Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Blog posting for Ch 6 & 7 of Booth-- due Sunday, 3/28 by midnight
I'd like you all to practice what Booth covers in Chapters 6 & 7, and I thought, since Foster's "Choreographies of Protest" will still be fresh in your mind, we could practice with that essay. I'd like you to pretend that you will use Foster's essay as one of your 8 sources-- for a couple of you who plan to write on manifestos, you actually won't be pretending... In your post here, type out how you would take notes on Foster as a source you planned on using in a research essay. Some folks use note cards, some type up the notes in a word document on their computer. Either way, type up something to post here that would appear to be notes on this source as a researcher would use it.
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I would probably take notes down on note cards, and start by utilizing the three uses for sources outlined in chapter six. First, using my source to read for a problem. How did protesting help/hurt these groups in accordance to attaining their specific goals? In what ways could a different form of action have helped or hurt their cause? Second, using my sources to read for an argument. Had these groups not done this, then __ would have occurred; Which form of protest is most effective: silent, verbal, or demonstrative? Lastly, using my source to read for evidence. Obviously, this form of protest was most effective because of its drastic increase in support for its protestors after it had taken place. Had this group not been so (radical, silent, etc), people might have taken them more seriously. Preserving what you find is also important, and I would just include the certain page numbers of what I wanted to remember later, i.e., *the quote from page 7 on the lunch counter sit-ins was very interesting. For chapter seven, I would make a drop down list following the steps they outline in accordance to making a good argument. Silence was the best option for the protestors of the lunch counter sit-ins (claim) because it made them look stoic and respectful, and increased their credibility (reason). Several months after the lunch counter sit-ins began, the lunch counter was desegregated (evidence). After supporting my claim with evidence, I would then assess a counterclaim. I would say silence was the best option, but others may feel that if the lunch counter protestors would have demanded the counter be desegregated and caused violence they would have received their wish sooner. (counterclaim) However, their calm demeanor is what made them credible in the first place. Had they been violent and unruly like everyone was expecting, the store would have had no reason to desegregate the counter. (response to counterclaim)
ReplyDeleteWhen I take notes for a paper, I don’t initially write them out on note cards- if it’s a source I can use a highlighter on, that’s my preferred method; if not, I will write down roughly what the information I want to remember was in my notebook with the page number. For the first few sources I use, my research doesn’t really have a set of questions that I’m following. It really just depends on the document and what jumps out at me. Further into the research, I generally have questions and particular things that I’m now looking for (if researching protesting, after reading these manifestos I would want to research other manifestos and if they had success and note other protests movements that made a successful impact so that I could begin to state an argument). My notes on it would be somewhat like below, though highlighted and with my notes in margins most likely.
ReplyDeleteYet, as social movement theorist James Jasper observes, “Tactics are rarely, if ever, neutral means about which protestors do not care. Tactics represent important routines, emotionally and morally salient in these peoples’ lives.” pg. 396
Sit-ins: calms, respectful, well dressed; countered claims of inferiority by being more civilized (pg. 402):
The stillness of the protestors’ bodies seemed to some to reinforce the stereotype of the passive Negro waiting expectantly for consideration, and this prompted some to defy the pact of nonviolence by taking up a more aggressive and retaliatory plan of action
ACT UP: showed public dead/dying from AIDS; chalk outlines, tombstones, etc.
WTO: chaotic, technology used well
As one protestor explained: “I myself desegregated a lunch counter, not somebody else, not some big man, not some powerful man, but little me. I walked the picket line and I sat in and the walls of segregation toppled.” Pg 403
When writing essays I generally prefer to type up my notes in a word document for ease of putting together my final draft; I just cut and paste quotes that I like and make the bibliography as I go, and jot down ideas that come to me. Then, when I start putting the actual paper together all I have to do is cut and paste notes from my original document and elaborate on them.
ReplyDeleteIn response to "Choreographies of Protest", I would focus on the success of peaceful protest versus violent protest. The situation with the Greensboro sit-in would be valid supporting evidence for my argument in favor of peaceful arguments having a better chance of gaining not just awareness, but supporters to said cause. For example, I could compare the Stonewall Riots with the sit-in. The anger and brutality displayed during the Stonewall Riots did gain a lot of awareness for the LGBT community, however, some individuals may not openly support LGBT persons in their efforts against the malicious police, out of fear of what society will think of them for associating themselves with such a violent and controversial event in which many LGBT and hetero policemen were killed. On the other hand, the sit-in by the 4 men in Greensboro is a prime example of how effective a peaceful protest can be, even attracting support from unexpected individuals, "two white middle-aged women shoppers paused to pat the students on the back, remarking that they should have done this years earlier." [Foster 397-398]
I would then elaborate on the effects of peaceful v. violent protests and could pull more examples from Foster's and other author's works to support my claim and refute the idea that violent protests are indeed more successful.
