Tk Longest Essay & Presentation: Source Evaluation



Longest Essay: Exploration

All extra credit work due by 2 pm on Tuesday, 15 December, to 316 Library

Essay due by 3 pm on Friday, 18 December, to OLIN BUILDING OFFICE

This essay requires that you evaluate some element of the composition (writing, argumentation, structure, language, tone, etc.) of your assigned article, and investigate that element’s application and meaning in that reading and beyond. Ideally, you’ve already thought about the writing of the article, and something stood out. Now is the time to develop your ideas in other arenas. You may choose to approach this essay as an exploration into other published writing or your own work.

If you examine other published writing, you may choose either one additional source (for an eventual essay of 4-6 pages) or two additional sources (5-8 pages). These additional sources may be other readings from this class, readings from your Core class, your Literature class, your Econ class, your eleventh grade history class, your leisure reading when you were twelve – in other words, it’s up to you. If you examine your own work, you may choose one or two of your own essays (of which only one must be from this class, eventual essay 4-5 pages. Regardless of your direction, you MUST use your assigned article for this class as the starting point for your topic.

As you begin writing

Do remember that this is a writing class; you will be writing about writing. Your task is to address some element(s) of the composition of an assigned reading – not to weigh in on the article’s subject – and then broaden your discussion of that writing “tool” into other arenas. There are too many possible directions to make adequate suggestions for every student. Instead, you are encouraged to find a topic and direction that make sense for your writing style and interests. Here, however, are some tasks every essay I can imagine must accomplish:

1. Identify and explain the composition tool your essay will address (POV, bias, mediation, language, characterization, rhetorical appeal, structure, etc.)

2. Use specific examples from one of your assigned readings and at least one other source to demonstrate how that tool works within a framework of an argument (a subtask: you’ll need to offer brief summative information about each source, but only as background and in as much detail as is pertinent to your essay’s larger idea)

3. Draw conclusions about that writing tool (address the “and so what?” question)

A few critical things to remember:

* You are writing about the writing of your sources, not simply weighing in on their subjects.

* Your essay must offer an argument or pose a debatable theory about some element of the writing of your sources.

* You may use summary, but use it wisely and sparingly – only when relevant to your idea.

* Use sources (including your own work!) respectfully and correctly per to the conventions of the academic community you’re in – no excuses.

A working thesis

Typically, the first step of a working thesis for this essay will contain statements about what a writing tool does for an argument (or theme, or goal). Using Colpinto’s “Bloodsuckers” as an example, an initial working thesis / triggering idea could look something like: “Colapinto balances deliberately disgusting descriptions of leeches with authoritative medical information to assure readers that, while admittedly distasteful, leeching is not the archaic and crude form of medicine we might presume it to be.” That working thesis identifies an argument within the article, shows, in part, how the writing contributes to that argument, and offers an opinion on the efficacy of the article’s writing and argument. Continuing, the next step of that working thesis must encompass at least one other source, such as: “Just as Colapinto emphasizes how disgusting leeches are while encouraging his audience to accept them as modern medicine, Divakaruni acknowledges the nightmarish image of child labor while raising doubts about the US’s right to condemn the practice through the story of one child.” Both of these working theses are writer-oriented – they remind the writer how to use their sources. However, the polished focus of this essay should be about the writing tool itself, and so those nods to sources might disappear. The prominence of source specifics in a polished thesis might confuse or misdirect a reader or (unwisely) limit the essay’s scope. At the same time, claims disguised as fact also limit the scope of an idea; though such moments often appear as generalizations, they tend to mask the complexity and nuance that are necessary to strong academic ideas. So – by the time the essay’s complete, the working thesis should shift to the writing tool and mitigate its language: “Playing to an audience’s predispositions and carefully locating an argument away from an entrenched position gives a writer credibility and a good chance of succeeding with a resistant audience.” A good introduction of a paragraph or two might unpack that thesis, explain its language, and set a course for developing and illustrating the ideas and arguments it contains.

