THE END: The Story of My Paper

I started the research unit very enthusiastic about this digital/social approach to writing. I had heard reports from some students from last semester's class of their topics and research and was really excited to try my own. I already knew I wanted to do something with Shakespeare and games because I had been digging into the idea of games scholarship of any and all kinds the semester before. Games have always been a huge part of my life, even if I haven't always acknowledged it (no one you know owned a wider array of trading card games as I did--I promise), and I wanted all that time I spent playing games to amount to something interesting and intellectual. Ironically, however, I've played many, many more board and card games in my life than video games--my parents never allowed any video game console into my house until the winter I left for college, so the move to video games was a strange one for me. I figured, though, that in a way gave me an advantage because I could look at games more objectively and intellectually. I could more legitimately answer the question "Can video games be art?" because I hadn't already answered it for myself. I started looking around and found some interesting resources on Shakespeare possibly being a game designer were he alive today, and that helped narrow things down to just four possible paper topics.

The paper I ended up writing was, of course, really a mash-up of all four ideas. (Good thing I had ten pages.) I was pleasantly surprised to find out that other people were actually interested in this topic, and that there was plenty of material from Shakespeare's text itself to support such claims. As I kept looking, I found discussions actually happening about a topic I thought was extremely specific, which was very encouraging. The class really got involved in my paper, too, as I kept getting a lot of good responses on my posts, even when I was just musing. All of this really got me going, so by the time we had to do annotated bibliographies and find possible audiences, I already had tons of info--enough that I could easily pass some of it over to Britton in hopes that he could treat some stuff I didn't have time for but really interested me. By the time I did my first rough draft, my mind was racing all over the place because I had found so much information and so much interest.

That's when my paper took a difficult turn. I realized I was getting too much to say and too many angles on the topic that my paper just wouldn't be cohesive unless I cut. I went back to the primary text because I knew if I stuck close to The Tempest I could keep it tight. When I went back to do research again, I focused a lot more on specific arguments I had rather than general information on video games, art, and Shakespeare like I was doing before. The stuff I found in that round of research actually made up the bulk of my final paper because, thanks to the suggestions of others and some great feedback from author and game philosopher Chris Bateman (twice), I tightened up my paper significantly to be a discussion of the legitimacy of video games in our culture compared to the fight for legitimacy for English drama in Shakespeare's own day, which made for a good first full draft.

In discussions with Dr. Burton late in the game, I found out about the RMMLA conference and, luckily, they had a panel planned for this year's conference about games and new media that instantly became my number one choice for publishing. I got into contact with the panel chair and got enthusiastic responses from her because she was having a hard time getting the panel off the ground, so I was quickly accepted, though with the chance that I might not get to present because the panel might get canceled.

After getting accepted, though, I had to really make sure the paper turned out well, so after a final interview with Professor Burton I made some pretty big organizational changes and brought back a couple elements from my first draft and kicked out some from the full draft and finally submitted my finished paper. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, but I've been so inspired that I'm seriously considering starting a blog about the intersection of the humanities and video games, which I very well might do after this semester ends and I have some free time this summer. It's been a great ride--and it's not over yet.

Learning Came-outs

1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy 

I definitely came out of this class with a greater knowledge of Shakespeare, especially in several different reincarnations of his texts. Perhaps most importantly, I read plays I had never read/heard/seen before--specifically The Winter's Tale and King Lear, expanding my Shakespeare vocabulary and working knowledge significantly. I also understood more deeply plays I had experienced before, especially Henry V. After reading and seeing Henry V in London last summer, I thought I had a good understanding of the play, but after watching Kenneth Branagh's version, seeing the Children's Theater adaptation, and writing on the play myself, I saw much further into the play, especially the role and power of rhetoric both within and outside the play, as the play itself is an interesting work of rhetoric. I realized in London that the best way to experience Shakespeare was in performance, and so I was grateful that we got to watch several live and filmed performances, as well as read about and listen to others (listening wasn't required, I know, but I took advantage of the opportunity to try out a couple audio versions of the plays).

Specifically for my research project, I learned about Shakespeare's legacy in video games and Shakespeare's legacy in the debate of what "art" is. It was especially interesting to learn how society's views of Shakespeare have changed so drastically over the years, and how that has changed both the levels and types of performances his plays have been given. Shakespeare's legacy is perhaps the greatest of any artist not just because his own work was of such high quality, but because he has been the springboard for the work of others' of all ranges thanks to the original quality of his own work. 

