How should we get started?
I’d start by searching for the name of your subfield and “conference” or “symposium.” This should give you an idea of the kinds of professional associations that host conversations relevant to your subfield. Read the program and proceedings (if available) carefully. You should start to get a sense of the kinds of conversations people are having right now. Do the same thing for journal articles, and citation-chain your way to relevant literature. It’s not an exact science, but after doing this for awhile, you should start to get a sense of important names and keywords for your field.
How am I supposed to know about trends in the field?
This is one of the skills I want you to practice! Once you’ve identified major conferences and journals for the field, you should skim titles and abstracts in order to gain a sense of what issues people are talking about. It’s unlikely any piece of writing or scholarship will directly answer this question; instead, you need to survey the literature in order to infer the answer.
How will you grade the assignment?
You can find a rubric on our Canvas site, under the “Rubric” menu.
How should my group turn in our dossier?
Because of the way Canvas works, please turn in your project in two places: via the “Specialization dossier” assignment and as a post on your section’s discussion board, as part of the Specialization Dossiers thread. That way your fellow students will be able to benefit from it. Please designate one person in your group to be the official turner-inner.
Should we cite our sources?
Yes, please! You’re welcome to use any citation style you like; just be consistent.