EAJ 205 – Spring 2009
JAPANESE RESEARCH AND
BIBLIOGRAPHIC METHODS
Instructor:
|
Office:
Humanities 243 Office
Hours: Phone:
442-4119 e-mail:
fessler@albany.edu |
Course
Description:
This course will cover research and
bibliographic methods in Japanese Studies.
Students will learn how to navigate library catalogs and the internet
with specific emphasis on Japanese databases and resources. Students will also
learn how to use Japanese reference materials, such as character dictionaries.
This course has a strict prerequisite of at least one year of
Japanese language or its equivalent.
Students who do not have this prerequisite are not qualified or
prepared for the course.
This
course fulfills the General Education requirement of “Information Literacy”
1.
General Education courses offer introductions to the central topics of
disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.
2.
General Education courses offer explicit rather than tacit
understandings of the procedures, practices, methodology and fundamental
assumptions of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields.
3.
General Education courses recognize multiple perspectives on the
subject matter.
4.
General Education courses emphasize active learning in an engaged
environment that enables students to be producers as well as consumers of
knowledge.
5.
General Education courses promote critical inquiry into the
assumptions, goals, and methods of various fields of academic study; they aim
to develop the interpretive, analytic, and evaluative competencies
characteristic of critical thinking.
Approved courses introduce students
to various ways in which information is organized and structured and to the
process of finding, using, producing, and distributing information in a variety
of media formats, including traditional print as well as computer databases.
Students acquire experience with resources available on the Internet and learn
to evaluate the quality of information, to use information ethically and
professionally, and to adjust to rapidly changing technology tools. Students
must complete this requirement within the freshman or sophomore year.
Courses that satisfy the Information
Literacy requirement will have three characteristics:
1) Classroom activities on finding, evaluating,
citing, and using information in print and electronic sources from the
University Libraries, World Wide Web, and other sources. Courses should address
questions concerning the ethical use of information, copyrights, and other
related issues that promote critical reflection.
2) Assignments, course work, or tutorials that
make extensive use of the University Libraries, World Wide Web, and other
information sources. Assignments should include finding, evaluating, and citing
information sources.
3) At least one research
project that requires students to find, evaluate, cite, and use information
presented in diverse formats from multiple sources and to integrate this
information within a single textual, visual, or digital document.
Required
Texts:
1)
Students should choose an appropriate dictionary. Dictionaries will be
discussed on the first day of class; students will be given two weeks in which
to acquire an appropriate dictionary.
2)
The following texts are also required:
·
The
·
Research in Japanese Sources: a Guide by Herschel Webb and Marleigh
Ryan
·
Japan Style Sheet: The SWET Guide for Writers, Editors and
Translators
Students also need one (not both) of the following:
·
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (
·
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi
3) Students must have an
active e-mail account, from which they can send and receive attachments. They also must have a valid student ID that
allows them to access UAlbany library materials. An ID invalidated because of unpaid fines,
etc. is NOT an excuse for late/incomplete work.
It is also recommended that students bring a CD-RW disk or flash memory
drive with them to class on the days that involve computer use.
4) A CD-ROM of A
Sino-Western Calendar for Two Thousand Years. This will be provided at cost by the
instructors (not the bookstore), probably about $1.00.
5) This course uses two important internet
resources:
·
An extensive web page at http://www.albany.edu/eas/205/index.html. You should ALWAYS check the web page before
class and “surf” the links for each unit.
All homework assignments will be on this site, as well as reference
materials and useful links.
·
ERES (Electronic
Reserves). The course password will be
announced in class; if you forget your password, please e-mail the
instructor. There are not many ERES
materials, but in the event that we want you to read a small portion of a
copyrighted text, we will use ERES.
Testing
and Grading:
Attendance
will be taken regularly; students are expected to attend class unless
extenuating circumstances prevent it.
Students are also expected to be active participants in this class. Class format will be largely hands-on
activities aimed at developing good research skills. There will be weekly
in-class assignments and/or homework.
Late assignments will receive a penalty.
