Source Discovery Narrative

Nearly half of Writing II is dedicated to giving you time, space, resources, and workshop community to take on a substantial research project on a topic of your own choosing. As part of that project, you will be required to assemble at least six secondary sources that you will then compile in a bibliography. Your six sources should not be the first six sources you happen to find, whether youre using the library or searching online; what you compile for your bibliography should result from an open yet focused search for sources that are relevant, credible, and useful to you as you choose your research topic, craft and refine your argument, gather and analyze evidence, and articulate your projects value within a broader conversation. In preparation for this month-long task, you will write a 3-4 page Source Discovery Narrative in which you narrateat lengththe process of exploring, sifting, and, at last, finding a source interesting enough that you will consider1 using it as one of your secondary sources. Which source you write about and why will be entirely up to you, but the narrative detailing how exactly you discovered it should incorporate the following: A clear, step-by-step account of how you found the source and how it traces back to one (or more) of the foundational texts we read for Unit 1, including intermediary steps like search engines inquiries (e.g., Google searches), conversations/reflections outside of class, or unexpected roadblocks encountered along the way Background information and/or context shedding light on what motivated your search (or, if youre unsure, what you think might have motivated your search) Concrete, specific details about the source, with attention to how you found them: genre (What kind of work is it? Is there overlap with multiple genres? How do you know?) formatting (How is the work presented and/or accessed? Is it physical or virtual? E-book or pdf? Print book or academic article? etc.) physical or digital appearance (Whats it look like? Did its appearance do anything to set your expectations?) bibliographic information (author name[s], date of publication, publisher, etc.), organization (How are the parts of the work assembled? A table of contents? a thread comprised of multiple posts? a play divided into acts and scenes? etc.) contents (Whats the source about? Whats in it? Whats it made up of?) significance (Why is it meaningful to you? Why is it meaningful to others?)