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6289:01 Graduate Seminar in Women’s and Gender Studies: Comparative
Feminist Theories

Spring 2016, Tu 5:00-7:50 Lang 346

Course Requirements

Assignments: The total worth of the assignments is 100 points. The individual point value of each assignment is noted in (parenthesis) immediately following the assignment title. Simply doing the base requirements of each assignment will earn you a "C" -- this means you have done acceptable work. To earn a "B" you must go beyond the assignment expectations or fulfill them in an above average way. To earn an "A" you must go far beyond the assignment expectations and fulfill the expectations in an exceptional manner.

Page limits on all assignments will be rigorously enforced. You should spend time finding ways to write more concisely and clearly. If I find your paper long-winded, and you go over the page limit, I will quit reading. (If however, you are brilliant and keep me captivated, I may not notice). And, given the expectations of each of the assignments, you probably will need to use the number of pages required. If, however, you are exceptionally concise, then I may not notice if your paper falls short of the required pages.

A bibliography should be turned in with every assignment. It will not count toward your page limit. On the top of the page, indicate the style (APA, MLA, or Chicago) that you think you are using. The bibliography should correctly and studiously follow whatever form you choose. If serious errors appear in the bibliography and in text citations, students will automatically receive a 25% reduction in their grade. You should prefer to have me spend my time editing your ideas rather than pointing to errors you could have identified on your own by consulting a style manual.

TurnItIn requirement: For all written assignments, students are required to use TurnItIn in order to check they are not plagiarizing. Thus, for an assignment to be considered "turned in", students must have submitted an electronic version to TurnItIn before the assignment's due date and time, and also turn in a paper copy to the professor at the assigned due date and time. I have activated the TurnItIn website in such a way that you are allowed to submit drafts of your paper and receive originality reports. These reports should be used to assist you in making sure you are attributing authorship in an ethical way. The only originality report I will see is the final report on the version of the paper you turn into me. Students can access the TurnItIn website for each assignment via the class's eLearning site. TheTurnItIn link for each assignment is located in the folder labeled turnitin. Please understand: using TurnItIn is only the first step in making sure your are abiding by citation guidelines and providing fair attribution. TurnItIn is only one way to check the originality of your work, and just because your work passes the TurnItIn check does not guarantee you have not plagiarized. You are responsible for using style manuals to make sure your citation format is correct and consistent. Given this process, there will be ZERO TOLERANCE for any citation or paraphrase errors that result in you plagiarizing (presenting others' words as your own). Even a minor infraction will result in a zero on the assignment and a permanent letter placed in your file. A major infraction will result in an F for the class.

1. Written Assignments:

Bring three (3) copies to turn in of each paper (2 for peer editing and 1 for me). If you experience writer's block, check out this link. If you are a WGS grad student, you do option A. If you are not, then option B.

Option A. (For WGS MA students) Culminating project prospectus assignments on a topic of your choice:

The goal is to complete a draft of your prospectus for your final MA project (thesis or internship). If you have already done this, then choose option B.

Throughout the course, each WGS student focuses on choosing, articulating, and justifying their* unique stance as a scholar in their prospectus for the MA project (thesis or internship).

*FYI: I am using the singular they pronoun. For more on this, see a Salon essay and a recent memo from The Washington Post

At the conclusion of the semester, each student should be prepared to express in written form their own understanding of what it means for them to be a feminist scholar and/or a scholar who conducts research from a WGS perspective. Questions each student addresses include: who one studies, what one studies, how one studies (methodological issues), as whom one studies, and why one studies women/gender. This means, for every assignment, students should explicitly incorporate and engage with the following concepts:

intersectionality

a clear definition of sex/gender (and theories of the social construction of gender)

privilege and oppression

feminist praxis

Whether one chooses the thesis or applied track in the graduate program, learning to successfully write proposals is essential. This assignment is designed to help students become more proficient in meeting the stringent demands of writing for graduate education and in conceptualizing a project that either requires original research or is informed by scholarly research. As the graduate committee explains, "The purpose of a prospectus is to provide your committee members with a focused description of the proposed thesis or internship project. The prospectus allows the committee to determine the soundness of your proposed project, to ensure it meets expectations for Master’s level work, and to make suggestions for improvement. . . . The prospectus represents a contract with the committee regarding the scope of the project, the method, and the timeline." (50 points total)

(1) Exhaustive topic search, with printouts of all searches attached (this could be a very large stack). Due January 26. The cover page should:

a) Identify the bibliographic format used (APA, MLA, or Chicago). The cover page/s also should include a practice bibliography that YOU type that includes sample citations. I want to make sure everyone knows how to do citations forms for typical sources. Thus, you need to include bibliographic entries for at least one of each of the following (even if you are not citing it yet):

1. book

2. book chapter from an edited collection

3. newspaper article (if electronically accessed, correct form for that should be included)

