Activity Six: Creating an Item Description
Description
In this activity, each student or contributor will examine existing item descriptions and compare them with biographical sketches in A Woman of the Century, synthesize the material that he or she has gathered on one waman, and write a three to four paragraph Item Description for the woman.
Duration
Objectives
- To engage in comparative analysis of biographical material about two women
- To critique evidence both on its own terms and in terms of its value to a larger analytical project
- To synthesize research materials
- To write a new description for one woman
Materials
Lesson Plan Text
In this activity, you will be examining existing description records, synthesizing your research material, and writing a three page Item Description about the woman you are studying.
1. Examine the item records for two of the four women whose items appear above.
- For each woman, read her Item Description in the Dublin Core field and compare it to her biographical sketch in A Woman of the Century.
- Write a blog post about your comparisons of each woman's Item Description and A Woman of the Century biographical sketch. Please discuss what you have learned about writing an Item Description from this activity.
2. Review the biographical sketch in A Woman of the Century for the woman you have been researching.
3. Review all of the materials that you have amassed to date and decide which materials you want to include in your Item Description.
- Write a blog post about why you decided to use this material.
4. Synthesize that material into a three to five paragraph biographical sketch. Be sure to include her date of birth.
5. Post your final draft on your blog.