Author Archives: Charles Henebry

Lecture 13

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Midpoint Transition

One crucial move you may need to undertake in your essay is a transition from one body of evidence to another. If you have sources from the 1920s and the present day, it generally makes sense to present one set of sources first, then shift to examine the other—rather than looking at both sets simultaneously. If you think about it, this transition involves more than just a change of scenery; you need to gather up the threads of your initial analysis to form a midpoint understanding, then introduce the second half of your essay as an effort to complicate that understanding.

As an example of what this can look like, look at how Brett Harvey (link to Blackboard) shifts from (A) the “drift” into motherhood to (B) the hurdles women experienced when seeking abortion or contraception. Both A & B draw upon oral-history interviews with women, but what does Harvey do to mark the shift from (A) to (B) on pp 92-93?

For HW, I invite you to create a trial-run transition for the essay you’re writing. (I realize that you may not have written very much of your essay yet, so you’ll need to fake it a bit when you sum up the findings from your first body of evidence.) In the comment section below, paste the ¶ that leads into the transition along with the ¶ that makes the transition.

If you don’t have two bodies of evidence, do this alternative HW: a 2-¶ sequence where the first ¶ presents and analyzes primary sources, but then the second ¶ draws on secondary sources to introduce crucial background information that reframes the your evidence to give it a new or perhaps intensified significance. For an example of what I’m talking about, see the middle two ¶s on p92 of Harvey.

Class 13.1

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Slideshow Draft

Create a draft of your slideshow and start writing your script. “Pecha Kucha” presentations emphasize visual storytelling, breaking us out of the tired formulae of PowerPoint. In a Pecha Kucha format, you have 20 slides timed at 20-second intervals. Slides should contain images, not words—though it’s okay with me if you track source dates in the lower right corner.

Start building your slideshow at slides.google.com. I recommend using a relatively spare theme, to give prominence to the evidence you present. You will probably want to create your slides and script in parallel with one another. Use the sample script linked at right to get a sense of how long each slide narration should be. Number your ¶s to keep your script synched with the slides.

Use the 1-2 slides to introduce your topic and, if possible, announce your thesis. Then get busy telling your story. For purposes of this draft, see if you can get 5 or 10 slides done.

In a comment below, post a link to your slides as follows:

  1. from the File menu, choose “Publish to the Web”
  2. in the pop-up window, choose auto-advance slides every 10 seconds, leaving the auto-start and auto-replay options unchecked
  3. click Publish
  4. copy the resulting link and paste it into a comment below
  5. before publishing your comment, edit the link to change “delayms=10000” to “delayms=20000”

Lecture 12

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Presenting Evidence in Deepening Sequence

This assignment asks you to draft two paragraphs that might appear early in the body of the upcoming essay. Keep both ¶s brief for purposes of this HW, so we can focus on the ¶ structure and not get lost in the body of either ¶.

The first ¶ should be a brief version of the 2-3 source mashup we did for the previous class (D4|D5|D6). For the first ¶ of today’s HW, you can create a new ¶ OR revise your old one:

  1. Start with the collection of sources that make up your body of evidence. What pattern do you see? Write a topic sentence that names that pattern.
  2. Follow up with sentences presenting 2-3 samples in quick succession, one sentence each. Aim to name each piece of evidence briefly (“”In a 1967 editorial”) to give some sense of the granularity of your evidence. Use the rest of each sentence to provide a quick description that shows how this piece of evidence fits the pattern.
  3. End the ¶ with a conclusion that leaves a blank, “_______,” to be filled in once you’ve written your second ¶.

The second ¶ should do one of two things:

  • Zoom in to examine a similar example from your body of evidence, in an effort to explain the pattern identified in ¶1;
  • Identify a contrary trend using a different set of 2-3 sources from the same collection, complicating our understanding of the pattern identified in ¶1.

In either case, deepening understanding comes from giving a second look to the same body of evidence.

