Final Essay Preparation
Feb. 26th, 2007 02:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielNot that I'm that worried or anything, but if I don't get into the classes I want my FINAL QUARTER here I will be most seriously displeased.
Should be fine though.
In Irish Lit we found out that and option for our final paper was to write something creative in which characters from two or three of the texts engage in conversation with each other. Fr. Duffy (I just wrote "Buffy." Whoops.) kept emphasizing how important it was to make sure the characters were still in character. Of course, I'm sitting there thinking about how it's all really just crossover fanfiction and how I can't imagine attempting to write anything in the voice of Stephen Dedalus.
I think it's great that he's offering us a more creative option, but I was also a little surprised by how many people were excited about the chance to write creatively. Um? Aren't some of them creative writing majors? I know I'm not the only person that uses down time to write creatively.
Someone also asked, "Isn't it supposed to be a research paper?" Well, I'm certainly not going to attempt to write a short story/play about post-WWI Ireland without doing some research.
Anyway. Reactions were interesting. And while it's refreshing to have the option, I think I'm going to stick with my interest in Yeats and Eastern philosophies/theologies.
Meanwhile, I have a prospectus and annotated bibliography due tomorrow in Masculinity. I know what I want to do my final essay on, so the prospectus isn't that difficult. But I'm still looking for at least one other essay for the bibliography. And one of the ones that I already have makes me a little nervous. Somehow, as students, we get into the mindset that what we have to say, our interpretation of the texts involved, isn't as relevant as what someone published has to say. Because we don't have that gloss of authority. Which is kind of silly, because no one just starts out with authority. They get it through publishing essays that enter into dialogue with people who had "authority" before them.
So I'm reading this essay and it's saying that certain ways I would like to read The Knight's Tale are wrong and I'm sitting here going, "But I still think I have a valid point to make." I just have to remember that that's the point of essay writing (at least of this kind). And I feel pretty comfortable with my reading of The Knight's Tale (Theseus in particular). But that doesn't mean I'm not a little iffy about taking a stand and arguing it when I feel less than qualified.
Should be fine though.
In Irish Lit we found out that and option for our final paper was to write something creative in which characters from two or three of the texts engage in conversation with each other. Fr. Duffy (I just wrote "Buffy." Whoops.) kept emphasizing how important it was to make sure the characters were still in character. Of course, I'm sitting there thinking about how it's all really just crossover fanfiction and how I can't imagine attempting to write anything in the voice of Stephen Dedalus.
I think it's great that he's offering us a more creative option, but I was also a little surprised by how many people were excited about the chance to write creatively. Um? Aren't some of them creative writing majors? I know I'm not the only person that uses down time to write creatively.
Someone also asked, "Isn't it supposed to be a research paper?" Well, I'm certainly not going to attempt to write a short story/play about post-WWI Ireland without doing some research.
Anyway. Reactions were interesting. And while it's refreshing to have the option, I think I'm going to stick with my interest in Yeats and Eastern philosophies/theologies.
Meanwhile, I have a prospectus and annotated bibliography due tomorrow in Masculinity. I know what I want to do my final essay on, so the prospectus isn't that difficult. But I'm still looking for at least one other essay for the bibliography. And one of the ones that I already have makes me a little nervous. Somehow, as students, we get into the mindset that what we have to say, our interpretation of the texts involved, isn't as relevant as what someone published has to say. Because we don't have that gloss of authority. Which is kind of silly, because no one just starts out with authority. They get it through publishing essays that enter into dialogue with people who had "authority" before them.
So I'm reading this essay and it's saying that certain ways I would like to read The Knight's Tale are wrong and I'm sitting here going, "But I still think I have a valid point to make." I just have to remember that that's the point of essay writing (at least of this kind). And I feel pretty comfortable with my reading of The Knight's Tale (Theseus in particular). But that doesn't mean I'm not a little iffy about taking a stand and arguing it when I feel less than qualified.
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Date: 2007-02-27 01:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-27 01:43 am (UTC)I should just relax, but I really want to take them all.
Since I can't take less credits, at least I have the luxury of taking anything I want. It's nice not having to worry about whether or not such-and-such a requirement will be fulfilled.