The Lighthouse Diary #73: Exploratory Essay: Working on Feedback & Creating a Research Pathway

This is an update on the Exploratory Essay I wrote as model text for our grade 11 students. Not only are we modeling writing as technique and strategy to teach and learn, we are also simulating the process involved in academic writing. To read Part 1 and Part 2 click the links.

 I asked the help of my co-teacher, who read my essay and then, she gave feedback. 

Here is what I did with her feedback. This text will become a teaching and learning material for our grade 11s who are navigating the academic writing process for the first time. 

Title of Exploratory Essay: Understanding Intertextuality as Literary Theory and Strategy in Selected Songs and Music Videos of BTS

Context: After writing my exploratory essay on songs of BTS and Intertextuality, I asked Ms. Locsin to read it, mark it using the rubric/criteria and give feedback. Here is the feedback which is copy-pasted from my email.

Hi Zarah,

An A on all criteria! My only comment is that from your discussion of the examples, it seems that you have the answers to the questions you ask - so medyo 'luto' na yung research findings.

How do we encourage our students to express authentic questions that are answerable through research? How do we get them to envision a process and lay out a possible pathway for exploration without being sure of the outcomes? I believe kasi that if the question is genuine, authentic, and fairly specific, it will be harder for AI to answer.

(So in the case of this paper, would that question instead be - is the use of intertextuality a modus of 'borrowing' themes and ideas and therefore merely recursive, using it as a way of ensuring some kind of timelessness - rather than a creation of a new? and then that would require a definition of new).

 What I gather from Ms. Locsin’s feedback

My essay aims to justify and confirm, not inquire and inspire me to ask genuine questions. Although I have a research question, it does not allow me to think beyond what I know when research is all about risk taking and accommodating room for complex and open-ended thinking. By doing the later, my skills in identifying and utilizing sources of different kinds and variety will be applied and my patience stretched. An opportunity to strengthen my character!

At this point of exploring my topic and what it consists, its parts and interdisciplinary issues, I am to discover things—old and new, rather than proving and justifying what already is in existence. In this case, it is BTS’ use of intertextuality in their contents and music. I am prompted towards writing about intertextuality as innovation and transformation vs. a mere resurgence of old tricks by the literary masters to pay homage.

What do I do with this feedback/information/knowledge?

My current research question is strong but it leans to confirm and conform rather than inquire and discover.

How does BTS use intertextuality as both a literary theory and creative strategy in their songs and music videos to challenge cultural norms, explore identity, and engage in global discourse?

Through Ms. Locsin’s feedback, I am revising my research question to:

Does BTS’ use of intertextuality reflect a form of creative originality or a technique of borrowing from sources ensuring familiarity, continuity and the timelessness of literature?  

My paragraph that holds my research question is written this way:

BTS makes use of Intertextuality as a theory and creative tool to examine themes of justice, freedom and identity. By deriving materials and borrowing texts from literature, folklore and other forms of media, BTS’ songs and music videos are powerful storytelling strategies that challenge socio-cultural norms, promote artistic expression and provide the connection between idols and fans deeply. Given these statements, the working research question for this academic paper is: how does BTS use intertextuality as both a literary theory and creative strategy in their songs and music videos to challenge cultural norms, explore identity, and engage in global discourse?

This is now the revised paragraph:

BTS makes use of Intertextuality as a theory and creative tool to examine themes of justice, freedom and identity. By deriving materials and borrowing texts from literature, folklore and other forms of media, BTS’ songs and music videos are powerful storytelling strategies that challenge socio-cultural norms, promote artistic expression and provide the connection between idols and fans deeply. It does appear that BTS’ is creating something new. What remains to be explored is whether the use of intertextuality is a strategy that fosters transformation and innovation or a means to establish symbolic permanence of the arts and the humanities. The working research question of this paper is: does BTS’ use of intertextuality reflect a form of creative originality or a technique of borrowing from sources ensuring familiarity, continuity and the timelessness of literature? Given this research question, I will examine the source texts namely Snowpiercer, The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas and Demian; annotate fan and audience analysis of Spring Day and Blood, Sweat and Tears; and analyze essays, articles and academic papers that discuss and evaluate contemporary pop culture storytelling to account what is defined as “new” or “novel”.

