Agenda for the Open Meeting with TE Comps Committee Oct. 27, 2014 EH 212

1.Basic info about Prelim and Comps ( consult the website--will not spend time on this) What to do and what to avoid in writing the Prelim exam - Advice from the Committee 3.What to do and what to avoid in writing the Comps exam - Advice from the Committee 4.Other questions: Q & A

What to Do - and What to Avoid - in Writing Prelim 1)Make sure you understand the article and the author’s argument: Common mistakes include not fully understanding the main argument of the article or focusing on only a small element of the overall argument; misinterpreting the article; misstating the research questions 2)ORGANIZATION!: Make sure that your paper is organized well and flows from one section to the next - use sub-headings, previewing, transitions, and other organizational strategies.The paper is not organized well and does not always pick out the most important parts of the argument 3)Develop a coherent argument: A common committee critique is that the writer does not make a coherent argument in response to the article 4)Watch out for significant writing issues, including a large number of direct quotations without interpretations, long sentences and typos that often make understanding the paper difficult

What to Do - and What to Avoid - in Writing Comps 1)Avoid harsh critiques on bodies of literature/researchers, especially without evidence from the literature. We understand that you have strong feelings about particular topics, and that you must take a stance on issues. However, openly attacking literature/authors for ways in which they are “clearly” wrong is not how academic conversations occur. Also, we may not agree with your claims, so we may not agree with how “obvious” it is that people are wrong. It’s fine to press on literature/authors with evidence to back up assertions. 2)Avoid a literature dump. We know that comps are an opportunity for you to show the committee that you are well-read in your field. However, this is not an opportunity to offer an immense amount of citations just to show us you read the papers. The purpose of exams is to use the literature to build and bolster an argument you are trying to make. Quality of your stance and argument are important, not quantity (the amount of papers you have read). 3)Attend to the flow of the paper. As a reader who may or may not be familiar with your field, we need you to provide a clear structure to the paper so we can follow your argument. Help the reader by providing clear connections between sections and paragraphs.

What to Do - and What to Avoid - in Writing Comps 4.Failing to ground academic terms in the literature. If you use a term that is specific to particular academic conversations, you should both use citations to show where that term comes from and you should (generally) use the term in ways that are commonly accepted. If you want to dispute a commonly accepted use, then you must do this explicitly and justify your decision. 5)Spending too much space telling stories from your practice. You have only 10 pages to answer the question. A quick story about your time in the classroom or your experiences at MSU may illuminate a point, but your argument should be drawn primarily from an analysis of literature. 6)Not answering the question. Make sure to answer the question. Read each part of the question and outline how you are going to answer it. Make sure that the argument flows from one part of the question to the next. Leave enough room to adequately respond to each part of the question. Include an introductory paragraph the frames your argument and how you will answer the question and a conclusion paragraph the ties your argument together. 7)Grammar. If the paper is grammatically well-written, it is easier for us to understand your arguments and flow.