The topic of this Pratiques rédactionnelles course is British multicultural, religion and the media. This topic will serve as the subject matter with which students will explore the practice of writing of short, publishable opinion pieces, assisted by AI.
The British multicultural model arose after decades of mass immigration from Commonwealth countries in the Global South. In the 21st century it has gone through some significant changes, in particular by shifting the focus from ethnicity to religion in a profoundly transformed British religious landscape, at a time when secularism is on the rise. The questions raised by this re-turn of religion, however, must been seen in the context of the historical place and role of religion in the British public space. The course focuses on how the specific ways in which Britain deals with religion has profoundly coloured British multiculturalism, giving peculiarly British answers to questions that are raised in all multicultural societies in the West.
Thematic folders
Students will be asked to work on different themes related to multiculturalism and religion. The reading material for these themes will include press articles and/or videos as well as at least one scholarly paper.
Some thematic folders can be downloaded from here. These folders are merely possible starting points for writing your opinion pieces. You are encouraged to search additional sources yourself.
Using Hypothesis
Most crucially, to help you develop your own critical viewpoint on multicultural issues, you are encouraged to make use of scholarly papers. You will be asked to annotate a few of them, using the Hypothesis online annotating tool. Please follow the tutorial to make you hypothesis ready.
Scholarly papers to annotate
Assignments
You will write a couple of opinion pieces about British multiculturalism. In doing so you will also be asked to reflect on the way you use AI to help you write a piece in which the reader must be able to hear your voice and creativity. The assignments will be done in two stages —first draft and final draft. Both drafts will include a detailed report on the process of writing with IA in a way that enhances rather than maim the presence of your human voice and originality.
Please consult the calendar of assignments and get organised to hand in your papers by the given deadline.
Upload your opinion pieces here (pdf files only, please!)
Writing in English
The papers you must hand in in the course of the semester are short opinion pieces (two pages, give or take one paragraph, using Times 12 and a 1.5 spacing).
The goal is to write a publishable piece (for a blog for example) aimed at a broad international readership who do not necessarily have an in-depth knowledge of Britain. You should not write as if your tutor was the only reader but aim at writing something that could be read widely.
On the first draft of your opinion piece, I underline what needs improving and try to suggest ways by which this can be done. You will then have a go at improving your paper.
Revising your first drafts
The meaning of my proofreading marks as well as a few pieces of advice to improve your writing skills can be found on this page.
Latest Posts
To access older posts, please click on “All posts for British Multiculturalism Religion and the Media” in the sidebar menu.