Laura Reynolds Writing, Research, and Technology Assignment: Fieldwork & Oral History Food Research Project in Two

Parts Part #1: Oral History Project Purpose: Record and compose an oral history of someone whose food story interests you. Focus: Your participants most compelling food story that will eventually add to the research for your collaborative research project. You should have a focus for your interview questions and your research, but if other stories or themes emerge from your conversations, please follow those leads to see where they take you. Style: You have two options. Both of these options fall under the category of an oral history, but the choices you make in presenting this oral history should be grounded in your purpose as a writer and researcher, which, ultimately, impacts how you, your participant, and your audience make meaning from this project: Option 1: Present a 5-7 minute oral history video clip or audio clip on your Web site (this could be linked to YouTube). This video clip should include a short prologue and afterword to the interview. So on your website page, we would see your prologue, the video clip, and then an afterword. Option 2: Write a creative non-fiction piece that emerges from and recounts your participants oral history. You can write this piece in first-person or third person, past or present tense, etc. Please provide a prologue and an afterword for this story. Length: At least three pages.

Process: We will spend several weeks constructing your Oral History Project. What follows is our process: Choose an interview participant and create a set of at least 20 questions to ask during the interview: You do not have to know the participant. Consider interviewing someone from an older generation or different culture. If this person speaks a different language, see if you can record that language somehow as well. Ask participant to sign release form for the interview: You will be publishing this research online, so you must get your participants approval beforehand. You will be provided with this approval form in class. Conduct at least a 15 minute interview with one participant: The interviews must be conducted in person or via Skype or Ovoo (http://www.oovoo.com/). Record interview: For Option 1, please record the video with a camera or digital audio recorder so you can publish a media file on your site. For Option 2, please take accurate notes maintaining the dialect and voice of the participant (dont edit for grammar or syntax, etc.). Drafting: Craft a media clip or creative non-fiction narrative that emerges from your interviews. When selecting and arranging your material, please be mindful of prevalent themes that emerge from the data (this will help you focus your presentation of the data). Also, ask yourself: What makes this persons story worth recording? If you cannot answer that question, dig deeper into the story and/or conduct another interview with that person or someone else. Presenting: Post the project to your website under your Oral History tab. We can further discuss ways in which you can combine technological texts with traditional texts so your paper can be presented in the most relevant and meaningful ways.

Product: Your final piece should be arranged in three main parts: Part 1: An introduction/prologue that describes the setting, the participant, and the goals you had for the direction of the interview and if the interview maintained that direction or went another place. Part 2: A media clip or creative non-fiction piece that you can post to Oral History page on your website. Part 3: An afterword that provides an update on the participant as well as your reflection on the processes of researching and composing this piece.

Audience: Please construct an oral history that appeals to the following audience: Primary: Our class Secondary: People who will visit your site and read the oral history

Part #2: Collaborative Research Project Focus: Your choice (with your partner or group). Your research could delve into the co-op or Slow Food movements, school lunches, farmers markets, fast food chains, organic and sustainable farming methods, food labels or the social, economic, and racial issues related to food access and affordability of good food in America. Style: Again, your choice to a point. You can write a traditional academic research paper in APA/MLA style or you could create a video documentary in the way of Food, Inc. Your purpose, focus, and audience will inform your style of composing and presenting this research. If you are creating a project to inform sixth graders about the dangers of fast food, you would write at a level that communicates your message to 12-year-olds. You might also add visuals or video clips to augment the message. In the same way, if you wish to persuade a politician to support a bill for tax cuts on local food, of course, your style would be different than what one would expect for a sixth grade glass (at least wed hope so, right?). No matter the audience, your project should be presented in a thoughtful and clear manner. Here are the two options for your project (*both options must have an introduction/prologue and a summary/afterword): Option #1: Write a 5(full)-7 page research paper using APA/MLA style. The double-spaced, 12point font paper must have an abstract and an annotated bibliography with at least six sources (not including your oral histories). Option #2: Create a properly edited 10-minute documentary. The video must have a written abstract and an annotated bibliography with at least seven sources.

Process: We will spend several weeks constructing your collaborative research project. Here is our process: Watch Food, Inc. and read the essays and articles on our course web page Please take notes as you watch and read these resources. Choose a research partner: You can work with more than one person, but no more than four per group please. You cannot work alone. On your Collaborative Research Page, create three links:

o o

Research Questions: List 10 possible research questions that relate to your topic. This will help you conceptualize your topic and create a framework for your research. Annotated Bibliography: Use APA/MLA style to list at least six sources with a brief summary of each source followed by an examination of the quality of that source. Who is the author? Why is this a reliable, non-biased source? How to you plan to use it to make your argument stronger? Sources: This is important. Failure to follow these guidelines will reduce your grade. You must have 6-10 sources (no more, no less) for your research paper. You may have no more than two personal interviews from experts in the field (see participant approval below). An interview is not required. You may use no more than one web site, and it must not be a biased secondary source with listed facts/stats about your topic. It must use at least one book or book chapter. It must use at least one peer-reviewed scholarly journal found in print or through the library database. Your sources must have an identifiable author or sponsoring organization. Avoid clearly biased websites. Television interviews and digital clips are approved source materials; again, beware of bias.

Final Collaborative Research Project: First, write a 200-word abstract that reveals your primary research question, motive, methods, and findings from your research. Then, provide an introduction/prologue before or embedded in the actual paper or video. Finally, please provide a summary or afterword where you can reflect on your project. Product: Your final piece must use at least six sources and should be arranged in two main parts: Part 1: An abstract that contextualizes your research and prompts your audience to read/view your project. Part 2: A 5-7-page paper or 10-minute documentary that you can post to your Collaborative Research Project page on your individual website. The paper or documentary must have an introduction/prologue and a summary/afterword to contextualize the project.

Presenting: Post the project to your website under your Collaborative Research Project tab. Each research partner must have this projected published on her site; yes, the projects can be the exact same on each of your pages.