All of this information has been buried deeper into my memory than it otherwise would have because I experienced/gained it all with other people--whether it was my wife, classmates, or random internet personalities, I will remember what I learned about Shakespeare much longer than what I learned in other classes this semester because so much of the information has specific people attached to it.

2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically 

I really enjoyed the opportunity not only to discuss Shakespeare's work from the text in class, but also analyze how his work has been adapted to stage, screen, and otherwise (I don't know what medium Sleep No More is supposed to be). I think because we discuss movies so often in our culture anyway, we were a lot more prepared as a class to discuss film adaptations of Shakespeare together than just the text itself, so I feel I learned a lot more from the films not just because they offered their own interpretation, but because discussion of those films was so easy in class. Walking the shelves of the library was (sadly) a new way for me to understand the history of Shakespeare. Just seeing the progression of books and scholarship of Shakespeare and watching the trends of the older books to the newer books was itself a study in contextual analysis as I could see the physical books and journals and feel the influence of that time period of the piece itself. It helped me look at Shakespeare from a broad range of cultures all at once, which invited all kinds of different theories quite naturally into my analyses. I really appreciated Prof. Burton's emphasis on a broad range of sources and people to discuss Shakespeare with because it helped me break into so many different interpretations so quickly, which gave me a freedom to really interpret Shakespeare how I wanted and felt was most important based on what had already been said.

3. Engage Shakespeare Creatively 

While we didn't do much traditional creative work with Shakespeare, I personally feel like my final paper on Shakespeare and video games displays some of the most creative thought of my college career, as far as creative means novel, innovative, and valuable to others. Also, the original sonnet I wrote--and especially the video I made to go with it--was the most satisfying traditionally creative pursuit of my semester, so this class really helped me win on both fronts, even if creativity wasn't a main emphasis. I think the reason for this is because I told more people about my ideas and solicited more help with my work in this class than any other class or project I've ever worked on, and as I worked with others my projects just kept getting better. 

4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully 

Similar to what I said about creativity above, I feel like my projects for this class have been some of the most meaningful of my college career, again thanks in large part to my increased sharing and invitation for input. Because I felt free to go out on such a limb with my paper (let's be honest, how many professors would have really supported a paper on Shakespeare and video games? Sure, many might have said it was a good idea, but I don't think too many would have actually considered it appropriate, especially for an undergrad), I was naturally forced to dig more meaningfully into Shakespeare's work because the meaning was no longer obvious. The meaning of Shakespeare has already been so well mapped out again and again in the past in relation to so many subjects that I feel most students can just kind of skirt their way around the real meat of Shakespeare and what he means to our culture. By tackling a relatively original connection to Shakespeare, I had to ask a lot of old questions in new ways and really try and pull out my own answers--questions like "What is art?" and "What constitutes a profound experience?" So many people agree that Shakespeare already answered these questions that we almost forget to think about the questions and just gloss over them as old news. Taking Shakespeare into new realms allows us to re-ask those questions with a whole new vigor, and allowed me to rediscover much of the great meaning of Shakespeare for myself.

Additionally, not only did this happen once or twice as I worked on two formal projects, but kept happening as I kept having to write more and more and search for more new people to share my ideas with. I literally searched the whole spectrum of human intelligence to find answers to my questions--everything from the great Bard's words and highly-respected, peer-reviewed academic articles all the way down to the lowest comments on the dumbest blogs of the video game industry. Studying Shakespeare in class and online simultaneously felt something like it must have felt to see Shakespeare in the original Globe--with groundlings and royalty alike watching on in awe at one man's words.

5. Gain Digital Literacy 

I can quite honestly say my online world has shifted thanks to this class. Because the internet was validated for me as a source of legitimate information (as long as its wielded correctly), I dug deeper into the internet for answers to intellectual questions than ever before. I joined at least two new social networks for this class (Disqus and Reddit) and found several, several others to read and respond to regularly. I also actually started using my Twitter account, which I had only sort of used before for my job. Rather than see the internet as a place to escape life or wander around, the internet to me now is a place to really connect with real, good, intelligent people in ways that would never be possible before. I know better than ever how to mine the internet for great information, and also how to collect, store, and organize that information for future use and even new, creative material to be given back to the community in the form of Tweets, posts, and comments. It helps that I was looking for better ways to use the internet already, so when I was given the opportunity, I really tried to run with it, and I'm very grateful now.

