In a Tortoiseshell: In this excerpt of his short story, David Smith exemplifies how key elements of writing taught in academic contexts are essential to other, unconventional forms of composition. In particular, the author displays the role of motive, methodology, and conventions in a work of fiction.
In a Tortoiseshell: In her exhibition statement for a hypothetical museum exhibit, Shirley prepares her readers to encounter exicon terms visually and spatially. She provides her audience with orienting information on architectural estrangement, with clear motivating questions to guide audience members’ experience of the exhibited objects, with evidence in the form of the objects themselves, and with suggested routes of analysis in the way those objects are displayed in the exhibition space. Overall, Shirley’s exhibition invites hypothetical museum-goers to join a scholarly conversation on architectural estrangement and to find their own argument in the exhibited objects. Continue reading
Starting in college, students are taught to employ the lexicon in the context of traditional academic papers. However, all three pieces in this section combine familiar argumentative methods with the powerful narratives evoked by their creative formats. In her imagined inaugural speech for the (fictional) opening of Princeton University Medical School, Nisha Chandra makes an argument about racial equity in medicine. Editor Alice McGuinness illuminates Chandra’s use of the lexicon, including her treatment of key terms, evidence, and structure. Shirley Chen’s exhibition statement for a hypothetical museum exhibit employs orienting and motive. In her commentary, editor Meigan Clark argues that Chen invites viewers to participate in the exhibition’s argument and scholarly conversation. Finally, editor Joe Himmelfarb discusses how David Smith’s short story “The Quarters” employs motive and methodology.
— Frances Mangina, ’22
In a Tortoiseshell: In the following excerpt, Nisha Chandra uses the conventions of a speech for the imaginary opening of Princeton’s medical school to craft compelling analysis, guided by her definition of key terms.
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