You will create an intellectual autobiography. The narrative will comprise 4 sec
You will create an intellectual autobiography. The narrative will comprise 4 sections.
Sections 1-2
(300-600 words each) You have some options about what you want to focus on for the first two sections. Overall, you are reflecting on two areas of your life and how they have contributed to your intellectual development, but it’s up to you which areas of your life you want to write about. Choose 2 of these 4 options and discuss how your chosen area has influenced your intellectual development as an interdisciplinary scholar: (I want you to talk about growing up playing sports competitively, specifically swimming, and how that shaped your intelligence. I also want you to talk about how growing up playing classical piano helped shape your intelligence).
Option 1: Upbringing. Discuss an aspect of your upbringing that you feel has influenced your intellectual development.
Option 2: Schooling. Choose one or two facets of your schooling (at any level) and discuss their impacts on your intellectual development.
Option 3: Popular Culture. Identify and describe a piece of pop culture (i.e., a book, movie, game, show, etc.) that you feel has impacted your intellectual life as an interdisciplinary scholar.
Option 4: Hobbies. Identify and describe an important hobby or activity that you feel has impacted your intellectual life as an interdisciplinary scholar.
Section 3
(300-600 words) Identify and describe a “big idea” that is a passion for you (e.g., social justice, sustainable development, etc.). This section invites you to think abstractly about complex problems. I want to both get a sense of why you care about this “big idea” and how this idea may affect your future interdisciplinary work. You could also perhaps trace the idea to its origins or situate the idea historically or culturally. No outside research is required for this section, but you can bring in an outside source if you want to. This section can reflect the brainstorming and research you did for the Broad Model research project this quarter, or it can reflect on a new topic you want to explore during your time as an IS major.
Section 4
(300-600 words) Connect your intellectual development and your current cognitive toolkit to the idea of interdisciplinarity. Link your discussion explicitly to at least two of the intellectual capacities, values, skills and traits discussed by Repko, et al. in Chapter 4 of the textbook. I know it may feel uncomfortable to brag, but I’m looking for connections to parts of the cognitive toolkit that you have developed or are in the process of developing. Sometimes students try to write about areas that they feel they are lacking, but I want this assignment to empower you to think metacognitively about the strengths and capacities that you are already bringing to your intellectual life here at Cal Poly!
Other Things to Consider
– Give your Autobiography a title!
– Avoid rambling. Make sure each section has a clear focus. One-two main points discussed in some depth is preferable to a random scattering of information.
– You may use APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Use whichever one you are already familiar with. If you do not have a preference, then adopt APA if you are more of a social science-type, MLA if you are a humanities-type. Chicago is preferred in the field of History, but it is also enjoyed by those (like me!) who have a crippling dependence on footnotes. The Purdue OWL website is a fabulous resource for academic writing. The interactive style guides for all these and several other citation systems can be accessed there!