4. magazine article (if electronically accessed, correct form for that should be included)

5. scholarly journal article (if electronically accessed, correct form for that should be included)

6. web source

b) list the names of research data-bases consulted

c) list key words/key terms used in searches (this should include multiple key terms, and some topics will require searches on multiple topics)

d) identify preliminary research question, hypothesis, argument, or internship/project description

e) project specific elements:

1. thesis: provide preliminary RQs or thesis statements

2. internship: idenitfy a range (10 or more) of internships or places that might be convinced to have an intern. Be willing to dream big.

f) identify possible committee members (at least 5): meet with each person and chat with them (at least 30 minutes) about whether the would be a good fit and what unique skills (e.g., method) or knowledge they could bring to the project. If you have already formed a committee, then find at least two other faculty members who could serve as a resource.

(2) Culminating project prospectus introduction [3 pages] (5 points). Due February 16. The clarity and strength of any good paper, prospecti included, begins with its introduction. The purpose of this assignment is to teach you how to develop a rationale for your academic work. To do so, you will identify a thesis/applied project of interest and conduct a preliminary review of previous research to identify the current state of knowledge on the topic.

A. For a thesis, identify what you will try to add to the scholarly conversation. As the graduate committee explains, "Having a clear and focused purpose or goal is the first step to a strong thesis." In this section, students should answer the following questions.

1. What is the topic of the thesis?
2. What is the format of the thesis (e.g., data-based study, textual analysis, creative work)?
3. Why is conducting the thesis important? How does it add to the specific sub-discipline? What will we learn from it that we don’t already know?"

As you answer these questions, make clear how you will employ an intersectional approach, articulate your theory of sex/gender, identify how privilege and oppression inform your analysis, and explain why a feminist approach to this topic is necessary.

B. For an internship, identify and describe three possible internships. Provide a rationale for why these choices made your final list. As the graduate committee explains, "Having a clear and focused internship idea, as well as a clear and focused purpose or goal, are the first steps to a strong internship project." In this section, students should answer the following questions.

1. What is the purpose of the internship experience? Make sure to clarify its connection to either the Gender and Wellness or the Violence Prevention track. What do you hope to accomplish through the internship experience (applying theory to practice, programming, working with a specific population, non-profit work; etc.)?

2. What original contribution do you anticipate making to the internship site? This original contribution could include assembling information for a grant application, analyzing an existing program, assessing future needs for additional programming, or preparing documentation for advocacy.

3. Why is the internship project important? How does it help develop your career goals?

The introduction does not need to describe the specifics of the proposed project yet. But, it should clearly define the central concepts relating to what you plan to study (either experientially or through original research) and provide a strong rationale for this focus. As you answer these questions, make clear how you will employ an intersectional approach, articulate your theory of sex/gender, identify how privilege and oppression inform your analysis, and explain why a feminist approach to this topic is necessary.

(3) Culminating project prospectus annotated bibliography (5 points). The purposes of this assignment are to conduct more in-depth research for the prospectus assignment, to enhance skills in obtaining and analyzing research, and to refine academic writing skills. Due March 8

Format: Each entry in an annotated bibliography has two parts: 1) citation: a complete and correctly formatted bibliographic citation for each entry, and 2) annotation paragraph (approximately 250 words). The entries should be alphabetized. The citations should follow the format you are using (APA, MLA, Chicago). The citation and paragraph should NOT be separated by a line, although the paragraph should start on the line down from the citation. The citation should be formatted with a hanging indent. The paragraph should be flush with the indent.

Number: 20 sources are required. References should all be from scholarly sources.

Content: An annotated bibliography asks you to make sense of the existing scholarly literature given your own interests. Thus, DO NOT JUST CUT AND PASTE ABSTRACTS (besides, that would be plagiarism). Instead, you should

• describe the main argument/conclusion and the method used to reach that conclusion. Do not merely identify the topic,
• analyze the conclusion's strength (e.g., is sufficient evidence provided to support the conclusion; was the method appropriate to the question; does the author essentialize women; does the author conflate sex, gender, and sexuality),
• indicate if the author used an intersectional approach and how well it was employed
• indicate possible conslusions about privilege and oppression
• identify the theory of sex/gender used (biological, psychological, critical/cultural)
• interpret its meaning (locate the argument and its author in the ongoing scholarly or activist conversation), and
• decide about its utility to your project

(4) Culminating project methods/project plan and timeline section [4 pages] (5 points). The timeline shouldspan two semesters. The design will vary with the nature of the proposal, but basically it should clearly detail for the reader the steps the student plans to take to construct/apply knowledge on the topic of choice. ALL proposals need to show evidence of thinking intersectionally about identity and oppression, reflect on feminist praxis, and show a nuanced understanding of sex/gender (hint: a study that breaks up its sample into male and female participants is not demonstrating nuance). Due March 29

A. Thesis method section: Based on what you learned from writing the rationale and review of the literature, you will design an appropriate study to propose for an original thesis. For social scientific theses, this section begins by restating the research questions and/or hypotheses. For humanistic theses, this section begins by identifying the main argument to be advanced. Justify your choice of method as the best way to answer the questions, test the hypotheses, or prove your agument. The body of a social science method section includes three basic parts: description of how you will amass participants, plans for data collection, and plans for data analysis. A humanistic method would outline how you will select texts for study and justify their selection. If the proposal includes interviews or surveys, an appendix is needed with proposed questions to be asked and all IRB paperwork filled out (do NOT submit the IRB forms; just complete drafts of them).

