DWRL Lesson Plans - Structure and Form

First Day Introduction to Rhetoric Prezi

Sloan — Sun, 05 Apr 2015 23:44:32 +0000

Image Credit:

Casey Sloan

Brief Assignment Overview:

First Day Introduction to Rhetoric Prezi

This Prezi presentation is designed to introduce students to basic rhetorical concepts on the first day of class. I used this Prezi in an RHE 309k course The Rhetoric of Superheroes, but it can be adapted to work for any introduction to rhetoric class. By analyzing two character speeches in Christopher Nolan's 2008 movie The Dark Knight, students will learn about audience, style, and evidence while developing a working definitin of rhetoric. The presentation includes several writing and group discussion prompts along with the basic lecture content.

Type of Assignment:

Class Discussion

In-class Exercise

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Close Reading

Performance

Structure and Form

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Multimedia

Presentations

Video

Media Requirements:

Media Console/Projector

Required Materials:

Media console/ projector, Prezi

Timeline for Optimal Use:

First Day/Week

Full Assignment Description:

Walking through this presentation with students should take up a full class session. I have included some relevant notes/ writing prompts for each slide below

First Day Introduction to Rhetoric Prezi

Slide 1: Before showing the video, make sure all of your students know the basic plot of Nolan's movie. Summarize and give context if necessary. (A thorough understanding of the film is not required for a reading of the speeches). Play Alfred's speech for students through once. Ask them to take detailed notes during a second playthrough, paying close attention to Alfred's argument. What is Alfred trying to get Bruce to do/feel/believe/think? How is he making his argument? What are his argumentative tactics? Play the video a second time and give students a few minutes to write a paragraph defining Alfred's argument and detailing how his argument is made.

Slide 2: This slide includes a few important points about Alfred's rhetorical strategies. Use this moment to discuss the importance of audience (Alfred's relatinship with Bruce impacts the way the two communicate). You can also talk about Alfred's use of the anecdote as evidence and his appeal to Bruce's (and the viewing audience's) emotions.

Slide 3: Alfred's argumentative strategies can lead into a discussion about the definition of rhetoric. Before showing this slide, ask students to write down their current definition of rhetoric. Have volunteers share their ideas and discuss. This slide shows my current understanding of rhetoric and presents two discussion questions on crucial aspects of the concept (communication as an "art" with intentional stylistic choices and the ethical dimensions of communication/ argumentation).

Slide 4: I used this slide to spell out the major goals of my course. If you download the Prezi, you can insert your own class objectives.

Slide 5: Another speech from Nolan's movie. Repeat writing prompts from Slide 1

Slide 6: Student introductions

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Download the Prezi and insert your own course goals on slide 4. View the videos and take your own notes on how each rhetor constructs his argument.

Instructions For Students:

Before the presentation, ask students to take out pen and paper for the writing prompts throughout the Prezi.

Course Type:

Intermediate Writing Course

Course Description:

RHE 309K is a rhetoric course at the University of Texas at Austin that focuses on reserach and writing skills, rhetorical analysis and the study of persuasion. My particular course teaches rhetorical concepts through superhero fictions and culture.

Tags:

Introductory Exercise

Prezi

Multimedia Presentation

Multimedia

Exercises in Style

Boruszak — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 22:10:54 +0000

Author:

Jeffrey Boruszak

Image Credit:

Claude Strassart-Springer, from the book "Alphabet" by Raymond Queneau (image from Wikimedia Commons)

Brief Assignment Overview:

Teach revisions and the infinite possibilities of rewriting the same paragraph with this exercise, adopted from Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style.

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Multimedia

Remix

Media Requirements:

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

This assignment is meant to be a fun activity that allows students to exercise their creative muscles, while simultaneously demonstrating the possibilities of revising style for different audiences. The lesson plan in adopted from Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style (first published in English 1958). In this book, Queneau writes a single (2 page) short story, in which a narrator sees an argument on a bus, and then later recognizes one of the men on the street due to his strange hat. Queaneu then rewrites the story 99 different ways--for example, he rewrites the book as a sonnet, in slang, using exclamation points in every sentence, and even grouping words by the number of letters they contain.