The capstone project for this class will be an annotated
bibliography. There will be a mid-term
exam. Grading is as follows:
Attendance/participation: 20%
Homework: 25%
Midterm: 25%
Annotated Bibliography: 30%
This
syllabus is a contract. The instructor
agrees to teach the topics listed below, and to grade you on the criteria
listed above. The instructor considers a
grade of "Incomplete" to be for emergencies (death in the family,
extreme illness, etc.), not for students who fail to plan ahead. The instructor does not curve grades or give extra
credit assignments. The grading
scale is as follows: 93-100%=A; 90-92%=A-; 87-89%=B+; 83-86%=B; 80-82%=B-;
77-79%=C+; 73-76%=C; 70-72%=C-; 67-69%=D+; 63-66%=D; 60-62%=D-; 0-59%=E.
If
you want to check on your performance at any point in the semester, feel free
to come to the instructor’s office and we'll run through the numbers. If there are extenuating circumstances that
you anticipate will unduly affect your grade, it is your responsibility to
speak with the instructor IN ADVANCE.
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Topic |
Reading (do
before class) |
Homework (due
on that day) /Notes |
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Jan. |
22 |
Th |
Course
Introduction; Dictionaries,
required texts, etc. |
None |
None |
|
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27 |
T |
Navigating the
University Library |
►Take the
Virtual Tour at http://library.albany.edu/usered/tour/index.html ►Read the International
Students’ Guide to the Libraries ►Read the Introduction to
Minerva |
None |
|
|
29 |
Th |
EAS databases and
online resources (JSTOR; BAS; Project Muse) |
Homework:
Word Processing in Japanese |
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Feb. |
3 |
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Word Processing |
►Read Word
Processing basics and Inputting
symbols and Japanese characters |
Homework:
Finding things in the library |
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5 |
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EAS databases and
online resources (NACSIS; OCLC) |
Homework:
Electronic databases on East Asia |
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10 |
|
Radicals |
►Read “Radicals
of Chinese Characters” ►Read
Nelson’s pp. 1002-1013 “How to Determine the Radical…” and “Kanji
Radicals” |
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12 |
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Jukugo, ateji, okurigana,
structure of kanji |
TBA |
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17 |
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WINTER BREAK |
NONE |
NONE |
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19 |
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WINTER BREAK |
NONE |
NONE |
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24 |
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Electronic and
Online Dictionaries |
NONE |
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|
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26 |
|
Romanization |
►Read “Romanization
of Japanese” ►Browse Course
material on romanization |
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March |
3 |
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Simplification |
||
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5 |
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Calligraphy |
►Review packet on calligraphy
and fonts |
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10 |
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Development and
History of Dictionaries |
►Read: Manual,
pp. 17-93, esp, pp. 60ff on dictionaries.(see ERES for this reading) |
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12 |
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Morohashi’s Dictionary |
No dictionary
homework—Morohashi’s will be incorporated in
the midterm, though! |
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17 |
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Citation |
►Read packet
on citing from the
MLA Style Guide |
MIDTERM EXAMINATION due at BEGINNING of class. Bring your
citation text to class on this day! |
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19 |
|
Annotated
Bibliographies |
►Read packet
on
writing an annotated bibliography |
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24 |
|
Structuring a paper
(putting everything together) |
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26 |
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Chronology;
telling time |
►Read: Companion,
pp. 113-127; 399-414 ►Look at Dates in
East Asian History and A
Practical Guide to East Asian date conversion |
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|
31 |
|
Eras |
►Read: Companion
pp. 113-127 |
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April |
2 |
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Units of
Measure/Statistics |
►Read: Japanese Cardinal/Ordinal systems ►Read: Research
in Japanese Sources, Ch. 3 |
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7 |
|
Biographical
Resources |
►Read: Course material on
Names ►Read: |
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Historical
Resources—Ranks |
►Read: Course
Materials on Rank ►Read: Companion,
pp. 443-478 |
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9 |
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SPRING BREAK |
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14 |
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Historical
Resources: Part 1 |
►Read: Course
materials on Historical Research ►Read: Research in Japanese Sources, ch. 8 |
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16 |
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Historical Resources:
Part 2 |
►Read: Course
Materials |
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21 |
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Literature
Resources |
►Japanese: Companion,
skim pts. 3-6 |
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23 |
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Geographical
Resources |
►Read: Course Materials on
Geography ►Read: Companion,
pp. 415-442; Ch. 5 of Research in Japanese Sources |
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28 |
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Religion/Philosophy
Resources |
►Read: Companion,
pp. 368-397 |
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE |
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