Afro-American Studies Majors Research Skills

All majors in Afro-American Studies are expected to be capable of doing research in three major areas—literature, history, and social science—as well as to bring those and other methodologies together in interdisciplinary efforts.  By the time they graduate, all majors should understand how scholars of Afro-American Studies conduct research and how they communicate the results of their work to colleagues. One way of describing this understanding is “information literacy” – i.e. the ability to conceptualize what information is needed combined with the skills necessary to locate, evaluate, and effectively and ethically use this information.

Writing Intensive Classes

Before entering upon work in their major, students should take at least one writing intensive class. Students who have taken writing intensive classes should have learned the following skills:

• To define and articulate the need for information and identify a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information beyond the web search engine [AT THE VERY LEAST – students will be able to identify and locate the two most appropriate types of information needed to complete their assignment.]
• To articulate and apply initial criteria for evaluating both the information and its sources [AT THE VERY LEAST – students will be able to distinguish between popular and scholarly materials in a variety of formats such as books, periodical literature, and websites.]
• To acknowledge and cite the sources used in conducting research for an assignment using an acceptable style guide [AT THE VERY LEAST – students will be able to locate the appropriate style guide and emergency online help.]

These skills may be regarded by all students as a base for further study. Help is available through the Neilson Library Reference Department's Ask a Librarian options.

Any student contemplating Afro-American Studies as a major is encouraged to take one of two writing intensive courses offered by faculty in the department, either FYS 124: African-American Folk Culture or FYS 148: Black Culture and Identity in Motion: African-American Migration Narratives.

Beginning Afro-American Studies Majors

Two of the four required courses for the major are introductory, and both provide a chance to learn particular research skills. In AAS 111: Introduction to Black Culture, students will:

• Focus on major debates, aesthetics and turning points in black culture
• Learn to recognize interdisciplinary approaches to scholarship
• Begin to acquire the skill of textual close reading (of written, visual and sound texts)
• Complete an annotated bibliography assignment

In AAS 117: The History of Afro-American People to 1954, students will learn to:

• Analyze primary documents
• Differentiate between primary and secondary historical sources
• Examine a variety of historical sources including written documents, audio, visual and archival materials

In both courses, students will also learn to:

• Recognize the limitations of web search engines for academic research
• Perform basic background research (see below)
• Use the Five College Library Catalog to locate known items, perform basic subject searches, and access print reserves
• Access basic article databases to locate scholarly articles (see below)
• Apply questions to a specific text
• Understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it
• Appropriately acknowledge print and non-print sources using a standard citation format (e.g. MLA, Chicago or APA)

Basic sources for Afro-American studies majors

Intermediate-Level Study in the Major

The primary course at the intermediate level is AAS 201: Methods of Inquiry. The course is designed to introduce a student to the history and practices of various disciplinary methods used in Afro-American studies. A student in 201 will learn how to propose a research question, as well as how to pursue it to completion. This course is the gateway to further research practice in the major.

Because Afro-American Studies is an interdisciplinary major, students must become familiar with the research practices of at least three disciplines. At the intermediate level, students learn to hone specific disciplinary skills in history, literature and social science, while extending the introduction they had to interdisciplinary work in AAS 111. This is also where students are introduced to doing presentations.  In these courses, students will learn to:

Literature

• Engage in critical analysis, with an emphasis on writing interpretive essays on literature
• Use literary critical terms and various methodologies of interpretation and argumentation
• Become more perceptive readers and persuasive writers
• Use critical essays and historical sources to contextualize the literary texts

History

• Locate primary sources available in the Five Colleges or beyond from references in secondary sources
• Become familiar with digitized primary sources such as The Chicago Defender, The Christian Recorder, The Colored American/Weekly Advocate, etc.
• Assess primary sources, determining what constitutes evidence, opinion, or contradiction; and recognize the varying perspectives of participants in the same event
• Explore the methods relevant to historical documents

Social Science (Sociology & Anthropology)

• Engage in qualitative and quantitative research material to interpret and analyze human behavior
• Read and interpret social scientific explanations of culture and identity
• Use census and survey data, semi-structured interviews, and genealogical research

Interdisciplinary Research and Intersectional Analysis

Some of our intermediate courses are grounded firmly in interdisciplinary methods that emphasize intersectional analysis; in these courses, students will:

• Perform close reading of various kinds of texts (visual, written and sound)
• Conduct research using historical, literary and social science methods
• Examine race, gender, sexuality, class, region and other sites of identification as interdependent and fundamental aspects of the social world
• Use library databases
• Create original arguments applying philosophical/theoretical concepts introduced in class
• Recognize and execute both descriptive scholarly writing and analysis organized through the provision of a thesis or argument

Intermediate and Advanced Sources for Afro-American Studies Majors

At this level, students will also become familiar both with discipline-specific scholarly journals and more general publications that nonetheless publish articles on Afro-American topics:

Seminars/Capstone

At the advanced level, Afro-American studies students are expected to be expert in doing research in at least one discipline, familiar with the other areas, and able to engage interdisciplinary projects. Students are expected to be strong writers, to be familiar with using library databases to find scholarly and popular references, and to be able to critique and cross-reference sources.

These research skills are highlighted in the capstone seminar, AAS 366: Classic Black Texts. This course is intended to encourage students to revisit texts from earlier classes, but with a greater attention to research excellence. In this course, a student might be asked to trace a writer’s research (that is, to look at some of the sources he/she used for the work), or to chronicle the intellectual reception of a work. The expectation in this course, as in all seminars, is a finer and deeper exploration of ideas based on strong research skills. Finally, in all seminars, students are expected to give presentations.

At this level, students will:

• Show a range of critical thinking across various genres of expression (plays, poems, essays, novels)
• Integrate varying bodies of knowledge (historical, sociological, literary, and philosophical)
• Exhibit and practice writing and oral presentation skills
• Engage in a research project that involves work with primary and secondary sources

Assessment

Afro-American Studies courses assess students’ attainment of information literacy in various ways, appropriate to the level of the course. Class discussions, examinations, and papers call upon students to demonstrate interpretive skills appropriate to the course topic and level. Their performance in these areas may directly or indirectly determine their grades. Through formal grading and informal feedback during office hours, instructors and librarians help students develop critical awareness of their own abilities.

Assignments requiring students to demonstrate and take advantage of information literacy vary depending on the skills involved. In general, introductory courses devote more explicit attention to acquiring, developing and testing basic skills; while more advanced courses assume students have reached a basic level of competency and can deploy information literacy skills independently. As students develop, they will be expected to recognize and execute both descriptive scholarly writing and analysis organized through the provision of a thesis or argument. In all cases, library staff is available to assist students and faculty members in devising, completing, and assessing such work.

Ethical Issues

Plagiarism is a serious violation of the College’s Honor Code. When using someone else’s words, ideas, or arguments, students must acknowledge their sources. It is important to identify and attribute all sources of new ideas, except for commonly shared knowledge, such as dates and facts found in encyclopedias and dictionaries. For more information on the College Honor Code, look here:
http://www.smith.edu/sao/handbook/socialconduct/honorcode2.php

April 6, 2009