I use this assignment immediately after students submit the first draft of their second essay, giving students the opportunity to either complete it in class, or work on it for credit over the next week. Students select what they believe to be their weakest paragraph from the essay they just submitted. How they evaluate the term "weakest" is up to them--all I ask is that it is a paragraph that they would genuinely like to rework and to which they would like to pay closer attention. After having students answer questions about why they would like to revise that paragraph, I turn them loose on revisions. Typically I provide a copy of Exercises in Style for reference, but some sample exercises I suggest are:

Translate the paragraph to another language, and then back to English (either on your own or through Google Translate)
Rewrite the paragraph as a tweet with 140 character limit (include mentions and hashtags if possible)
Create lists of parts of speech, and place each word under the correct category
Record yourself reading the paragraph outloud, and set it to music or remix it
Rewrite the paragraph as an internet meme

After rewriting the paragraph five times, students are asked to respond to a few questions reflecting on the process, before revising the paragraph for the next draft. The reflective questions ask them to consider their own writing voices and styles. The assignment is graded as complete/incomplete--students that actively participate in the assignment and satisfactorily meet the requirements get credit for attending class, those that do not meet the requirements are marked absent for the day.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

I suggest skimming Exercises in Style in order to familiarize yourself with some potential options with students. PDFs of the first few story permutations are easily found through Google, and most University libraries should have a copy (the most recent edition is published by New Directions, and translated by Barbara Wright). Creating your own list of suggested processes is useful as well--students might be paralyzed by the "anything goes" aspect of the assignment, and creating a list of suggestions helps them get started.

Instructions For Students:

Reflect carefully on the essay that you just submitted, and choose the paragraph that you believe was the weakest in the essay. In a few sentences, describe the specific reasons you felt this paragraph needed improvement. Did it not have enough quotes? Too many quotes? Was it too long or short? Did it feel repetitive? Out of place in the essay? Did you just plain run out of time to revise it?

Experiment with your paragraph by rewriting it five times in entirely different styles. You might choose a model for your style (a favorite book, movie, song, etc.). Rewrite it as a poem. As a speech. Or you might choose a constraint a la Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style. This is your chance to be creative and stretch your wings. The sky is the limit on this assignment.

Once you have rewritten the paragraph in five different ways, reread them all. Which was your favorite, and why? Was it just the style that made the paragraph your favorite? Or did you substantively change your paragraph's content as well? Now, answer the hardest question of all: Why don't you always write in this style? Is it the demands of the formal academic context? Or had you just not considered it at all? Do you think this style can be assimilated to your own voice when writing papers?

Now that you've had a little fun, and really atomized how the paragraph is put together, revise it in a way that you would like it to appear in your revised. And remember: sometimes the only way to improve a draft is by playing around and experimenting with it.

In order to be considered complete, the following must be submitted in a single document:

The original paragraph from your essay
A reflection on why or how it needs improvement (minimum 1 paragraph)
FIVE rewrites, with an indication of the rewrite's style
A reflection on the experiment process, answering the questions in the third paragraph of the assignment instructions
A fully revised paragraph for the next essay

If you rewrite a paragraph in a non-text format, include links to the material, or email it to me separately.

Evaluation Suggestions:

The key to this assignment is effort, so I suggest a simple complete/incomplete grading rubric. Numerical or letter grades might discourage students' creativity or invention--the use of which are not always highlighted in introductory composition classrooms, but which are critical for high levels of writing.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

This was an especially successful assignment in my class. Students responded positively, and they especially enjoyed the ability to follow their own interests. Some asked me about whether or not they could use curse words--I encouraged it as long as it was relevant to the style of their rewrite. The assignment was completed by all students within a 75 minute class period (with computers available in the room).

Additional Resources:

The Wikipedia article on Exercises in Style, which includes a list of all styles used in the book.

Course Type:

Advanced Writing Course

Intermediate Writing Course

Introductory Writing Course

Tags:

Building Word Clouds to Generate Search Terms

Boruszak — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 18:00:04 +0000

Author:

Jeffrey Boruszak

Image Credit:

Brief Assignment Overview:

Help your students get an overview of their topic and a leg up on their research by creating word cloud visualizations of their topics.

