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Understanding Global Cultures



Canvas Modules for Class Participants Spring 2024 [calendar]
Canvas Simple Syllabus Spring 2024 (.pdf)
Due Dates for Spring 2024 [calendar]


List of countries of the world -- Wikipedia
Language Dictionaries and Resources 
International Development Indicators 
-- Human Development Reports, United Nations Development Programme
Global Open Data Index 
 
. Friday, 19 April 2024, 19:42 (07:42 PM) CDT, day 110 of 2024 .

World Food and Water Clock
 

Search the troufs Site

(all TR courses and web pages)

Global Cultures
 

 

Use of AI-content generators for assignments in this class

When I taught Advanced Writing for the Social Sciences here at UMD, for over twenty-five years, my rule of thumb advice to students was to plan to spend 60% or more of their time and effort revising drafts (for academic type writing).

In 2001 Wikipedia appeared on the scene and very quickly became a useful tool as a starting point for many academic projects even though as an open-source resource the Wikipedia entries are not checked and verified in the same manner as other traditional reference materials.

Spelling and grammar checkers arrived on the general scene and helped with spelling and grammar checking, but, as you no doubt have discovered, they continue to require human editing.

And, of course, before that we had a selection of excellent Encyclopedia offering good starting points for many projects, the most popular being The Encyclopedia Brittanica.

And long before that there were libraries--since at least the days of Alexandria in Egypt, in the third century B.C.

The bottom line . . .

Today the evolution of research resources and aids continues with the relatively rapid appearance of ChatGPT and other automated content generators.

As many folks have already found out, they can be very useful as starting points, much like their predecessors. But, from the academic point of view, they are still only starting points.

Professors nationwide are for the most part advised, and even encouraged, to experiment with the potentials of ChatGPT and similar apps.

In this class it is fine to experiment, with the caveat that all of your written academic work demonstrates that your personal efforts—including content development and revision—reflect your personal originality, exploration, analysis, explanation, integrating and synthesizing of ideas, organizational skills, evaluation, and overall learning and critical thinking efforts.

That is to say you may experiment with the AI tool to do tasks such as e.g, brainstorming, narrowing topics, writing first drafts, editing text, and the like. AI-generated works should in no case be more than that.

In the end you need to become familiar enough with the various subjects, peoples, and places discussed in this class to research a topic and problem-solve on your own, and carry on an intelligent conversation about them in modern-day society . . . a conversation that goes byond your voicing an unsupported opinion.

Please ask questions of and offer comments to
e-mail
troufs@d.umn.edu

USEFUL LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

For the record, what follows is the official UMD Academic Integrity Policy. Note that "unless otherwise noted by the faculty member" this is the default policy.

"UMD’s Academic Integrity policy covers any work done by automated content generators such as ChatGPT or other generative artificial intelligence tools unless otherwise noted by the faculty member. These tools present new challenges and opportunities."

"Within the confines of this class The use of AI-content generators is strictly prohibited for any stage of homework/assignment (e.g., draft or final product). The primary purposes of college are developing your thinking skills, being creative with ideas, and expanding your understanding on a wide variety of topics. Using these content generating AI tools thwarts the goal of homework/assignments to provide students opportunities to achieve these purposes. Please make the most of this time that you have committed to a college education and learn these skills now, so that you can employ them throughout your life." -- Jennifer Mencl, UMD Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, 10 May 2023

Current information from the UMN Senate Committee on Educational Policy Resources

<https://provost.umn.edu/chatgpt-syllabus-statements>

See Also Using Wikipedia and other Standard Reference Works
 

 

Understanding Global Cultures Term Paper

which can be (but which does not have to be)
a Cultural Metaphor Term Paper on a Country / Culture not covered in the Textbook

or an alternate Cultural Metaphor for one of the Countries / Cultures discussed in the Textbook

AVISO

As far as the assignments go, the Presentation and the Term Paper are not repititions or duplications.

They are different ways to present the results of your research to different audiences for different purposes.

It is the goal of this pair of assignments combined to give you experience presenting (a) your information to (b) two different audiences for (c) two different purposes.

