CONTEMPORARY ARCHAEOLOGY 
AND THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITING SKILLS 
(MODULE 02)

	Read: Nothing, but take good notes!

(Click here to go directly to the Lesson Overview for this lesson)
(Click here to go directly to the syllabus daily topics schedule for this lesson)

	*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

	A.	QUESTION: This course is labeled "Writing Intensive"—Why should I take such a course here in anthropology?
		when I can perhaps take one in English composition and writing somewhere else?
	B.	QUESTION: In what ways do anthropologists employ writing skills and why should I bother here?
		1.	Archaeologists write for a variety of audiences:
			a.	Professional audiences:
				(1)	Archaeologists (e.g., colleagues)
				(2)	"Other" anthropologists:
					(a)	Cultural anthropologists
					(b)	Physical anthropologists, etc.
				(3)	"Other" social scientists:
					(a)	Sociologists
					(b)	Psychologists
					(c)	Historians (Yes, I think of them as social scientists!)
				(4)	Non-social scientists:
					(a)	Ecologists
					(b)	Biologists, etc.
			b.	Non-professional audiences:
				(1)	For public service organizations
				(2)	For the popular media, etc.
		2.	Archaeologists write to their audiences in a number of formats:
			a.	Some examples of granting agencies that would require specific formats for grant applications:
				(1)	National Science Foundation (NSF)
				(2)	National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
				(3)	Social Science Research Council (SSRC)
				(4)	L. S. B. Leakey Foundation
				(5)	American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
				(6)	National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
				(7)	Smithsonian Fellowships
				(8)	Wenner-Gren Foundation
				(9)	Ford Foundation
				(10)	Archaeological Institute of America (Fellowships)
				(11)	Center for Archaeological Investigations
				(12)	Guggenheim Foundation
			b.	Professional publications have a variety of formats required that include:
				(1)	Explicit limitations on content
				(2)	Explicit limitations on length
				(3)	Writing and presentation style
				(4)	Illustration types (e.g., type, size, form, "camera-ready copy," etc.)
				(5)	In-text footnoting format
				(6)	Bibliographic format
			c.	Some examples of professional journals that review articles for publication
				(1)	American Anthropologist
				(2)	American Antiquity
				(3)	Current Anthropology
				(4)	American Ethnologist, etc.

		3.	Use your time to learn how to do a carefully orchestrated project here because if you do it here, it will be easier 
			for you to develop written projects appropriate for other classes and disciplines.
		4.	Careful writing will help you to organize and distill your ideas (thus, cutting out extraneous—"vacuous blather")
		5.	This class will provide you with an opportunity to experiment on your writing in a sympathetic environment 
			(something you won't always be able to do!).

	*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

	(Assignment: Read the course syllabus where it details the writing-intensive part of this course)

	*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *