1000 Short Answer Assignment
• This is worth 20% of your final grade
• Submit to me by email
• The subject heading should read “Short Answer Assignment Writing 1000”
o Be sure to give your section letter as well: A or H
• Attach the assignment as either a Word doc. or PDF (no Google Docs)
This assignment tests your awareness of the academic genre by asking you to respond to a short answer topic precisely and succinctly. The length of the assignment should be 1 page minimum (typed and double-spaced). Below, I have given you a few topics to choose from. Pick two topics to answer. As well, down below, I’ve attached a sample answer, so that you have a very clear model for what I expect.
Be aware that the sample assignment has been formatted accorded to MLA guidelines (but you can choose to format it in APA if you like). As you can see, this isn’t really an essay assignment, but I do expect your writing to be well-constructed and to contain few punctuation or grammar mistakes. Remember to include both in-text citations and a final citation at the end of your piece. I would like to see that your answer contains summary, paraphrase, and/or quotations as needed. (These might be new skills for you, but try your best.) Remember to be specific. Remember to stay focused on what the author (in this case, Regal) has to say.
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, JUST ASK.
I’m here to help.
Short answer topics:
1. Using Brian Regal’s article, explain Grover Krantz’s Gigantopithecus theory.
2. Using Brian Regal’s article, describe the problems Grover Krantz encountered when trying to publish his research.
3. Using Brian Regal’s article, discuss the problem with supposed Bigfoot tracks.
Writing 1000
Short Answer Assignment
Using Brian Regal’s article, identify the other cryptozoologists working at the same time as Grover Krantz and describe their role in the hunt for Bigfoot.
In “Entering Dubious Realms,” Brian Regal identifies several of Grover Krantz’s contemporaries in the hunt for Bigfoot. In my response, I will briefly describe the roles they played in attempting to discover this probably non-existent primate. To begin, unlike most of the other so-called cryptozoologists, Krantz was a professionally trained anthropologist with a doctorate. Regal mentions that “amateurs were normally wary of professionals” (88), but two cryptozoologists were also professionally trained: namely, Ivan Sanderson and Bernard Heuvelmans. They appeared to offer some respectability to the field. As well, Regal mentions Carleton Coon, another trained anthropologist, but he only “dabbled in the field” (89). However, most of the people involved in the hunt for Bigfoot were not professional scientists. Of these, Regal mentions Roger Patterson who filmed “the contentious” Patterson-Gimlin film (90). Another was the Canadian journalist John Green whose book On the Tracks of the Sasquatch (published in 1968) was a study of the elusive creature. Regal writes of Ivan Marx and Paul Freeman, who supplied Krantz with casts of footprints, and yet who were accused hoaxers (91). In the same paragraph, Regal discusses René Dahinden, another Canadian cryptozoologist. Krantz’s relationship with Dahinden seems to have been stormy. Regal quotes Dahinden as claiming that Kranz’s work was “so dumb and stupid it boggles the mind” (p. 91). One of Regal’s main concerns in the article is that in his pursuit of Bigfoot, Krantz ran into difficulty not only with other academics in the field of anthropology but also with amateurs in the field of cryptozoology.
Works Cited
Regal, Brian. “Entering Dubious Realms: Grover Krantz, Science, and Sasquatch.” Annals of Science, vol. 66, no. 1, 2009, pp. 83-102.