The concise version of the assignment:
- What: a blog post, or multiple blog posts, of approximately 1200 words in total (but excluding notes and bibliography from that word count) on a topic or theme connected to the material culture of China, with illustrations that are correctly credited
- Add a bibliography and notes (but exclude them from your word count). See Details for more info on how to do notes.
- If writing multiple shorter posts, please make sure they are linked: e.g. create a “front page” post, or a “table of contents” at the top of the first post, and link to the logical next post at the end of each and to the previous post at the beginning of the post, so the reader can find them all easily.
- How: Submit a link to your blog post (or starting post, if multiple posts) in the Canvas assignment. That word count excludes footnotes and other references (e.g. captions to images).
- When: Thu April 20, 11.59PM
- Yes, extensions beyond Wednesday are possible but consider the turn-around time to give you meaningful feedback. This is team-work so please don’t push things too far out.
- Why?: Writing is rewriting: everything you see published has gone through multiple rounds of writing and revisions (with the exception of this website, and frankly speaking, it shows!). Why should your writing be different? Treat your work like professional writers do, and end up with a professional-looking product you can be proud of!
Further Details:
- Include references in Chicago Style (notes and bibliography)
- Use the Easy Footnotes plugin. It will sort out the Chicago style note numbers for your. They go up and up, and can go quite high.
- Top tip: if the source in note 12 is the same as in note 11, you can use an abbreviated note: Surname author, Short Title, xx. xx indicates the page(s) where that information can be found, and you should add that page number for every note. E.g.: Johnson, 13.
- Top tip: put a full stop at the end of the footnote. That makes it look finished. It’s in the details!
- Top tip: look in footnotes and bibliographies of history books using this style how they do it.
- List the items you consulted in the bibliography alphabetically by surname of the author in Chicago Bibliography style. e.g. Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City: Publisher, 2015.
- Find more information on the Chicago bibliography style in the library reference guides.
- Your Zotero app will help you with the formatting: remember to select Output Mode: Footnote or Bibliography as appropriate, because they differ.
- In your draft, indicate where you want to make further changes, or need some assistance, or maybe are still trying to find as a source.
- Post as a blog post on your site. You may update your earlier draft post, if you want.
- Use the title (or change to): “Full draft:” and add a working title
- Still looking for good sources for illustrations? Look through the list provided on the Final Project overview page, or try your luck on the Trexler webpage with Art in the Public Domain.
- Make sure to provide correct attributions (credit/ source reference) for the images you use, just like you provide notes for the text you create based on other scholars’ work. This is not only to comply with the AIC, but also to make sure that artists, curators and collectors are correctly credited for their work, and to help the reader find the materials easily. E.g. “[title of work], held by [name of museum]”, and add a hyperlink to the museum or the work in the online catalog if possible and “Bob’s your uncle” as they say in Britain.
Once again, here’s the link to the Canvas assignment
Fellow students and I will read through your draft to help you make it a strong project: structure, words, links, technical issues are all things we can look at. The closer you bring your project to the vision you have in mind, the better we can help you and the more specific our feedback can be. We’re here to help you make that project SHINE!!
