Archives for the Month of November 2007 on Sarah Garriott's Online Journal
Why Writing is Major for Your Major
Writing is an integral part of our lives here at Case, creating the environment that we live in, preserving the history of our surroundings, and helping to project the future of the city. More importantly, however, writing helps to define us as individuals, allowing us to express our ideas and engage in a dialogue with others. This is especially important as we move forward and declare a major area of study. As classes become smaller and topics more complex, the expectations placed on our writing will consequently become more intense and focused. Chemistry students will need to write up lab reports, while English majors will turn their efforts towards in-depth literary analysis. While these majors seem to have fairly identifiable writing components, I found myself wondering how writing is incorporated into another major, with less obvious writing roles: political science. Seeking information, I did what any other freshman with a question would do: I went straight to my R.A., Allison Lansell. Allison is pre-law, triple majoring in political science, psychology, and sociology. While I chose to focus the discussion on political science, these three subjects all focus on communication and interactions with people, and thus, I learned, are integrally tied to writing.
For her political science classes, Allison must do writing assignments which ask her to demonstrate her comprehension of the subject, while also helping her to practice writing tasks that she might encounter as a professional in the field. She said that her writing usually expands on the class reading, requiring her to question and apply theories, and think about the topic in-depth. Research assignments also require her to carefully hunt through other people’s writing, gleaning useful information that she may reorganize and contextualize to support her stance on a topic. For certain classes, she also writes “memos.” Memo format consists of a concise, one to two page paper in which the writer conveys as much relevant information as possible on the topic, editing out any “extra stuff.” Allison stressed that when writing memos, it is important that the information be conveyed accurately. When information is taken out of its original context, the author must present it in a way so that it retains the same meaning. Thus, certain principles emerged as central to successful writing within the major: the ability to read and summarize others’ ideas, the ability to recognize and provide context for those ideas, and the ability to write concisely and accurately.
But why are these writing skills relevant for political science students? As my discussion with Allison continued, I learned that the writing that Allison has done at Case has helped to prepare her for a summer internship with the Federal Trade Commission, which required her to use the same writing techniques. Often, she would be asked to find information on a topic and synthesize it into a brief report to be used for presentations later that day. Thus, the ability to effectively summarize various studies played a critical role in her ability to do this. Allison also spent time in the advertising department dealing with written claims, scouring the web for examples of false advertising (which is not only misleading for readers, but can also have very serious legal implications.) In addition, she also spent time looking for adults misrepresenting themselves in order to gain access to children’s chatrooms. As she looked for traces of their writing, her computer meanwhile tracked her moves through its own virtual written record. As she is looking to pursue a career in law, Allison knows the importance of being held accountable for one’s writing.
Allison’s experiences demonstrate that writing plays a central role in the study of political science, providing a forum in which to exchange and examine ideas. It allows information to be passed from one person to another without requiring a personal interview or conversation. Additionally, briefs and “memos” allow ideas to be shared around one’s own schedule, and referenced as needed. Writing also serves an important role in maintaining records of actions that have occurred in the past, providing important documentation. The subtle implications of writing are brought to light, as scholars search for meaning and truth in documents. The political science department states on their website that their mission is, “to provide information about and analysis of the political world… craft theory and gather data to understand policy choices and political conflicts.” Provide information… craft theory… gather data… understand choices… all goals that are effectively accomplished in communication through writing.
*Learn more about Political Science at Case Western Reserve Unviersity through written statements on their website (and think how writing is necessary to successfully achieve their departmental goals) :
http://www.case.edu/artsci/posc/
**Another kind of writing in that one might encounter in the political realm: the political cartoon. Although not as formal as the memos written by poli sci majors, this form of writing uses satire to comment on the political state of affairs (thus contributing to the discourse)
(image courtesy of http://www.louisiana101.com/ideas_regan_political-cartoons.jpg)
Archiving: Writing to Preserve Writing
Have you ever wondered where you could find gardening tips from the 1490s? Or where you might learn how people pruned roses in the 1800s? Odds are, you probably have not, unless you happen to be a fanatic gardener. Nevertheless, this information may be found at the Eleanor Squire Library. This library, housed by the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, is a special library containing over 17,000 volumes of written information regarding horticulture. (http://www.cbgarden.org/Learn/Library.html) With such an extensive collection on this topic, one might wonder how the books are organized and kept track of. This is where the resident librarian, Mr. Gary Esmonde, steps in. Along with the support of the Botanical Garden staff, Mr. Esmonde manages the collection. He has also been working to update the archive, deciding what to preserve and why, while simultaneously “weeding out” unnecessary materials. How does he accomplish this task? Writing plays a critical role in the process. Writing preserves the meaning of the works by making them “accessible” both literally and metaphorically, helping to secure their places in the historical and educational realms.