When I am trying to take notes on a specific essay, I am a big fan of the highlighter. The first thing I do is just read the essay completely without stopping. Then, I re-read a second time, highlighting, starring, and underlining things that stand out to me, as well as making notes in the margins.
ReplyDeleteIf I were feelings especially formal, I would type out the specific quotes I liked, as well as my own interpretations and explanations of them in a sort of annotated bibliography. I would then try to group my similar quotes together, to make them more organized. When it was time to make an outline, I would try and group my quotes so that if fit the outline of the paper, as well as the different topic points of my paper.
As an example from Foster's Choreographies of Protest:
Monitoring the movements of all bodies in the space, protesters exerted a certain control over everyone's actions. Even when a white cook sent slices of watermelon out on the conveyor belt past the hungry black students who were sitting at the counter, the refused to react, thereby depriving the cook of any satisfaction (Foster 401).
Foster is describing how the black students used their body language as "choreography" of protest. Body language was a big part of the sit-in kind of protest, and them controlling their reactions so unflinchingly helped their type of protest quite a bit.
Typically whenever I take notes on something that I am reading, I try to highlight key points that I can refer back to, while also writing comparisons in the margin. I then take a number of my ideas on the subject and write it out into a word document, partly because my handwriting is atrocious, and it helps keep it consolidated. This usually turns into a bit of a rambling that I can organize later for the sake of using it relevantly in an essay. I also have the tendency to use famous historical events to compare a subject to, it helps to get an idea of what is happening and what has changed, why it does or doesn’t work, and so on. For “Choreographies of Protest” I would definitely compare the methods that they talk about and compare it to past events and way the possible outcomes for each, as well as the reasoning behind each form of protest. Perhaps one of the biggest things I would compare the different methods to is what I had talked about in class, the Russian Revolution, I would also speak about the efforts of communism to power in different places, the French Revolution, as well as the many different small revolutions in central Europe and why they had failed, as well as the labor movement both here and in the United Kingdoms. I would evaluate why in some places they worked and other places they had failed, and what this meant from a cultural perspective and the level of success in a given protest in “Choreographies of Protest”, as well as give insight as to a cultural perspective on any given type, and how a given method can reverberate throughout the nation, world, and history.
ReplyDeleteIf I were writing a paper dealing with manifestos or protests and I were using Foster’s “Choreographies of Protest”, I think I’d probably get the notebook I use to jot tiny notes down and go through the essay searching for any particular phrases or ideas that jumped out at me and write them down.
ReplyDeleteNote cards don’t usually work all that well for me because I get distracted easily, so I wouldn’t use those.
I’d have to sit and read the essay a few times first, to think about what I wanted to say in my own paper and what in the essay would strengthen my own ideas and support them. For instance, if my paper was on the subject of nonviolent protests, I’d probably use quotes from the section starting on page 396, and cross-reference the protests mentioned in that section (the ACT UP die-ins, the World Trade Organization protest and the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960) to get more information concerning the setup and execution of nonviolent protests, the protocol involved and the results achieved or not achieved by each.
In the footnotes for her essay Foster mentions that many of the people who staged the protests mentioned above were dancers and actors themselves, and it might be interesting to write about how that affected their manners of protest and how much these protesters’ backgrounds in those art forms influenced and affected their methods– did they use forms of interpretive dance, perhaps, in their demonstrations? Did they perform skits or speeches, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton back during the suffragettes’ movement? Were these methods more effective than the protests staged by such activists as the famous Malcolm X, or the marches led by Dr. King? Why or why not? What could each of these forms of protest have learned from one another?
Hm…this is all making me very interested. I wish I knew enough about manifestos to write a paper on them, haha.
...that was me (Epiphani), by the way. I forget to put my name on these things.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen writing a research paper, I start off by reading then choosing a topic which sometimes seem to be most difficult and time consuming. I usually take notes by either writing on paper or using the Microsoft word program because note cards don’t really work for me, not even for studying. My topic will question the most successful form of protest. Then I would state the most thriving form of protest and write down supporting facts and page numbers to be capable of returning to a specific spot in the book if I need to.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading, I found on page 396 that nonviolent protests were most successful which includes sit-ins, die-ins, and meetings. I would note that some of these protests form part of a large scale series of initiatives, in each case, realized social change and I would also include a list of the successful protests that recently took place. For example, for the Civil Rights movement, the laws regulating equal, that is to say desegregated, access to public facilities strongly contrasted with social practice (Foster 396).
