Practice of scholarship (Spring 2019)/week 4 session plan

Becker and the uses/misuses of prior work
 * Becker book chapter discussion
 * What fears motivate being terrorized by The Literature? How reasonable/salient are they for you?
 * What are (in)effective uses of prior literature according to Becker?
 * Explain the extended table metaphor.
 * How can prior literature deform an argument?
 * Becker talks about incommensurability towards the end of the chapter. What is it? Why does it matter?


 * Becker marijuana paper discussion
 * Where and how does Becker situate this study in relation to prior work?
 * What shortcomings of this paper does Becker identify/regret in the book chapter?

Contemporary example
 * Shaw & Hargittai paper discussion
 * How would you characterize the genre (along the lines of Zuckerman's collection) of this paper?
 * What are the key prior areas of work that this paper deals with?
 * How does the paper use prior work to motivate/justify its own approach?
 * How convincing do you find the use of prior work to be here?

Mid-quarter evaluation discussion
 * How to relate these examples/ideas to your own work?
 * Aaron will summarize the feedback/findings and we will discuss briefly

Peer feedback discussion
 * Two tropes of prior work feedback
 * Prior studies leading the narrative
 * Lack of focus/precision

Prep for week 5
 * Discuss in pairs/threes!
 * Return to original peer pairings from week 2