My next steps is to report to Ms. Locsin my progress with a timeline showing my working outline and references. This is a task I will bring with me in the summer. 😊

 Ms. Zee

05.01.2025

The Lighthouse Diary #69: A Model Text for the Exploratory Essay 1 of 2

We kicked off our Extended Essay (EE) Journey last February, around the third week and we have been dwelling in topic selection; identifying sources that will inform us of breadth and depth of topics, using thinking tools such as the KWL-I Chart and Mind Maps to see connections and organize our thinking. Add to this is the relearning of Managebac as a platform to document our reflections as we learn and navigate in the EE. In previous years we would require our students to write a topic/research proposal and present it to a panel. Realizing the importance of "thinking slow" in this phase of the EE, and how crucial research and inquiry are, we thought of writing an Exploratory Essay. To help our students in this exercise, we sent and showed them model texts. 

Below is one of them, written by me.

Exploratory Essay: Understanding Intertextuality as Literary Theory and Strategy in Selected Songs and Music Videos of BTS

By Ms. Zee 😊

Of the varied specialized dictionaries, I used to establish a definition of Intertextuality, it is Julia Kristeva’s work that is consistently mentioned. Graham Allen’s recent work on Intertextuality (2020), which has a comprehensive and extensive coverage, is cited as well. These are the two scholars who have written extensively on the topic of Intertextuality; therefore, I will make time to do research on their publications to deepen and extend my knowledge on my chosen topic. For my exploratory essay, I will focus on establishing basic but foundational knowledge on Intertextuality.

 Kristeva posits that Intertextuality is a relationship between and among texts. This interplay of texts not only echo each other but undergo a transposition– something familiar and yet, it offers something new. Expressed through anagram, allusion, adaptation, parody, pastiche, imitation and other kinds of transformation, texts are drawn to establish an interdependence that emulsifies and amplifies meaning. The overlaying of texts is nuanced with the traces of texts from other sources, thus, the discourse surrounding this transformed text becomes padded. It offers the reader a variety of points of view and perspectives. The reader’s knowledge of different forms, genres and kinds of text is key in the understanding and appreciation of intertextual texts as a work of literature (Matrix Education n.d). When taken as a media product, texts that are produced using intertextuality have the power to hold the audience’s or the reader’s reckoning of contents or brands. In this case, Intertextuality when viewed as a theory allows open discussions on sources of information, knowledge and literature either literary or non-literary. Zengin (2016) further expands the theory of intertextuality as both an act of authorial production and reader perception. The meaning of an intertext is set upon its creation by the author but this evolves and changes depending on the reader’s interaction with the text. Intertextuality then becomes a never-ending process of meaning-making.

This brings to light the music video of Spring Day by the KPop group, BTS. There are three notable scenes and images that are fused together. The effect is an intriguing, almost luminous, message on loss, longing and the desire for justice in a seemingly hopeless world. The explicit use of Omelas to name a hotel/dorm harkens to Ursula Le Guin’s riveting short story; the lone train traveling in a wintry landscape is reminiscent of the post-apocalyptic movie, Snowpiercer (2013); and the folkloric image of a pair of shoes hanging in a tree branch magnifies the yearning for freedom and individuation. These borrowed texts provide a layered and emotionally textured narrative that invite viewers to discuss and reinterpret the message through literary appropriation, allusion and socio-cultural phenomenon. Even the song lyrics are picked up by fans and casual audiences contributing to a rich discourse on pop-culture and its relevance of storytelling to the human condition (Lazore, 2024). By referencing images and literary elements from a short story, a movie and folkloric beliefs, Spring Day as a song and music video transforms into a story that fans and casual viewers discover as both mystical and illuminating evoking a variety of emotions and multiple interpretations. Spring Day has never left the MelOn Charts since its release in 2017. It has won numerous awards in South Korea and has been performed in different artistic forms since then.