All in all, I learned far above what I learn in the average class in this class, but not so much because of more material to cover or a more insistent professor, but because of wider information resources and more freedom to explore and connect with others on important questions.

Once Upon a Tudorista: The Story of Lizy's Paper

Portrait of Henry VIII and his family. 

 

It all began what feels like a very long time ago. Even I don't remember exactly how it started. I do know that I was beginning to see connections between the tragic events in the lives of the Tudor monarchs and similar events in Shakespeare's plays. I'd spent my life growing up reading about the Tudors, so why not write about them? 

With this topic in mind I began putting my ideas together. I started officially by searching for relevant scholarly articles. The best result I had was the paper "Shakespeare's King Richard III and the Problematics of Tudor Bastardy", which was an in-depth look at the connections between Richard's accusations of his relatives' bastardy and the tainted legitimacy of the Tudors. When I started drafting the paper I decided to narrow down the topic to just legitimacy. I still struggled, however, with my verbose writing and also my lack of sufficient scholarly sources. I was not very successful with social networks, but I tried posting my developing thesis statements on Facebook.

My grandfather passed away on the weekend of March 23rd, and the funeral was to be on the 30th. Deciding to head down to Arizona for the funeral, I finished my first draft by Wednesday the 27th and drove down on the 28th. It was here I was able to talk to my cousin Gloria, who commented on my ideas and gave me some more perspective (and by the way, she recently announced that she is expecting a baby). I returned just after midnight on April 1 and within twenty-four hours had found several more scholarly papers to add muscle to my argument, and I also checked out a couple of books from the library. I re-wrote the paper using substantial chunks from the first draft plus quotes from my new sources. For lack of writing time and paper space, my paper ended up being about why legitimacy was such an important issue in the sixteenth century rather than about how Shakespeare and the Tudors were connected, but I felt like the thematic issue was important to address (for personal reasons I will refrain from discussing).  I finished editing on Friday and called it good. 

Most of what I learned from the experience was that if I am writing an academic paper about something I am passionate about, I am more likely to put effort into it. Writing this paper gave me a chance to become more familiar with the Tudors and the history of their reign. From others' positive feedback and from my own personal feelings about the paper, this is one of the best term papers I have ever written.

"Life Will Find a Way!" The Journey of my Paper.

Can you tell I have Jurassic Park on the mind?

Anyway, my paper did find it's way into the world. It was a difficult birthing process, but all of the changes were necessary. First, I started off much too broadly. I resented going back to the primary text and decided I would just try to do something cool. While an interesting topic,  it lacked real depth, and no-one would talk to me! I felt lost... but:

After I came back to Earth, I realized I would write about something that I already had a pretty strong opinion (or so I thought): The BYU Young company's production of Henry V.  Since choosing that topic, I've found many people willing to talk to me about Child targeted performances. I noticed that if you talk to people are are more accessible it will be more interesting for them AND YOU! They realize people care about what they do and you realize they care about what you're writing about them. Pretty neat! I definitely gained an appreciation for reaching out to people when I had before resented it.

Social networks in some ways weren't very successful for me. I spend a lot of time on twitter trying to get people to talk to me with no such luck. Goodread's "Shakespeare Fans Group" wasn't too talkative on my thread sadly. But I did talk to a one Bob Zazlow in an existing thread who added a little bit of depth to my language accessibility section of my paper. I think social networks can be tough: it's a hit or a miss. My theory is that a lot of people haven't figured out that you can be educational in an online social setting yet. I mean, I just realized it this semester, so I don't blame the masses. I think over time, with our help, this can change.

I was incredibly proud of the direction of my rough draft, but after a little praise and a few pointers, I realized there were some holes that I needed to fill, which I think I successfully did in my final draft. This paper taught me to take advantage of the resources that are all around us an implement them into making better writing!