When writing a paper, I usually start an outline. After the outline, I create an individual outline for each major "bullet" of the original outline. This helps me build my thoughts in a specific order and keep everything relatively organized. I am having a hard time seeing how Choreographies of Protest relates to my topic. I think I would use certain points of Foster's research and connect it with the rules set about protest (is there a difference between rules regarding violent or non-violent protests) would give me a start to a major aspect of my essay.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, my teacher always taught us to use note cards and I never got that. We were always graded on the note cards and yet, they still did not help with my paper, also considering the fact that I didn't do all my note cards anyway. To me, it just seemed like a big waste of time. What I would usually do is just make copies of online sources and make photo copies of book sources and then just highlight what I needed.
ReplyDeleteAbout sourcing Foster, I would agree with Markell about the nonviolent protest being more successful than violent protest. This has been a very interesting topic that I have been wanting to study ever since the nonviolent protests on Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi, which would be two examples I would use to help compare with Foster and use in my essay. It amazes me on how nonviolent protest have become a beacon of light to other protesters today and also how more productive nonviolent protest are compared to violent protests.
Usually when I take notes on whatever I’m reading, I use highlighters to highlight the ideas that are key points, or that I find interesting. I don’t use note cards. I also like to put questions and other notes pertaining to the text. I also prefer to type my in Word. I find that typing allows me to organize the ideas, as well as my thoughts. I like cutting and pasting long quotes that I find. After I’ve gotten all the source information, I read through the ideas and write my opinions throughout. I try to elaborate and explain ideas brought up by other people.
ReplyDelete"Choreographies of Protest", I too would focus on the success of peaceful protest versus violent protest. By maintaining a calm silence, and refraining from response to criticism or encouragement, the situation in Greensboro, North Carolina supports my argument for peaceful protesting. Foster describes the student’s body language as posing the question “Why can’t we be served?” (Foster 397). This was not the first sit-in; however weeks later lunch counter sit-ins eventually spread across the entire southern US. They stayed respectful, and never talked or laughed back at the people around them. The students aspired to counteract acts of violence towards them with “a stoic, non-compliant non action.” (Foster 399) I would sum of up the effects of violent protests vs. peaceful protests by comparing the method the students used to past events and the consequences for each.
When writing and I take notes I don't use note card I probably should try it because it would keep my paper more organized. Like Miranda I highlight all of the important things I read are may need to come across again later when I'm actually writing. So if I were writing my own manifesto I would go back to those note cards and highlighted notes and use those to create of strengthen my manifesto.
ReplyDeleteWhen tying to determine which protest is the most effective I would have to also agree with Markell in saying that nonviolent is the best. Its amazing to be able to accomplish what your striving for and get it without anyone getting hurt. The civil rights protest is a good example when I think about the protest MLK kept things peaceful and was successful those who used violent action got the short end of the stick.
What usually works for me as far as utilizing a source is reading and highlighting and leaving notes in the margins. This is particularly difficult to do at times since library books don’t belong to me. So in lieu of defacing school property I would just shorthand notes (but very carefully, so as not to fall in the same pit as the lady mentioned in Booth).
ReplyDeleteWith “Choreographies of Protest” I would ask firstly what the fundamental difference was between the different types of protests. This amounts to passive non-violence vs. violence. Secondly, find which groups used each method. Find sources to further explain why some groups were even able to consider violence as an option. I would further use the text to discern the outcomes of both violent and non-violent protest and why the respective legacies are of the groups who utilized each.
Well when I was doing research papers in high school they definitely had us focusing on the note card taking method of research. I thought it was really helpful the second go around. I think as long as you stay very well organized and take notes diligently, they can really work in your favor. I’ve been thinking about writing a manifesto and if I was to do so I would think that note cards would be the best way to go. I would just make sure to have them all separated by author of each manifesto or article that I am quoting. With “Choreographies of Protest” I would just take what ever line struck out to me as being important or potentially viable for my paper, and then I would write it down on a note card as follows:
ReplyDelete(Foster 395)
“Classic theories of political protest envision the body as an agitated irrationality,
propelling individuals into the chaos of mob performance.”
I always put my sources at the top right corner which then I can find the exact article in the work cited collections I have. If I want to pull more from the same article I would just do the same thing, and then stack it on top of this one. Later when I am really writing my paper, I can go through all the notes that I have put together, and pick and choose between all of the information that I have gathered. It seems so much simpler to write a paper when you have all of your sources already at your fingertips, with all of the information that is important already selected.
I am going to be honest and say that I am probably the most unsuccessfully organized person I know when it comes to writing research papers. I know what I am looking for when I read articles and journals, but I have problems incorporating other sources into my paper itself. I usually read each source until I understand and can pinpoint where areas of importance are, then I use one of many colored pens to take notes in the margin (each color represents a specific detail or argument). I eventually transfer onto note cards, then outlines, but it does not usually get past that step.
ReplyDeleteI am moved by forms of nonviolent protest. I feel as though, by not making a scene, bigger and better outcomes are the result of such good doings. I like the things that were said around page 399 of Foster. I could use that for my manifesto for sure.