In order to understand how people archive, it is important to examine why people archive. Archiving serves two main purposes: to provide a historical record of events related to a specific topic or institution, and to create a store of information to be used for research and educational purposes. The Cleveland Orchestra, for example, keeps track of agendas from past meetings, financial records, and other institutional documents that might need to be privately referenced (according to a special presentation given on Monday for some of the SAGES students). Similarly, the Cleveland Botanical Gardens has decided to create an archive which would include documents regarding the founding of their institution. Archiving provides a collective written history which may be learned from, allowing past actions to be examined and to influence future decision-making.
In a more general sense, archiving also extends the life of past writings, by making these writings available for future audiences to view. According to Graff and Birkenstein in They Say/I Say, all writing is part of an ongoing conversation. Without an audience to read a piece of writing, however, the author is carrying on a conversation with himself. After all, in order for a piece of writing to be read, it must be located. Archivists help to ensure that written works are not forgotten by labeling and storing them so that they may be located by interested readers. Thus, archiving is essential in helping to maintain the meaning of a work, allowing it to be accessed and evaluated for years to come.
Perhaps the importance of archiving can best be seen by examining what happens when writing is mismanaged. Without carefully labeled and maintained records of collections, artifacts may be lost or impossible to find. In other cases, without the proper paperwork, the caretaker may not know what the collections contain. When artifacts are stored in boxes, no one can view them, and thus they lose their value as a teaching tool for others. One example of this occurred at the Botanical Gardens, when workers sorting through boxes came across a series of pictures of Victorian rose gardens. According to Mr. Edmonde, although one professor at Case inquired about these pictures, they cannot be used for public display without first being properly classified and accounted for. Art and composition are meant to enlighten an audience, but a cardboard box is not a good audience!
Consequently, writing is essential in maintaining an effective archive. One of the most obvious ways that it is used is to create labels for archived materials. The archivist at the Botanical Gardens mentioned that he must create “signage” that instructs browsers as to the books that may be found on each shelf, as well as stickers for individual boxes housing old magazines. Furthermore, the Eleanor Squire Library utilizes the Library of Congress system to categorize books, based on the topic of the work. Converting from the old cataloguing system to this one has required a great deal of writing, as the books must be individually re-labeled and accounted for within the database. (This project is a lengthy one, and has been taking place since December 2003!) These labels are examples of writing that helps to distinguish between materials as one physically navigates the collection.
Writing is also used to create ways for one to navigate the collection on paper. A “pathfinder,” for example, explains the organization of the materials in writing. It serves as a sort of map to the archives, allowing one to identify the location of the specific book that they are looking for, without having to blindly hunt it down. Additionally, online databases including a written description of each book’s title, author, and subject, providing assistance as individuals attempt to search for these works. At the Botanical Gardens, Mr. Edmonde also stated that databases connecting libraries through writing are “great resources,” which make written works more accessible to a larger audience. Thus, writing helps archivists to more efficiently organize and keep track of the materials in the collection, while aiding those who would read them. Written descriptions of the collections help to explain artifacts and to put them in context, presenting them in a user-friendly way to be viewed and understood by the audiences of today.
The writing done by archivists thus plays a crucial role in helping artifacts to maintain their value, while allowing them to be utilized for years to come – which is, after all, one’s hope in saving anything. Right?
Link for Kelvin Smith Library's collections: an online database serving as a virtual "archive" which describes the written works stored there http://library.case.edu/ksl/collections/
*Many thanks to the professionals of the surrounding University Circle Institutions for their assistance with this entry
*Pictures courtesy of:
http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/gardening-books/gardening-books.jpg and http://www.nurserysite.com/clubs/peninsular/bauer/ images/Tournament_of_Roses_JPG.jpg