If you are one who thinks the Term Paper and the formal audience should be first, and the Presentation and the informal audience second, that is a legitimate point of view. But since both can not be first, the model used here is the real-life situation one where a student presents a paper (or poster or whatever) to a student session of a regional meeting of their major (the informal audience), gets feedback from their regional peers, and then develops the project into a formal print version submitted to the regional organization (the formal project to a formal audience).

If you happen to have a major that doesn't have a regional organiztion or a student section, or have not declared a major, then your idea of having the the Term Paper first and Presentation last makes a lot more sense. If that is the case, pretend you have a major-related student section of a regional organization.

Unfortunately, with a class this size, it is not feasible to offer you the option to switch the order of the two.

Your Presentation
Demosthenes

(1) Presentation

Audience:

Classmates

(draft)

 
Your Term Paper
Charles Dickens, 1842, Francis Alexander.

(2) Term Paper

Audience:

Student Colleagues in a Regional Professional Organization
(i.e., a student paper presented at a regional meeting)

(finished version)

Purpose:

To inform classmates what you have been working on and what you have found interesting, and possibly what you would like to find out more about in the future.
  Purpose:

To present the results of personal research to members in a professional forum.

(i.e., or, if you prefer, your audience can be the members of a task force of which you are a member, in a company or organization like you would like to work for in the future.)
Style:

Informal
  Style:

Formal, following the specific syle and content guidelines of the organization.


(The default guidelines are those commonly accepted for academic college-level term papers in the style format most commonly used by people in your major.)
For further information see your respective
Presentation and Term Paper WebPages.

 



 Doing Research and Drafting Your Paper

Writing Information and Reference Materials


s2024 Wk 14 Term Paper (up to 400 points)
due by Sunday, 21 April 2024
(TurnItIn in your Canvas Week 14 Module section)

AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?

Charles Dickens, 1842, Francis Alexander.
Charles Dickens (1842)
Francis Alexander (1800-1880)

Wikipedia

Global Cultures Project =
(1) Term Paper
&
(2) Presentation
(on the same topic)
 
tba
 
Charles Dickens, 1842, Francis Alexander.
Demosthenes
 
Charles Dickens

Due Dates for Project Materials
     

Week 02

Week 03

ss2022 Live Chat for Picking a Project Topic
Week 2, Tuesday, 14 June 2022, 7:00-8:00 CDT Sign in on Canvas.


 

Week 05
  s2024 Informal Project Statement (up to 20 points)
due by the end of Week 5, Sunday, 11 February 2024


 

Week 07
 
s2024 Wk 7 Project formal Promissory Abstract and Working Bibliography (up to 20 points)
due by Sunday, 25 February 2024 (submit them together)

 

Week 12
  s2024 Wk 13 Your Presentation is due on-line in Canvas by Sunday, 14 April 2024 (up to 99 points)

AVISO: Late Presentations will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?

 

Week 14
 
s2024 Wk 14 Term Paper (up to 400 points)
due by Sunday, 21 April 2024
(TurnItIn in your Canvas Week 14 Module section)

AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?

Class Project = Term Paper & Presentation

Format and Style Information

  • Length of Term Paper

    • 10 - 12 well-written pages, including one title page and one Works Cited (or References) page

      • 10-12 pages are including one title page (see sample title page) and

      • and at least one separate "Works Cited" (or "References") page (see sample)

      • that leaves 8-10 pages of text

      • NOTE: Folks who look mostly at web sites and/or sources like Wikipedia sometimes find it difficult to write 8-10 pages of quality text. If you find that you are in that position, try researching the topic in a book focusing on your topic. Many are recommended in the class WebPages.

    • double-spaced

    • with one-inch margins all around

    • with body type font 11 or 12

    • illustrations, tables, figures, diagrams . . . may be included, but must be properly placed and cited

    • Details of Term Paper

    • Should I Include an Abstract ?