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Structure and Form

Textual Analysis

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pre-Writing

Research

Writing Process

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Open Access Software

Visualization

Media Requirements:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Early in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

This assignment is meant to help students get an overview of their chosen research topic early in the semester by using VOYANT, a suite of word visualization tools available for free online. To use Voyant, users first create a "corpus," or a body of text documents, and upload them to the Voyant website. From there, users can use a host of visualization tools to perform "distant reading" on their texts. The most commonly used tool is Cirrus, a word cloud generator that creates an image from the most commonly used words in the corpus. With Cirrus, users can see at a glance what topics are discussed in a given body of text. Voyant can also perform functions such as: grouping distinctive words in texts together, allowing users to see not just how often words are used, but which words are commonly used in conjunction with one another; displaying words in context, so that users can easily see the words that immediately precede and follow a given term; and word trending functions showing the relative frequency of words between individual documents in a corpus.

There are many possibilities for this using this tool in class, and I developed this exercise for introductory or intermediate writing students to use Voyant to being their research. The goals for this exercise are:

Give students time to use databases and practice fundamental search skills
Force students to build a bibliography of potential sources early in the semester, giving them a body of text to come back to and examine more closely
Generate keywords that will facilitate research further down the road
Find ways to develop their research topics by seeing what their intitial searches yield.

After introducing students to a few databases (Lexis Nexis will be one of the better options for this exercise), students must build a small corpus of documents that are relative to their topic (they will have to read titles or opening paragraphs to see if they are relevant or duplicate texts). After uploading them to Voyant, they will "read" their topic from a distance, answering questions that will assist them in developing their understanding of their Voyant results.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Familiarize yourself with Voyant (http://voyant-tools.org/) and its documentation (http://docs.voyant-tools.org/). The easiest way to figure out how the program works is by uploading any sort of sample corpus, and playing with the different tools to see what they do. You may also want to run through the assignment yourself to see if you have any trouble yourself (I built and uploaded a corpus in under 10 minutes to practice. Students will take longer).

Instructions For Students:

Step One: Build a Corpus

On your desktop, create a folder names "corpus".

Then choose a database and conduct a search on your topic. In order to build a usable corpus, you will want to find articles that are at least 500 words long (Lexis Nexis allows searching with word length minimums, so it will be a good place to start). You will have to vet your search results by reading both the title of the article and the first few sentences to make sure that they are relevant to your topic, and not duplicates of other articles in your corpus.

Your goal is to build a corpus of 20 documents. When you have found an article you feel would be useful, copy the text of the document and paste it into Notepad (Windows) or Microsoft Word (Mac). Save the document, giving it the name "01". Make sure you are saving the document as plain text (.txt) for the file type/format. Set the save location as the corpus folder on your desktop.

In a separate text document, copy and paste the URL of the article. This will not be used for this assignment, so you should not save it to the corpus folder. HOWEVER, you should use the compilation of URLs you are saving for further research later in the semester--at the end of this assignment you will have 20 articles you could go back to and read more closely.

Repeat this process for all 20 documents, making sure to name them "02," "03," and "04," through to "10," "11," "12," etc. When your corpus folder has the twenty .txt documents in it, you can move on to the next step.

Step Two: Upload Your Corpus

Right-click your corpus folder. Click "compress" (for mac) or "add to archive" (for windows) and create a zip file of your corpus. Then, go to the Voyant website (http://voyant-tools.org/). Click "Upload," then "Add," and the choose corpus.zip from your desktop.

Step Three: Using Voyant

The first thing you should do is find the permanent URL to your corpus. On the blue bar at the top of the page, click the save button next to the question mark. This will bring up and export menu. Select the first option (Export a URL for this tool and current data). Copy the URL and paste it into your address bar.

Your initial results will probably not look interesting. It will says that "a" "the" and "and" are the most common words in your corpus. We have to apply a "stoplist" to limit these common words from the results. At the end of your URL, add the following text:

&stopList=stop.en.taporware.txt

Reload the page, and your corpus should now visualize correctly. Spend some time exploring your corpus. In particular, examine the word cloud in the top left. Also look under the "Summary" section on the left side. Scroll down and look at the lists of distinctive words.

