Description
Matters-Materials-Masculinities Research Dossier Proposal
The proposal is the first step. In a one-page proposal using the template I’ve provided, outline and identify the dossier project you wish to undertake. The idea: develop a general area of concern, ask basic questions about the area of concern, and generate more focused and specific account of what you wish to do.
The feedback you get from me (Neil) can support adjustments and modifications you make going forward to complete the dossier.
A few things to consider:
- Don’t confine yourself to topics or issues specific to the first 6 weeks. Look at the whole course, or consider matters of concern not addressed in our lessons or the readings. Select a project that interests and connects to you.
- Avoid duplicating or mimicking the case studies and analyses we’ve undertaken in our lessons. This won’t fly. You can and should mobilize the ideas and concepts and approaches we’ve developed, and you can consider how issues from the lessons show up in other places, but be sure to translate, extrapolate, and synthesize the things you want to use an employ.
- Avoid working on an issue that, while socially important and relevant, doesn’t shine a light on questions of diverse masculinities. In other words, monitor scope and make sure the project connects to the class.
Include a bibliography of at least 6 scholarly academic sources total: 4 texts (essays, journal articles, books, chapters from edited collections) that are credible academic secondary sources plus 2 texts from the course readings. This is the bare minimum. Use the WLU Library and the Omni search engine to search for books, journals, and essays; this is your go-to resource.
You can add texts from magazines, news sources, and online sources in order to offer and create more context as the project continues Check out this tutorial on searching the library database for articles on a topic: http://library.wlu.ca/help/tutorials/finding-articles-topic.
[What counts as a credible academic source? Answer: any scholarly book, any chapter from an edited collection, or any essay or article from an academic journal found via the WLU Library system. News pieces and popular public commentary (about the topic, idea, or event) can be included for context and for generalizations, but they do not count as a credible source of academic research that is current and subject to academic consensus.]
Last: use proper and consistent citations for your bibliographic references using any style of your choice. Check out this WLU Library tutorial on how to cite and this reference for common citation questions from The Owl at Purdue University.