****To complete this assignment, you must turn in a copy of your IRB form proving you have completed IRB training (regardless of whether you are doing a study that requires IRB approval). You also need to confirm that your thesis chair is IRB approved as well.

****If you are planning a study that requires IRB approval (meaning it includes participants), the proposal must include an appendix with an application to the Graduate College for Human Participants Review. The proposal need not be submitted.

B. Applied track: For internships, justify your choice of project and explain how you will go about completing the project. In other words, your timeline will be more detailed than for the thesis option. As the graduate committee explains, the timeline "should be as detailed as possible, and will provide structure for you as well as for your committee. Include what you will do on a regular basis to complete the internship project. The process can be broken into chunks or segments (e.g., finding an internship, preparing for the internship, applying theory-to-practice, drafts of writing, defense preparation, etc.)."

(5) Final prospectus, including items 2-4 above [8 pages plus annotated bibliography] (40 points). The purpose of this assignment is to provide an opportunity for revision (based on peer and professor feedback) of the previous segments you turned in earlier. You will still need a conclusion for the prospectus. The conclusion should outline the final project or detail the chapters of the thesis, discuss the limits of the project, and begin to predict areas for future research. Due: Tuesday, May 3, 5pm. Remember, however, you need to have a penultimate draft completed by April 19 so that in-class peer editing can occur. YOU ALSO MUST SEND YOUR PAPERS AS AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT TO CATE AT palczewski@uni.edu before the final exam period. Your papers will not be considered "turned in" until you send them as an email attachment and until you also turn in all the peer edits done of your paper.

Option B. (For non-WGS MA students or WGS students who have already completed a prospectus.) Progressive feminist project. Propose a project to me. The proposal, along with a preliminary data dump, is due January 26. Break the proposal into parts, with parts being due on the same dates as the prospectus project (so that you can be part of the peer editing process).

One project option is to do an in depth analysis of one feminist theorist. (Thanks to Danielle McGeough and Ryan McGeough for this idea.) This assignment will require you to develop a deep understanding of one foundational feminist scholar's work and trace how that work has been picked up and used by other scholars. The assignment consists of five distinct components (with due dates alligned with option A). Point distribution also mirrors option A.

1. Scholar search: Use the same format as 1A1. Be sure to find ALL the scholar's works (books, book chapters, essays) and the primary places where the works are cited (Google scholar is an ideal place to begin the tracing).

2. Intellectual history: (3 pages) Introduce readers to your scholar. Ideas don't happen in a vacuum. You will begin this assignment by developing a brief biographical sketch of your scholar. Where did they grow up and/or study? What was going on in the world that influenced them? To what major thinkers or ideas was your scholar responding?

3. Annotated bibliography of the scholar (at least 5 sources) and scholars who cite your scholar (at least 15 sources): Provide annotated bibliographies of the scholar's main works. You will need to make choices here -- identify the scholar's 2-3 main contributions. Then, pick the 5 or so works that really represent these contributions. Then, find recent academic articles that draw on the work of your chosen scholar. Again, make choices. Focus on those works that are most in conversation about the 2-3 contributions you picked. Follow the format for annotations in B3. Annotate only the most central works. You can still use the other works in the papers to follow.

4. Scholar literature review: (8 pages) Rewrite the content from your annotated bibliography in a way that turns it in into a synthetic literature review of your theorist's works. What are the main intellectual contributions your scholar provided? What were their big ideas? This should be a synthetic literature review that combines your scholar's thoughts from across their works and illuminates their major lines of thought. Link to general literature review guidelines. Here, focus on presenting what your theoriest wrote. Save the responses for the final paper. This is not the place for overt critique. Rather, outline your scholar's ideas in their strongest form.

5. Complete scholar notes: (15 pages plus annotated bibliography) Combine sections two and four, then add a section on the responses to your scholar. The final paper should: introduce the scholar, outline the scholar's main ideas, and show how those ideas have been picked up and elaborated over time. How have your scholar's ideas been challenged? Which ideas continue to be particularly influential? How are they used in new ways? Are their any ideas that have been largely overlooked by subsequent scholars. Do not forget to address how your scholar interacts with intersectionality, theories of sex/gender, theories of power/privilege, and how they engage with feminist praxis.