parenthetical citation seems more along the lines of the overall aim of genre and rhetorical analysis.
I am actually not afraid of losing any of the conventional essay models. The five paragraph essay in any of these formats is simply an artifact of English and composition classes. I have taught (and elsewhere continue to teach) these models because that was the curriculum. But these essays were effectively just a discipline specific hurdle for students to clear in order to demonstrate college readiness. Research isnāt going anywhere but few of the āresearch papersā that I have graded over the years have been even remotely similar to published research based essays, investigative journalism, or academic journal articles. The same goes for compare/contrast essays.
Arguments will inevitably be a part of all writing – choosing what to include, how to organize, etc. will produce an implicit if not explicit argument. But the skills of analysis, research, and presentation that these models were meant to teach can be taught through forms of writing that are used outside of the classroom. Compare/contrast can take the form of a film review or similar, research as investigative journalism, etc.
As far as citation goes, it seems like teaching students how to recognize when and why to cite would be more transferable than teaching them any specific citation style. I still look up MLA or Chicago style guidelines every time I put together a new paper just to be certain. Knowing when and how to do that rather than remembering whether a comma or a publication date goes into a parenthetical citation seems more along the lines of the overall aim of genre and rhetorical analysis.