Dana's Learning Outcomes

1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy
I have now read, watched, and/or studied numerous Shakespeare plays, including Troilus and Cressida, Henry V, King Lear, The Winter's Tale, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and A Comedy of Errors. I feel like this breadth has given me a wider knowledge of Shakespeare's great range of emotion and writing ability. In addition, I have done a more in-depth study of Henry V and Troilus and Cressida as I spent a substantial amount of time researching the plays and criticism about those plays. I have studied Troilus and Cressida in depth for over a month now as I have worked on perfecting my paper about it. In addition to this textual knowledge, I have gained an insight into Shakespeare by watching performances on stage of Henry V and A Comedy of Errors, and watched versions of King Lear, Henry V, Hamlet, The Tempest, and As You Like It. In addition to all of this literacy I have gained of the actual plays, I have learned so much more about Shakespeare in popular culture. Who knew that people have discussion groups about him over the internet or Twitter? I also learned more about Shakespeare's life, birthplace, wife, and schooling--what shaped him as a person and perhaps influenced his writings--as I watched a movie about his life, read various pieces of scholarship that gave his background as I wrote my paper, and reflected upon my visit to Stratford-upon-Avon this past summer.

2. Analyze Shakespeare Critically
All of the responses we posted on Learning Suite and the blog, as well as the scholarship we did in our papers, was basically a continual analysis of Shakespeare. In my paper about Henry V, I looked at the language of the play to make my argument (e.g., the definitions of words, the puns on words, etc.). I also examined the theme of the overall play and drew upon my examination of the language to interpret the theme. In this post, I analyzed the stage version of Shakespeare's As You Like It, where I was able to interpret the set, tone, actor interaction, and viewer interaction of the play and explain how those elements might have affected how the play was interpreted. I have also analyzed the effects of Hamlet and Henry V on screen. This semester, I have really learned how to look at small details within a play on stage or on screen and understand what those small elements mean in relation to the whole play. In my paper on Troilus and Cressida, I looked at the contextual analysis (what sources Shakespeare drew upon for comedy and tragedy, what viewers at the time would have expected from a comedy or tragedy, what the "cultural" norms of a play were) in order to analyze the text as a whole and understand how genre played a role in interpreting the play. I have certainly realized the importance of both textual and contextual analysis as I have interpreted Shakespeare's works.

4. Share Shakespeare Meaningfully
I certainly participated in formal writing this semester. I spent the past month or so writing my paper about Troilus and Cressida. To do this, I went to the library to find scholarly sources (and checked out around 10 to 15 books), looked for various resources online, and wrote my paper in a formal and professional manner. I submitted the paper to the BYU English Symposium, Criterion, and the Scholars' Archive. In addition, I wrote another literary analysis paper about Henry V earlier in the semester. But I haven't limited my writing to formal outlets. I have also posted regularly on both Digital Dialog and the blog in order to analyze numerous plays and respond to others' ideas. In addition, I have discussed my paper with several students in the class and even discussed my paper with my roommates, family, and friends.

5. Gain Digital Literacy
I learned that scholarly work doesn't have to be limited to the classroom or to traditional forms of sharing! I have found ideas for my paper from Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, blogs, and many other "nontraditional" sources that I had originally thought would never have any content about Shakespeare. I also posted my own scholarship on this blog and on YouTube, which were new mediums of scholarly publication that I had never delved into. I also tried to connect with friends on Facebook about Shakespeare, and even connected with an old professor of mine to discuss the genre of tragedy. She gave me help that influenced my paper and I was able to reconnect with her after several years (a double bonus of sharing scholarship on social media).

Reflection
This class has really boosted my understanding, not only of Shakespeare, but of how I can research and write in general. I really enjoyed the amount of time we were able to spend on the final paper. Most of the time, teachers give little time for students to produce a piece of work, but in this class we had about a month to produce a final draft. The blog held me accountable for my learning and spurned me to start my research process earlier. In this way, I was able to have a more solid idea when I actually started writing. The feedback I received from the students on the blog was also helpful because it turned me in the right direction for my final paper. Without this feedback, I wouldn't have been able to write as strong of a paper. Finally, I enjoyed making a video about my paper. This activity helped me narrow down my thesis. Not only did I learn more about how to write a paper, but I also learned the importance of seeing a Shakespeare work on the stage or on the silver screen. Of course reading a Shakespeare play is interesting, but watching the play really brings it to life. I like looking for all of the possible permutations that are available for each play. The focus of our class helped me understand Shakespeare as a living subject.