Once you know where you plan to take analysis in ¶2, you can go back and fill in the blank you left in the conclusion of ¶1. Sum up what ¶1 argued while at the same time setting up the new insight offered in ¶2. Avoid naming the new insight—naming the new insight is the job of ¶2’s topic sentence. It’s like a comedy routine: the concluding sentence plays the role of straight man, while the topic sentence of the following ¶ gets to voice the punchline.

Paste your 2-¶ sequence into the comment below. Be sure to give two ¶ breaks between paragraphs, so as to help the website format your HW properly.

Quick Video for Class Discussion

In an effort to make some connection to current discussion in Hum and Soc Sci, please watch this short clip from a BBC documentary, Racism: a History and come to class ready to discuss.

Class 12.2

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3-4 Source Mash-Up

This assignment gives you practice in identifying and reporting a trend you’ve identified three or more sources from your body of evidence.

  1. Start with 10-15 fragments that make up your body of evidence. You can make do with fewer, but lots of instances provides confidence that any patterns you notice are meaningful ones.
  2. What patterns do you see? Try to identify three patterns, then choose one that seems especially odd. Alternatively, focus at the outset on a simple pattern, saving really odd/interesting patterns as a place you might take analysis later in your essay.
  3. Write a topic sentence that names the pattern. In doing so, use language like “most” or “many” or “8 of 10 ads” to convey a sense of its prevalence.
  4. Follow up with sentences presenting 3-4 samples in quick succession, one sentence each. Aim to name each piece of evidence (“In a New York Times article dated 10/16/63″ or “In a 1967 ad”) to give some sense of the granularity of your evidence—but leave most bibliographic details to the footnote. Use the rest of each sentence to provide a quick description that shows how this piece of evidence fits the pattern. For example, if I was interested in how ads present women in supporting roles: “A 1965 Norelco ad shows not just a clean-shaven husband, but his admiring wife.”
  5. End the ¶ with a conclusion that finds new significance to the pattern—a restatement of the opening claim that raises the ante or shifts the focus to a further insight.

Put your finished ¶ in the comments, below.

3-4 Source Mash-Up

This assignment gives you practice in identifying and reporting a trend you’ve identified three or more sources from your body of evidence.

  1. Start with 10-15 fragments that make up your body of evidence. You can make do with fewer, but lots of instances provides confidence that any patterns you notice are meaningful ones.
  2. What patterns do you see? Try to identify three patterns, then choose one that seems especially odd. Alternatively, focus at the outset on a simple pattern, saving really odd/interesting patterns as a place you might take analysis later in your essay.
  3. Write a topic sentence that names the pattern. In doing so, use language like “most” or “many” or “8 of 10 ads” to convey a sense of its prevalence.
  4. Follow up with sentences presenting 3-4 samples in quick succession, one sentence each. Aim to name each piece of evidence (“In a New York Times article dated 10/16/63″ or “In a 1967 ad”) to give some sense of the granularity of your evidence—but leave most bibliographic details to the footnote. Use the rest of each sentence to provide a quick description that shows how this piece of evidence fits the pattern. For example, if I was interested in how ads present women in supporting roles: “A 1965 Norelco ad shows not just a clean-shaven husband, but his admiring wife.”
  5. End the ¶ with a conclusion that finds new significance to the pattern—a restatement of the opening claim that raises the ante or shifts the focus to a further insight.

Put your finished ¶ in the comments, below.

Class 12.1

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Up from the Details

Writing HW By this point you have assembled on a collection of primary sources for your research project. Prepare a brief (1 sentence) response to each of the following:

  • the principle that defines your collection (i.e. images of children at play from Life magazine ads in 1961, 1966 and 1971)
  • the open-ended question you hope to use the collection to answer
  • what patterns you expected to see, given what you’ve learned about your topic over the past few weeks
  • one way in which your collection has confirmed expectations
  • one way in which your collection has surprised you

Paste your responses into the comment space, below, along with a sample from your growing body of evidence.

