Participants are expected not only to have done the week’s readings, but to have given ample
thought to what they have read. To facilitate this process, participants will be expected to submit
a brief (no more than 3 double-spaced typed pages in length) weekly statement weekly statement consists of two parts: 1) a concise summary
of the key points in the readings (or evaluative commentary), and 2) three or four thought provoking
discussion questions or discussion topics based on the readings.
Please keep the summary/commentary section separate from the question/topic section. If you
quote or refer to a specific statement in the reading, please provide a page number.
In the summary/commentary section, you are encouraged to critically evaluate the ideas, the
methodology, and/or the findings/data as presented in the readings and link your reflections,
when appropriate, to other course readings or material (e.g., videos). Use the last name of the
first author (adding et al. when appropriate) to identify each reading. If an asterisk (*) appears
before a reading in the syllabus, you may omit discussion of that reading in the concise summary
section of the weekly statement. Discussion questions and discussion topics can still be posed for
readings marked with an asterisk.For the question/topic section, please include questions reading(s) raised for you and issues you
would like to have aired in class discussion (or that may have been previously raised in class
discussion but you would like to see revisited in class). Please limit this section to three or four
questions/issues in total.
Post commentaries as a PDF in the forum on the class website under the appropriate week
before each class session. Please provide a unique file name for
each commentary using your last name and the week number or date (e.g., “Smith_Week 2”).
The first assignment you post will be for the week 2 discussion.