Gabe's Learning Outcomes

LEARNING OUTCOMES
Basic format of this blog post brought to you by copy and paste.

Gain Shakespeare Literacy

Breadth. Growing up so close to Cedar City's Shakespeare festival gave me many opportunities to become familiar with a good range of Shakespeare's plays, through going on my own or going back in high school. With this background, and the fact that this isn't my first Shakespeare class at BYU, I was curious to see how many new plays I would meet this semester. Several of the plays we read I had already either seen or read them, but it was a great refresher. Shakespeare's works amaze me in their applicability to life. They serve almost as a type of scriptures of the humanities. This semester I enjoyed learning a lot more about what is sometimes referred to as the Henriad, or the history tetralogy from Richard II to Henry V. Before this semester my interest in the historical plays was limited to Julius Caesar and Henry V, and I was happy to add to it.


Depth. The research paper I did about rebellion as found in Henry IV, Part 1 was a major help to the depth of my understanding of that time period in history. Despite my interest in the subject, I haven't ever taken a British history class, so the time I put into looking into Prince Hal's real life helped me put the play in perspective and gain insight on the play. Checking into some of my other classmates' research papers has also helped me learn of conversations concerning plays (Richard III is one example), which has been informational at the least.

The Birth of a Paper

My idea for my paper about teaching Shakespeare from a rhetorical approach started because of the individual play I chose to read, Julius Caesar.

Othello Video

I decided to try and make my video a little more "education-oriented" by using a bulletin theme. You can view it here.

Story of My Research Paper

This research paper has been a process definitely. :) I chose to research Othello because it is a play that is commonly taught in high schools. Since I am planning on teaching in high schools, it seemed like a natural fit. As I started to research, my ideas were very basic. I was dealing with the themes of the text, but it wasn't anything extraordinary. My updated "proto papers" lacked "pizzazz."

This is when social proof became very applicable (read my post about social proof here), and one thing that an old English professor said really struck me. She talked about Shakespeare as a great psychologist. Then Ian made a comment on one of my blog posts that encouraged me to address the needs of my students through Shakespeare. 

I started thinking that the characters in Othello go through similar situations (although to varying degrees) as high school students, and so I started to explore psychology as an avenue to Shakespeare. This was something that I was a little nervous about at first, because I have a very limited knowledge of Shakespeare, but it became very exciting. 

I went through all the normal stages of revision, a working draft, realizing that I needed more critical sources, and lots of edits. Then I arrived at what I thought was a work of art. When I met with Dr. Burton, he alerted me to some flaws in my paper that needed to be fixed. "Fixing some major flaws" turned into cutting over three pages of my paper. I realized that I was trying to address too many things at once, and so I focused my thinking and ended up with a much better paper. 

I am planning to submit my work to an Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference. I was in contact with the organizers a few weeks ago, and I am planning to do some follow-up with them and get my paper submitted. And like the rest of the class I will be submitting my paper to BYU's Scholar's Archive.

Learning Outcomes

Gain Shakespeare Literacy
I think the class structure contributed to gaining a breadth of knowledge. The plays we read as a class were good, and I think it was a good idea to have each member of our class read a different play for the research unit. Although I wouldn't consider myself an expert on each of the plays my classmates read, I have definitely been exposed to more than I previously had been, and I have an interest in furthering my study through more extensive reading. The research paper helped me reach a greater depth of understanding of Othello, and see its value in multiple venues (just for pleasure reading for educators, for psychology, for students, etc.). I appreciated being able to watch multiple films during the course of the semester, because I think that I understand plays more easily when I am seeing them. This class also gave me an opportunity to view other adaptations of plays I had previously seen. The large focus on digital literacy has also helped me to see the huge impact that Shakespeare has had on popular culture. It was fun to see Shakespeare references appearing on Facebook once I started looking for them. His influence is everywhere!

Analyze Shakespeare Critically
I think the research paper obviously was meant to address this Learning Outcome, and I feel like it fulfilled its purpose doing that. My research paper helped me look at major themes in terms of my English Education major, which was something I have never done before, but I think it was applicable and useful for me. It also allowed me to look at criticism in other fields that can be applied to Shakespeare.
I also think the film adaptations we watched helped. I have been asked to do a film analysis on a play in previous classes, but it was helpful to receive specific guidelines on what to look for when analyzing film.