Up from the Details

Writing HW By this point you have assembled on a collection of primary sources for your research project. Prepare a brief (1 sentence) response to each of the following:

  • the principle that defines your collection (i.e. images of children at play from Life magazine ads in 1961, 1966 and 1971)
  • the open-ended question you hope to use the collection to answer
  • what patterns you expected to see, given what you’ve learned about your topic over the past few weeks
  • one way in which your collection has confirmed expectations
  • one way in which your collection has surprised you

Paste your responses into the comment space, below, along with a sample from your growing body of evidence.

Lecture 11

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Body of Evidence: Introduction

Examine the linked clippings, a collection I assembled several years ago when teaching a research course centered on 1950s America. It contains every mention of the word “motorcycle” in the pages of Life from 1947-1962.

Sources like these aren’t rich enough to sustain analysis when examined one at a time. But amassing a bunch of minor sources allows you to make claims about cultural tendencies. By bundling ads or articles together as a “body of evidence,” you create a composite source of significant complexity and richness. Because this is an exhaustive collection, you can use the relative abundance or absence of motorcycle references in a given year as a rough gauge of cultural interest in motorcycles.

What patterns do you see in this collection of articles? Decide on ONE thing that motorcycle signified to mainstream America in the 1950s. (Let your classmates cover other stuff.) Write a short piece calling attention to details from specific photographs as evidence for your claim. Post the results in the comments, below.

Bonus Listening

Last year I happened on a podcast that’s a splendid instance of source-driven historical inquiry. Please read or listen to “Wipe Out,” episode 397 of 99 Percent Invisible: website | podcast.

Class 11.2

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Turning in your Bibliography

When your bibliography is complete, Print/Export to .pdf. Give the file a name like “Your Name.pdf”

Choose an entry that you’re proud of (both the bibliographic details and your brief summary of that source). Paste that passage into a comment below. Use the “upload file” option to attach your .pdf essay to that comment.

In Class

Finding Evidence in Newspapers & Magazines

Today in class we’ll make a start on the next phase of your research projects, finding exhibit sources that can function as a “Body of Evidence.”

Newspapers (and some magazines) via the BU Library Portal
In addition to whatever news sources you can find through Google searches, you can also access a vast archive of past issues via the BU Library portal. At the lower left of the front page, look for Databases A-Z. Once you arrive there, “Filter Database List” by choosing “News and Newspapers” from the drop-down menu.

Magazines (and some newspapers) via Google Books
Google Books has an impressive collection of old magazines, browsable here. Skim through the list for topics you’re interested in. Once you click on one issue of any title, in the left column of the viewer you can Search for text in ANY issue of the magazine, or click a link to “Browse all issues.” You can also get to the list of ALL magazines by clicking the link “View all magazines.”

Alternatively, use the Google Books’ Advanced Search, a feature you can call up by Googling the phrase “Advanced Book Search.” In that search interface, you can limit searches to Magazines or to Newspapers.

Class 11.1

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Article Summary

Last week I had you briefly summarize three journal articles. For this assignment, I’d like a more in-depth summary, the sort you will need to offer in the upcoming Annotated Bibliography. Write a brief 3-paragraph summary of the most interesting or controversial of the academic journal articles you’ve found so far in your research, using the following template (revised early this morning, so OK with me if your HW follows the original one):

  • Topic: In the first ¶, focus on summarizing the the material the article covers/presents. In what sense is this a narrow part of your much broader research topic?
  • Thesis: In the second ¶, focus on summarizing the author’s vision/understanding of that topic. How does the author distinguish his/her thesis from the work of prior scholars? Alternatively, how does the author’s vision differ from that of other scholars you’ve read?
  • Evidence: In a third ¶, what kinds of evidence does the author present? Data and statistics? Personal letters? News articles? Interviews?
  • Be sure to give a proper Chicago Style bibliographic entry, so I can find your article if I need to.

Paste this HW into the comment field, below.

In Class Reading for controversy, as well as for consensus.