  • Length of Presentation

  • Audience

    • Classmates

      or

    • Monthly On-line newsletter of the Central States Anthropological Society, or the monthly newsletter of the professional society of your major(s) [for example, Sociologists of Minnesota]


  • Purpose (Rhetorical)

    • To let them know what you were working on, and what you found out, and what might be interesting to look at in the future


  • Style

    • for the Presentation, it may be informal

    • for the Paper, formal academic

      • It is permissible, even desirable, for you to include your own well-informed personal opinions in a formal academic term paper

        • Be sure to back up personal opinions and interpretations with well-reasoned and supported arguments

      • Generally formal term papers are not written in the first person, but if you have a topic-related reason to do so, it is perfectly acceptable

    • NOTE: Try to work an analytical section into your Presentation and Paper, and at least think about approaching your Global Cultures term Project from the traditional "four-fold" approach of American Anthropology. If the "four-fold" approach does not work as a major appoach, consider at least addressing in summary form the relationship of your chosen topic(s) to traditional American Anthropology.

    • When relevant to your topic be sure to work in what is happening now; that is, where appropriate, relate it to current affairs


  • Term Paper Format

    • doublespaced

    • with one-inch margins all around

    • with body type font 11 or 12

    • illustrations, tables, figures, diagrams . . . may be included, but must be properly placed and cited


  • Term Paper Citation Conventions (How to cite your references)

  • Useful Resources

top of page A-Z index
 Canvas 
TR HomePage

List of References
("Working Bibliography")

The "working bibliography" for your project is a simple list of references—sources that you think will be helpful to in putting together your paper and your presentation.
(grading information for working bibliography)

And your sources may include any or all of the following kind of items . . .

  • traditional library printed materials (books, journals, magazines, government reports, microformat materials . . .)

  • library AV materials (videos, films, DVDs, audio recordings . . .)

  • TED talks

  • library and on-online special collections (maps, images, oral history materials . . .)

  • materials from special conferences and events (for e.g., The Nobel Making Food Good Conference Archives . . .)

  • materials from cultural myths and legends . . .

  • personal interviews (including relevant YouTube materials . . .)

  • questionnaires

  • personal journals and diaries . . .

  • personal interviews (you might even want to do something creative, like interview yourself . . .)

  • relevant WebSite materials

At the start of your project it is probably a good idea to have 6-10 sources that "look pretty good" and as if they might be useful to your project.

At the beginning, and for the list you turn in during Week 7, you do not have to do anything more than list the resources that you think will be helpful to your project and that you expect to use for your paper and/or your report.

Once you begin looking at these materials, you may want to start annotating them—that is, beginning to make notes about how they might actually be used in your paper and/or presentation.

And you might start noting additional references from your original list of items.

For details on evaluating the items on your initial "working bibliogaphy",
and on the process of annotating your working bibliography (your simple list),
see the resources available from . . .


s2024 Wk 7 Project formal Promissory Abstract and Working Bibliography (up to 20 points)
due by Sunday, 25 February 2024 (submit them together)
 

When relevant to your topic be sure to work in what is happening now; that is, where appropriate, relate it to current affairs.


And with both your Presentation and your Term Paper be sure to relate your Project materials to the materials considered in class.

For e.g., if you are doing a comparision/contrast between Italy and America and Finland include relevant items from Understanding Global Cultures, 6th Edition from . . .

Chapter 19: The Italian Opera
Chapter 8: The Finnish Sauna
Chapter 15: American Football

and the class slides from Italy
slides: (.pptx)



top of page A-Z index
 Canvas 
TR HomePage


s2024 Informal Project Statement (up to 20 points)
due by the end of Week 5, Sunday, 11 February 2024


Preparing Your "Informal Proposal"

  • Your topic/subject should be something that you, personally, are interested in

    • Your topic/subject can be almost anything you like, but it must be related to the Global Cultures course

    • Use materials from the textbook, class slides, and class videos--as a starting point to integrate class materials into your Project.

    • But the main focus of your project should be on materials that are not required for the class.

  • The informal "proposal" itself can be very straightforward:

The Informal Proposal is a simple statement
(preferably in a Word document) of . . .

  1. "Here's what I'm interested in doing. . . ."

  2. "Here's why I'm interested in that. . . ."

  3. "Here's what I think will be useful for that project. . . ."

  4. "What do you think?"

Or . . .

Your Informal Proposal can be something like . . .

  1. "I'm thinking about doing a project on X or Y, but can't make up my mind."

  2. "Here's what I'm interested in, and why. . . ."