Step Four: Questions

Post answers to the following in a discussion forum on Canvas.

Looking at your word cloud:

What are the most common words in your articles?

Are there words you would exclude from future searches?

Are there any unique words?

Looking at "distinctive words," can you give a name to any groups of distinctive words?

In general, do you see any ways to narrow down your topic?

Step Five: Final Actions

Send yourself an email, attaching your document of URLs, and the URL for your Voyant corpus, so that you can come back to it later if necessary.

Evaluation Suggestions:

Strict evaluation is not necessary. This is meant to be a learning exercise for students. Some will get through all of their questions, while others will only have just built their corpus. Depending on the importantce of keyword/search term generation, you may extend the assignment as homework if necessary.

Additional Resources:

Here are some sample corpuses on a marijuana controversy that I have generated as examples:

Course Type:

Intermediate Writing Course

Introductory Writing Course

Course Description:

This exercise was developed for RHE 306, an introductory writing course. It is widely adaptable by topic.

Marijuana: http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=1410382682324.2790

Medical Marijuana: http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=1410978877246.3264

Marijuana and Prison:http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=1410385103512.2888

Marijuana and Crime: http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=1410979831998.5390

Marijuana and Economy: http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=1410981347420.6694

Marijuana and Children: http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=1410982616185.1247

All Corpuses: http://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=1410985448118.6117

Annotation and Analysis with Genius.com (Formerly Rapgenius)

Emily Lederman — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 22:02:18 +0000

Author:

Emily Lederman

Image Credit:

Genius.com

Brief Assignment Overview:

This lesson plan builds on Andrew Uzendoski's lesson on teaching close reading using Rap Genius (now called Genius), focusing on teaching students the process of annotation, as well as how to articulate the building blocks of their close reading practice. Students receive feedback from the instructor on a close reading assignment in the form of annotations. They work both individually and in groups to close read and then annotate excerpts from a text using the interactive online knowledge project, Genius.com.

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Homework Assignment

Assignment Length:

One-Two Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Rhetorical Analysis

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Close Reading

Historical Context

Literary Criticism

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Poetry

Structure and Form

Textual Analysis

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Annotation

Writing Process

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Software

Visualization

Media Requirements:

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Required Materials:

-Computer for each students

-Projector to present

-Texts

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Early in the Semester

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Prior to the Genius lesson, I assigned students a close reading activity for homework. They had produced one-paragraph close readings from selected short lines of poetry--their first fully independent close reading work. They were asked to make an argument about the meaning and importance of the lines that included both the how and why of literary analysis. In other words, students needed to identify something they found important about word choice, structure, etc. (this was the what) and then explain how they knew this was true (finding evidence), and finally articulate why the author made this choice. (These pieces of writing were used as building blocks for full close reading--skills we had been working on in class; I had previously given them several examples of complete analytical thoughts). I then annotated their written paragraphs to identify the "hows" and "whys" or to point out the missing evidence and explanation. We went over several examples using the projector. As we discussed my comments and ways to improve their close readings, I introduced the term "annotation" and we talked about how annotating can be used to improve their reading comprehension. This mini-lesson was useful in making sure that students both understood my feedback and began to learn the skills of active reading.

At the end of this class I had students make accounts with Genius, read their introductory page, and explore the website. Genius allows students to see a public community of annotators at work and in conversation, as well as understand how the annotations can enhance meaning. I was glad that the text we were reading, Junot Diaz's Drown, was not up on the site and annotated, as I wanted my students to engage their own critical thinking skills before they read other people's criticism.

During the next class I assigned students to five small groups (4-5 students) and asked each student to login to Genius. Each group had a different short excerpt (1-2 paragraphs) from the previous night's reading to annotate. Students were asked to look up words in the OED or by using other resources (as they were often looking up Spanish and Dominican slang) and explain these, as well as provide succinct close reading paragraphs that made an argument about the meaning and importance of certain words, phrases, sentences (building on the previous assignment). They began by doing the work individually, but enjoyed seeing one another's comments appear on the page, and I encouraged them to engage in conversation as they annotated, as well as afterward.

