Writing 50: Writing and the Research Process
Urban Legends, Conspiracy Theories and Hoaxes
Course Readings and Viewings (see course schedule)
A Special Note on Readings and Viewings for Writing 50 (2017–18)
In 2012, my UCSB colleague and co-author, Christopher Dean and I first released our textbook, Terra Incognita: Researching the Weird (Kendall-Hunt; ISBN: 978-1-4652-0057-0), for our course on contested knowledge which we had been team-teaching for some time. Little did we realize then just how much 'weirder' the world would soon become! With the growing rise of social media distribution of 'news'—combined with 2016 US general election revelations regarding so-called "fake news" and foreign manipulation of news and social media—the relevancy of our course has become more urgent than ever. By early 2017, we both agreed that our textbook demanded updating to keep pace with new and startling developments. We also sought to broaden our college classroom approach to other audiences seeking to enhance their 21st-century critical thinking skills. It was clearly time for a rewrite; where once we felt on the academic fringe, we now felt like early settlers in an expanding area of research.
A survey of urban legends, conspiracy theories and hoaxes makes for an ideal laboratory to acquire enhanced research writing skills. Writing-wise, you be more challenged than ever. Many of the topics you encounter will not have comfortable, tidy explanations with cookie-cutter answers. You will be forced to dig deeply and thoroughly into each topic's background history, for example as both 'lore' and cognitive phenomena, then offer well-researched explanations of people's beliefs and transmissions. If you want easy pat answers with lots of downloadable material to jam into a paper, this is not the course you seek! Relatedly, this course is not designed to determine whether there is really a bigfoot or alien conspiracy; rather, it is designed to help you categorize and analyze contested knowledge. What you personally decide for yourself about the topics you study should be an educated determination.
What we first published in 2012 in Terra Incognita remains relevant today; however, while Chris Dean and I construct new texts for a broader audience, you will be introduced here to readings and viewings that bridge this rebuilding period. Some of the study pieces and readings here are borrowed from Terra Incongita, while others are new. This quarter, we will look at some new research on social media, fake news, and exciting developments in cognitive science and psychology that expands what we know about thinking and believing. The goal remains the same: to instill critical thinking skills by methodically examining contested knowledge and defining a personal position to it, rather than merely falling into its warm embrace. A saying popularly attributed to Sigmund Freud (but as yet unconfirmed by scholars) states that "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." But then sometimes it's not; we must learn to think more deeply and carefully about what we are told and shown. This is the hallmark of a well-educated person.
When and How to Access Articles and Viewings
Readings and viewings should be read/viewed NLT the days indicated on our course schedule; we will discuss these in class. A user name and password are required to directly access some copyrighted materials linked on the course schedule. Other materials must be electronically accessed via the UCSB library "Articles and Data Bases" web portal. (My preferred data base is Academic Search Complete.) Collectively, these articles and viewings comprise our 'textbook.'
If you are off campus, you must use the Off-campus Login Window on the UCSB Library's home page (upper-right corner of the Library's home page) to access articles; otherwise, you may be denied access or prompted for payment. NEVER PAY TO ACCESS RESEARCH ARTICLES FOR OUR CLASS—YOU'VE ALREADY PAID FOR ACCESS WITH YOUR TUITION AND FEES! If a journal prompts you for payment, you are either improperly logged-on to the Library's off-campus server OR you may be attempting to access a journal with which the University of California has no license.
Reading and Annotating Electronic Articles in our Class
This quarter, you will utilize your own personal research file directory on UCSB Collaborative's Box to download and annotate articles. To annotate articles, you must download and use Adobe Acrobat Reader. This will permit you to highlight, make notes, and add links to any PDF articles you download from the library; you may then save them back (with your notes) to your Box directory. Download articles to the directory marked with your name.