Writing Homework Help

The University of South Florida Decolonizing Gender Reading Response

 

GEA1_Reading Response Paper

Read the following article:

Catherine Hodge McCoid and Leroy D. McDermott, “Toward Decolonizing Gender: Female Vision in the Upper Paleolithic,” American Anthropologist 98, no. 2 (June 1996): 319-326

Write a response paper (500-word minimum to 800-word maximum) in which you do the following:

As you read the article, see if the authors provide compelling evidence to support their arguments. You should note that other scholars present different claims regarding the same facts or hypothesis. Think about Dr. Brekka’s lectures in Module 1 of this course concerning the same objects. Next, determine credibility. To determine whether or not the authors are credible:

  1. Search the authors’ names for institutional affiliation
  2. Search the journal/publication title for indications of authority using the parameters for credibility you would associate with scholarly/academic institutions (versus, for example, tabloid newspapers or political blogs)
  3. Examine the date of publication and whether or not the research is so old that public opinion today stands radically in opposition to ideas presented by the authors

Once you have determined credibility, address the following: Do the authors follow through on the arguments presented in their thesis statement? After you’ve read all the article, critically compare and contrast the various arguments presented within the article; ask yourself: What elements of the argument(s) presented is the most compelling? How and why?—defend your point of view (your argument). Use specific examples to back up your claims. Do the authors appear to have any biases that would unfairly prejudice their research? Next, how do the claims presented relate to our course material? Specifically, how do the author’s claims impact global cultural interrelationships and interdependencies related to visual culture? Finally, how might these claims impact our worldview from an art historical perspective? Address all these questions in your response. This is a critical response, NOT a summary of the article you’ve read. Your response should be critically engaged. Do not generalize or summarize. Provide specific examples from the article to support your point of view.

Avoid numerous or long direct quotes. If you do quote or paraphrase, be sure to cite your source. You should always cite your sources for anything you write, every time. To not do so constitutes plagiarism. A reading response paper doesn’t typically include multiple outside sources (this is not a research paper)—unless you want to use outside sources, which is fine too. The best format for a reading response paper is to follow the format for in-text citation for Chicago style guide, thus:

Blah blah blah blah “blah blah blah” (Hodge and McDermott, 324). Blah blah blah. . .

No need for footnotes or endnotes unless you want to use them. Always provide the full article information in your introductory paragraph (author, article title, journal title, volume, date, pages)–exactly as shown about at article link; this is a good approach as it also introduces the subject of your paper. You reader needs to know exactly where your article came from.

Your paper should be formatted in a clear way using paragraphs, with an introduction, body and conclusion.

Be sure to have a look at the rubric criteria, below, for which you will be assessed. Once your paper has been graded, please read the helpful comments and feedback you’ll find embedded in the rubric. All point deductions will be justified with grader comments. Additional grader feedback may also be provided in the text box below your grade.

  • Your paper should be a Word doc or pdf only; 12 point font, double-space, 1″ margins