The groups presented their annotations to the class. Each group member was required to present at least one annotation. As a class, we discussed methods for strengthening each of the close readings and I explained how these paragraphs might be incorporated into their upcoming papers on the text. Because of the genius of Genius, students were able to comment on or revise one another's annotations. They are also aware that their work exists in the public sphere and may be edited by any member.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

-Introduce the building blocks or steps of close reading over the course of several classes

-Grade a close reading assignment using annotations that identify different aspects of the student's close reading (evidence and explanation, or "hows and whys")

-Prepare several examples of this completed assignment to show to the class (ask students for permission if projecting their work)

-Prepare students for the activity in a previous class by having them join Genius, read the introductory material, and explore the website

-Upload 5-6 excerpts from the next reading assignment to Genius (feel free to contact Jeremy Dean, Education Czar and alum, for help or advice: jeremy@genius.com)

-Split the class into groups

Instructions For Students:

HW Assignment (close reading building blocks--I provide an example of each of the following steps. I also provide them with a packet on close reading that we review as a class prior to this assignment):

1. Choose 2 lines from "Howl." Follow the steps below to produce a well-supported argument about the meaning of these lines.

2. Paraphrase. First you will need to make sure that you understand all the words in these lines (use the OED). Next, state what is said and/or what happens in your own words.

3. Make a list of observations about these lines. What's important? Refer only to details from these two lines. This will be your evidence.

4. Analyze. Now you need to consider the meaning of these observations. In at least two seperate complete sentences, describe how and why two of the above observations/details contribute to the meaning of this selection.

5. Argue. Produce a one-paragraph argument about the meaning of this selection. Each of your explanatory claims must be supported by evidence from these two lines.

Genius Group Activity

-Read over my feedback on your close reading hw assignment

-Find your assigned excerpt in Drown and reread this section to familiarize yourself

-Sign-in to Genius.com and search for the excerpt

-Begin by looking up any words you do not immediately understand, using the OED or other databases

-Next, annonate these words, explaining their meaning and situating them within the passage

-To Annotate: highlight the selection and click the "annotate" button that pops up, then enter your text into the textbox. Note: if someone has already annoated this selection, you may add your own text by highlighting the selection from right to left.

-Now, begin to close read the passage, adding annotations that provide context or further explanation

-Finally, choose a phrase or sentence that you find integral to the excerpt's meaning. Using the close reading steps, produce a one paragraph annotation of this material

-Discuss your annotations as a group and prepare to report back to the rest of the class

Evaluation Suggestions:

I did not grade this assignment (except as a contributing factor to students' participation grades) but students will soon submit a short paper on the text that will showcase their active reading and close reading skills--skills that hopefully further developed through their use of Genius. We did evaluate almost every annotation as a class, considering ways to improve students' articulations.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

Students seemed excited about this assignment and were generally very positive about the results of their work. Several of them told me they loved using Genius (and most were learning about it for the first time). Next time, I think I would annotate an excerpt as an entire class (to go over process and discuss best practices) and maybe spend more time introducing the website rather than letting students explore individually, as it took a while for some students to start their annotations. I would also prefer smaller groups and more excerpts, so that each student had the opportunity to provide a substantial close reading, rather than one or two students from each group dominating the annotating!

Course Type:

Literary Studies Course

Course Description:

The banning of books continues today in the United States, speaking both to the fear of certain ideas and the power of the written word. In this course, students will read banned novels, short stories, and poems across cultural and temporal contexts, pursuing the following questions: What causes a text to be labeled “indecent” or “dangerous”? How is literature connected to political and social movements? How do these texts contribute to our understanding of what constitutes American literature?

The primary aim of this course is to help you develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines. You will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities. You will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind.

Tags:

Using Juxta to Compare Editions

nhgray — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:47:08 +0000

Author:

Nicole Gray

Image Credit:

Image by Seth Sawyers on sidewalk flying (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidewalk_flying/5124506505/).

Brief Assignment Overview:

This lesson plan prompts students to use Juxta (collation software) to compare different witnesses or instances of a text. Students compare multiple versions of a literary work, locating revisions in order to discuss word choice and textual instabilities. Most useful for literary works with full-text editions available online.

