Response Papers
I grade all response papers on completion (on a 10-point scale). If you complete all aspects of each prompt, you will receive full credit. This page will be updated throughout the semester with the prompts for each response paper.
Table of contents
Response Paper 1
- Due Friday, Feb 5
- 500-750 words
- .docx or .pdf
- Turn in via “Response Paper 1” portal on Blackboard Assignments page
For this response paper, you will analyze a recent encounter you have had with data through the lens of one of our readings so far (please use the Gitelman and Jackson, the Rosenberg, or the Klein and D’Ignazio for this assignment – not the Crawford). I recommend you focus on 1 concept, issue, or point from your selected reading and explain how this concept, issue, or point has inflected your understanding of your encounter with data. By a “recent encounter with data” I mean a time you have interacted, examined, and/or used data or a system or interface that relies on data in your daily life (in other classes, at work, for fun, whatever). How does the concept, issue, or point you have identified from your selected reading affect your understanding of or perspective on this encounter with data?
How you organize your response paper is up to you, but you should:
- Be specific – the more specific the better. Resist the temptation to generalize. Hone in on a specific concept, issue, or point from your selected reading and a specific encounter with data, or even specific aspects of this encounter.
- Incorporate quotes from your selected reading and explain what these quotes mean in the context of the encounter with data you are analyzing. Again, specificity and precision matter. Because this paper is quite short, it is much better to discuss 1 idea in some detail than it is to discuss 3 or 4 ideas generally and in a hurried way.
- Dive right in to your analysis. You don’t need to waste time and space with introductory and concluding paragraphs. I’m not looking for your standard 5-paragraph academic essay here, and you don’t need to have a fully fleshed out argument. Rather, I’m looking to see how you think through what your selected reading tells us about your encounter with data.
Response Paper 2
- Due Friday, Feb 12
- 500-750 words
- .docx or .pdf
- Turn in via “Response Paper 2” portal on Blackboard Assignments page
In this response paper, you will select 1 keyword from any of our readings so far in the class. There are two caveats: your keyword cannot be “data,” and the reading you discuss in this response paper should be different from the reading you discussed in response paper 1. First, you will define this keyword in the context of your selected reading (~1 paragraph). Next, you should discuss what you think is most important or unique about the author’s articulation, use, or argument about this keyword for understanding the concept and/or history of data. How does this keyword help you to think about data in a new or different way?
We will talk more about what a keyword is in class, but in general, a keyword is a central term or concept in an author’s argument. It can be a term that they invent, define, or expand on, and/or it can be a term that is important to understanding their argument. It should be a term they explicitly discuss or use.
How you organize your response paper is up to you, but you should:
- Be specific – the more specific the better. Resist the temptation to generalize. Hone in on a specific keyword and think about at least 1 thing that this keyword causes you to reconsider or understand differently about data.
- Incorporate quotes from your selected reading when defining or discussing your keyword. Again, specificity and precision matter. Because this paper is quite short, it is much better to discuss 1 idea in some detail than it is to discuss 3 or 4 ideas generally and in a hurried way.
- Dive right in to your definition and analysis. You don’t need to waste time and space with introductory and concluding paragraphs. I’m not looking for your standard 5-paragraph academic essay here, and you don’t need to have a fully fleshed out argument. Rather, I’m looking to see how you think through the importance of your keyword.
Response Paper 3
- Due Friday, Feb 19
- 500-750 words
- .docx or .pdf
- Turn in via “Response Paper 3” portal on Blackboard Assignments page
This response paper is designed to help you prepare for your dataset analysis assignment. Here’s how to complete this response paper:
- Read through the dataset analysis assignment page if you haven’t already.
- Select 2 datasets you are considering analyzing for this assignment. At least one of these datasets should come from the list at the bottom of the dataset analysis assignment page. Each dataset you are considering should broadly fit the criteria outlined on the dataset analysis assignment page under “Selecting your dataset,” but part of the motivation behind this response paper is to help you ensure that the dataset you will eventually write about does actually fit these criteria.
- Download the dataset biography template.
- Begin the research/investigation necessary to fill out a dataset biography for each dataset you are considering using for your paper. While you can simply begin to fill out a dataset biography for each dataset if you would like, you do not have to complete a dataset biography for either dataset you are considering at this stage (that will happen next week). Instead, you should spend enough time investigating each dataset you are considering to learn: a) if it will be possible for you to complete a dataset biography for that dataset; and b) what potential difficulties or problems you have already encountered or you can foresee encountering if you were to select that dataset for your dataset analysis paper.
- Write the names of the 2 datasets you are comparing in this response paper at the top of your paper, and provide any links to the data.
- Write a 500-750 word reflection on the above process in which you compare the 2 datasets you selected for this response paper to one another and consider their appropriateness for the dataset analysis assignment. You might consider the pros and cons of selecting each dataset for the assignment and/or how each fits or doesn’t fit the criteria outlined on the dataset analysis assignment page; you might narrate your experience of investigating each dataset and what you found; you might focus on any difficulties and roadblocks you encountered. There are lots of possibilities in terms of what to write about here, but the main idea is that you should use this response paper to think through, on paper, the issues involved in deciding what dataset you will write about in your dataset analysis assignment.
- Finally, you should indicate at some point in your response paper which dataset you have selected to write about for your dataset analysis and why.
Response Paper 4
- Due Friday, March 12
- .docx or .pdf
- Turn in via “Response Paper 4” portal on Blackboard Assignments page
This response paper is designed to help you prepare for your dataset creation assignment. Here’s how to complete this response paper:
- Read through the dataset creation assignment page if you haven’t already.
- If you are working with a partner, name your partner.
- List the title of your dataset.
- Provide a brief description of the kind of data your dataset will contain and how you plan to collect it (~1-2 paragraphs).
- List the names and brief descriptions of each metadata field in your dataset (~7 minimum). This will likely change as you work on your dataset, but you should have an initial plan.
- Provide a list of 2-3 already existing related datasets (include links to data/documentation).
- Briefly discuss the audience for your dataset. Who are you creating this dataset for? Be more specific than “the general public.” The “general public” is composed of multiple overlapping and intersecting publics. Which group(s) do you see your dataset as addressing most directly?
- Provide 1-2 questions your dataset could help this audience answer.