  3. Here are some things that look like they might be useful for the project. . . ."

  4. "What do you think?"


  • "What I think will be useful" means that you should include 3 or 4 items like references to materials and activities (such as interviewing someone . . .) that you think would be helpful to your in working on your project. (No, you do not have to do an interview; that's just one possibility.)

  • "Items" can be articles, short videos, photographs, books, interviews, personal experience. . . .

  • If you include a reference to a source on the web, be sure to give its full reference (not just the URL). For a web page your full reference should look something like the one below (include as much of this material as is available for the site[s] you are looking at):

 

Upload your file—one file—to your Canvas folder)

  • In order to upload your file please make sure that you save your Word file as a .docx or a .doc or a .rtf file.*

  • *Details on "Type of Files" are available in the "File Type Information" if you need more information on how to save your files on your computer.

  • Click on "upload assignment" button at the end of the Canvas assignment page.

    Once you have uploaded the file you can not re-upload the file unless you first remove the one you first uploaded.

    For more information regarding how to use the assignment tools, please view the Canvas Student User Guides

 

A more formal statement (a "Promissory Abstract") of what you eventually decide upon isn't due for another two weeks

Between now and then I will have a look at your informal proposal and give you some feedback on it, including instructions on how to proceed with your Promissory Abstract two weeks hence.)

For the "Promissory Abstract" and "Working Bibliography" (that are due in two weeks) and for the Term Paper itself (due at the end of the semester) you need to use APA or MLA or Chicago/Turabian style or a standard scientific method.  Which of those you use is up to you.

Additional information that might be helpful:

 http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/images/owl_purdue.gif
"Understanding Writing Assignments" 
 

"Problem / Project Statement / Proposal"

s2024 Informal Project Statement (up to 20 points)
due by the end of Week 5, Sunday, 11 February 2024

top of page A-Z index
 Canvas 
TR HomePage

 

You might find the
 UM Library’s Assignment Calculator
helpful to you
(especially with scheduling your work). It’s easy to use.

 UMD Library Assignment Calculator

fromOWL logo, Online Writing Lab, Purdue University.

APA Sample Papers
Sample APA Paper: Definitions of Online Communication
Sample APA Paper: Adolescent Depression

MLA Sample Papers
MLA Undergraduate Sample Paper: Andrew Carnegie
MLA Sample Papers: Nineteenth Century Farming Handbooks


~

 Writers' Workship

Writers’ Workshop

The Writers' Workshop offers free one-to-one writing support to all members of UMD's campus community. Sessions are held synchronously online or in-person with a graduate student or faculty consultant. Feel free to bring any writing project at any stage in the writing process. To make an appointment, visit d.umn.edu/writwork or stop by the Workshop’s front desk located on the second floor of Martin Library and visit with Jill Jenson and her staff.  

Students in this class have permission to see a Writers’ Workshop consultant for assistance on exams, and all written projects.

Tutoring Center

The Tutoring Center on the second floor of Martin Library offers free tutoring sessions for this course. Your tutor will be a high-achieving student trained to assist you. To learn more about the Tutoring Center, find the tutor(s) qualified for this subject area, or reserve a time with a tutor, please visit the Tutoring Center website. The tutors look forward to working with you!


 
  website

Research Help

Research Help is a service where librarians provide guidance, support, and instruction on how to find and use information. You can meet with a librarian when you’re not sure how to get started with a research project, when you’ve hit a wall in your research, or your usual process isn’t working. You can chat with a librarian 24/7, schedule an appointment with a subject librarian, email, or drop-in during the day


~

"Understanding Cultural Metaphors"

from Gannon, Martin J., and Rajnandini Pillai. Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 34 Nations, Clusters of Nations, Contnents, & Diversity, 6th Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2015, pp. 2 - 22.

(slides)

Doing Research and Drafting Your Paper

      1. It is fine for you to begin a project by consulting with Wikipedia (and similar on-line sources of encyclopaedic-type information) but you should be aware that the Wikipedia entries are open-source and are not checked and verified in the same manner as other reference materials.

        And sometimes the entries are confusing (have a look at "Macedonia," for example).

        And Wikipedia, should you use it, should only be a starting point.

        Wikipedia



        It is also OK to start out your research by consulting reference works such as encyclopedias, dictionaries and lexica, glosaries, other general reference works, and the like, but this stage should only be a preliminary preparation for more focused and in-depth research work.

        For a college research paper you should also have a look at other references, either traditional materials from the library, or on-line materials from sources like UMD E-Journal Locator, JSTOR, etc., or books and manuscripts On-Line. That is to say Wikipedia and the other reference-type sources listed should not be your only source of information. And you must add your own evaluations, comparisons, development, criticisms, critiques, and the like to any reference materials used. Simply cutting and pasting information from sources is not sufficient to satisfy the requirements of either a required or extra-credit research paper.

        Your paper should reflect a synthesis and evaluation of materials researched.



      2. Try getting more information by looking at sites on the web:

        • Try surfing the web by searching with the search engines found by clicking on the Web "Search" button found on the upper righthand corner of the course WebPages. This will take you to the course Search Engines Page.

        • Hint: When you do a search on an item that has more than one word, like "stone tools," use the "Advanced Search" option and enter the words in the "exact phrase" box -- otherwise it will search out everything with "stone" and everything with "tools," and the list of "hits" could get quite large.

      3. Also try getting more information from JSTORE, elelctronically stored journals, and look for other items from the UMD Library.

      4. For your paper you should also use traditional library materials, and, where appropriate, interviews and videotapes.

      5. On-line Resources which might be helpful include:

        1. JSTORE©

        2. LEXIS-NEXIS®

        3. UMD Library

        4. General Reference Works

        5. Books and Manuscripts On-Line

      6. Due Friday of end of Week 13
        (Unexcused late Case Study papers will result in a loss of 2% of the final course grade.)

        You might find the
         UM Library’s Assignment Calculator
        helpful to you
        (especially with scheduling your work). It’s easy to use.

         UMD Library Assignment Calculator


      7. Length: 10 - 12 well-written pages

        • including one title page (see sample title page) and

        • and at least one separate "Works Cited" (or "References") page (see sample)

        • that leaves 08-10 pages of text

          • with one-inch margins all around

          • with body type font 11 or 12

          • illustrations, tables, figures, diagrams . . . may be included, but must be properly placed and cited

      8. Criteria for Grading College Writing

      9. When you write anything you should consider audience, purpose, and your personal style. For your case studies, your audience should be your classmates in this class. (Do not write your college papers to the professor as audience.

      10. Information about Handing in Your Paper

      11. See the "Preparing the Final Draft" section of the Sociology-Anthropology Writing Guide to see the details of what your Case Study report should look like when you hand it in. Basically, it should look like the paper which follows.

Format Information

For more help see Paradigm On-line Writing Assistant and / or
The Soc-Anth Department Writing Guide

 

[more information on your title]



Norway as a Norwegian Sweater:

A Cultural Metaphor that Fits Perfectly




by Barak Obama




Anthropology 1080

Project Term Paper

Professor Roufs

19 April 2024

to top of page / A-Z index

Jambalaya 1

[more information on an Introduction]

Put your paragraph(s) summarizing your paper here.

Put a transitional statement here.

Body [Give this section an interesting subtitle, something other than "Body"]

Describe and discuss your chosen topic(s) here. Use some form of organizational structure. The "Journalist's Questions," Who,What, When, Where, How and Why are often helpful. A time sequence is also useful.

Use the Paradigm Online Writing Assistant if you do not have much experience writing college papers.

Conclusions

Put your conclusions here.

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Jambalaya  Nn 

Works Cited

Your "References" or "Works Cited" information should go on a separate page.

See "Documenting Electronic Sources in Specific Disciplines" from OWL for information on how to cite items from the web

GC Index of Major Items
GC 1.0 "Sunday Memos"   GC 2.0 Video Schedule
GC 3.0 Slides Schedule   GC 4.0 Text Assignments Schedule
GC 5.0 Other (check Canvas   GC 6.0 Exams . . . (wk-7) and  (wk-16)
GC 7.0 REM: Work on Project   GC 8.0 Discussion(s)
GC Main Due Dates   GC Spring 2024 Calendar
     
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