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Assignment Length:

Single Class Period

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Creative Commons

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

This assignment is intended to get students thinking about revision, or how changes to literary texts get incorporated into different editions over time.

Media Requirements:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Required Materials:

Technology based classroom

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Late in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Juxta is open source collation software developed by NINES (based at UVA) that allows the user to compare multiple versions of a text. There are several visualization options that can assist in the process, including a parallel display, which sets two or more witnesses next to each other and tracks the changes between them, and a histogram of edits over the course of the entire document.

Edits made to literary texts by authors can be interesting in a number of different contexts, demonstrating evolution of the text and the author’s (and publisher’s) ideas and constructions over time. It’s particularly interesting for the Banned Books course to think about whether some such edits might be responses to conditions of censorship and protest that affect particular works. But this is also an exercise that encourages close reading, particularly when applied to a piece of poetry that goes through multiple revisions, because changes at single-word and punctuation level can prompt discussions of the meaning of, for instance, dashes versus ellipses, the role of publishers and printers in the revision process, and so forth.

In preparation for a close reading assignment on Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” I considered having students use Juxta to compare two sections of the poem from different editions. Whitman published several editions of Leaves of Grass over the course of the nineteenth century, and the poem changed drastically from the first (1855) to the final (1891-2) edition.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

It might be useful, if doing this in class, to select a passage in advance that has substantive or interesting revisions likely to prompt good discussion.

A bit of experimentation with Juxta also is in order. Juxta Commons I think is in testing phase, and should be rolled out soon – this version would be easier, because it doesn’t require download. Students will need to create accounts and copy and paste the text of the documents they are comparing into the "Sources" box. These documents can then be made into "Witnesses," and then compared as a "Comparison Set." The Comparison Set can be shared or not, as the user desires.

Until Juxta Commons is available, students can download Juxta as a standalone desktop application at www.juxtasoftware.org, so if this is the route you take, it might be worth making sure the software can be downloaded on local machines.

Instructions For Students:

Go to www.juxtasoftware.org.
Select “Download” on the left, and select the appropriate operating system.
Find two versions of your assigned text online to compare, and copy and paste or type them into two separate plain text documents (NOTE: don’t use Word for this – any plain text editor like NoteTab will do.)
Save each version in a separate document with a unique name (for instance, Song_of_Myself_1855_Section_7).
In Juxta, select “Add Document” (the +) from the shortcut menu, and add both documents to the list.
Select one of the documents, and then in the screen at the right, select “Comparison View.” This should show you both documents side by side, with the differences highlighted. You can see the highlights in each document individually in “Collation View.”
You can see a visualization of the changes in the document over time in the “Histogram.”
Write down a few sentences describing what you have found. What kinds of changes can you identify between these two editions? Select one or two changes that seem most significant to you. What is the effect of these changes on the poem?
Be prepared to discuss your answers.

Evaluation Suggestions:

Instructors can assess this activity in a few ways: by calling on individual students to provide and explain their responses, by having students incorporate comparisons into their papers, or by making this a more formal written assignment that can be collected.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

I didn’t try this with Juxta yet, but I did have my students do a collation by hand across three versions – manuscript, periodical, and Leaves of Grass – of Whitman’s “The Dalliance of the Eagles,” one of the poems challenged by officials in the late nineteenth century. It worked surprisingly well. They were excited to find differences, and interested to talk about what they might mean. In the case of “Dalliance,” the manuscript version is very different from the Leaves of Grass version, while the periodical version only has a few small changes, so it was useful to consider the importance of word and punctuation choice and the different scales of revision. It seems like Juxta-based comparisons of different versions of “Song of Myself” or any other text with multiple variants could open up a way to talk about revision, textual instability, punctuation-level edits, and outside influences (printer, publisher, censor, &c), and Juxta’s clear indication of differences and multiple-panel displays would have been handy to put up on the screen.

Course Type:

Literary Studies Course

Course Description:

This section of Banned Books introduces students to literary analysis and takes a look at books that have been challenged, edited, or banned over the past two centuries in the U.S.

Tags: