Japan Source Letter Assignment 2020b

[a] Text and illustration RF

Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific World

History 210

Autumn 2020

Preliminary Writing Assignment 

Japanese Sources: The Letter

[The module form for this semester makes all assignments seem to come on too quickly. Nothing can be done about the format, but I am aware of the pressures, and have made certain modifications in the early writing assignments from years past, without detracting from the core principles of the assignment and what it can teach you].

By choosing the letter format for your first writing assignment, I am asking you to build upon the skills you have already begun to develop in analyzing (and providing examples for) Japanese source materials. You have already reached a point where you have some experience with Japanese source materials, and your job will be to explain it to an intelligent  non-specialist.

[b] Reaching, teaching RF

Teach it, really.

It needs to be a real person, and the letter will be sent (organized by the Beloit College history department). It is a real letter to a real person. Do not treat this as an "exercise."

Letters from “the field” (or our modified “archive” of source materials on the syllabus) are a good way to refine your thoughts about historical study, and they are a useful medium for beginning the intellectual “framing process” that will accelerate as we move through the next two-thirds of the course. The letter writing exercise is especially useful while studying primary source materials. 

The nonfiction writer John McPhee explains to his students that a letter is often precisely the solution to problems of interpretation or clarity—when in doubt, write to mother, he says. In this case, it is not a plea of “send money” that the letter contains, but a reworking, rethinking, and contextualization of your work. You need not limit yourself to kinfolk, but you need to think about who the recipient will be (ideally someone who will welcome a letter about “reading real historical sources”).

You owe it to yourself to listen to this long interview with McPhee (but I know that you are pressed for time). You really should, but at the very least, though, listen to the first five minutes or so. It is the very purpose that lies behind this assignment.

John McPhee NPR (1978) 22:40
Click on the second blue circle on the right side of the page (it is worth it)

Now start writing. Toward that end, you should pay attention to the following issues.

1. The letter should be 1,000 words. You may not go under that amount, and may choose to write a bit more. If you've had classes from me before, you will be surprised by this, but it is a realization of the limits of the module form that motivates me. I am looking for high-quality writing, and simply dashing off three pages will likely result in a C (or worse). A good job will require a good deal of careful work.

[c] I said, "start writing" RF

2. Just in case you think that writing three or four page—spilling them onto the page and turning it in—pay very close attention to my writing guide and our class discussions. I expect this to be a well-written essay in letter form (we'll discuss the letter genre in class). 

3. I am asking you to connect with a very specific reader, and to explain “Japanese historical sources" in a level of detail that she will find satisfying. You are the expert, and your “audience” is the person who will be reading your letter (think of my role as reading over her shoulder). I have found that this kind of assignment helps students to explain even abstruse matters, because the personal relationship they have with their readers demands an attention to patient explanation that is often lacking in more “academic” forms of writing, in which they assume that a professor already knows what they are writing about.

Your reader probably doesn't, and I want you to explain it.

Make it make sense.

4. You may approach your materials from any angle that you like, but you will need to “cover” at least the following items, no matter what order you choose.

          a. You must discuss the “what is a primary source?” question. Provide your reader
              with at least a few ways of thinking about it.

          b. Give your reader a sense of what you have learned up to this point about 

              how to read primary sources. Use specific examples from our course materials,
              including Lu, Stalker, and others...but especially Lu.

          c. Finally, give your reader some sense of what it is like to “learn through sources”

              by discussing the details of some of your reading. Again, use specific examples.

          d. You must have at least one illustration. Trust me. I know what I'm doing. It can be anything (and you won't be publishing this, so permissions won't be required, although you should cite anything that is not your own drawing with a footnote).

[d] Evocation RF

5. The best way to approach the writing process is in three parts (this is a friendly suggestion). First, create a structure (we'll discuss this in class), and jot down some notes for each of the “sections” of your letter. Second, using those notes as a guide, write a rough draft of the whole letter. Third, revise, polish, and refine.  

Voilà you will have something not unlike what Alexis de Tocqueville might have written about understanding a complex, foreign culture that baffled and enticed him 180 years ago. While your letter won’t be as long as Tocqueville's Democracy in America, it is likely—if it is done well—to be much like Tocqueville’s rich and evocative letters back to his family about encountering people, texts, and institutions in a strange land called the United States. 

You get the idea. If you don't, just raise your hand (virtually) and ask me (or send me an e-mail message). I'll be happy to help.

***  ***

Letters are Due (as .pdf copies sent to me by email)

by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 13

Add the word count to all papers!

[e] And then you may rest RF