Basics

Don’t forget to identify, at least, the author and title of any sources used. Review lessons from class and Hacker about formatting titles, names, quotations, and paraphrases within academic essays. As we’ve seen, smoothly integrating quotations from another text into your essay and editing those quotations is a task unto itself. Take care when choosing which direct quotations will appear in your essay, ensure your essay explains how these quotations support or illustrate an observation or point you wish to make, and integrate the quotations seamlessly into the grammar of your writing.

Generalizations

Avoid sweeping generalizations about the world, a source’s subject, and your topic. Remember that you are writing about a writing tool, how it functions in at least two sources, and drawing conclusions. This “throat-clearing” often happens in drafts, because the writer hasn’t yet found a point. In a final version, you should already have a point, and have edited the entire essay toward it.

Summary

You may need to summarize some of any source you use, but be sure that there’s a specific reason – relevant to your argument / thesis / controlling idea – for all summary that appears in your essay. Don’t assume that your reader has read your sources, but also realize that they shouldn’t need to in order to understand them enough to see the validity and wisdom of your perspective.

Writing about texts

Typically, events in a written work (fiction, poetry, and nonfiction) are discussed using the present tense and third-person point-of-view or POV (i.e., “Colapinto balances . . .”). However, your argument and approach may occasion use of the past tense, first-person POV, or other deviations. You may use any POV or verb tense you find appropriate for your essay. Do edit for shifts, though, and unless there’s a reason to switch, be consistent throughout the essay. Regardless of which POV you use, be sure that it is your voice, your argument, and your ideas guiding the essay.

Writing partners

Again, you will be working closely with an assigned partner (or within a triad) both during class AND on your own time. Your partner should read your in-class work and at least one draft of your essay OUTSIDE class, providing feedback as you develop and refine your ideas. Your partner must also write a brief evaluation of your essay according to the Five-Area Assessment – this should be included with your reflection, where you should respond to their thoughts. You will have some class time for these activities, but you will have to work together outside class, too. This person is your writing buddy. Learn from each other, and work through writing struggles together. Meet with me together. Ask me questions about each others’ work when it raises questions about your own writing (it should). Partners: Sydney & David; Dave & Sally; Keli & Drew; Nick & Quam & Julianne; Liz & Peter

Turning in this essay

Citations & format

Follow the essay format instructions from your course writing guidelines, handed out during the first week and still posted to the course website. It’s deeply unlikely you can fulfill the basic requirements of this assignment without using some direct quotation and paraphrase, so decide which form of specific citation (in-text, footnotes, or endnotes) and which style (MLA, APA, or Chicago) you’d like to use, and use one form and style consistently throughout your essay. You will need to cite all sources used, both specifically and generally, because you are writing within a community that demands it. All of your assigned readings can be found through ProQuest; Lexis Nexis, or online, and fortunately Hacker provides a framework for formatting Works Cited entries for most online and academic service sources. Use pdf documents when available, because they are replicas of the original article. Like most online sources, articles from the New Yorker are available only in unformatted text, and their pagination is not consistent with the original publication; instead of page numbers, use paragraph numbers, which will be uniform regardless of font size. It’s wise to proofread your citations with Hacker by your side or go to the Writing Center to review.

Reflection

If you have decided to examine your own work in your essay, your accompanying reflection must address, at length, your writing process, including the class discussion you led, your writing partnership, anything unusual you tried in your essay, and offer parting thoughts. Consider your essay under EACH of the five categories of academic writing standards; include your partner’s assessment and respond to it. It’s the final reflection of the term, and should show deep investigation – reach for one full page, double-spaced. If you decided to examine other published sources in your essay, your should also apply your essay’s central idea to your own writing.

What you need to turn in (or not)

Put together a package just as you’ve done for your Shorter Essays: the final version of your essay goes on top, including a Works Cited or Bibliography, followed by your reflection, and then every draft and process work assignment you’ve completed (even if I’ve seen it before), as assigned or on your own, going backwards chronologically. The first work you did toward this assignment should be on the bottom. Please do not use bulky folders or binders to contain your work; just staple securely and put your name and a page number (as necessary) on each sheet of paper. Please do not turn in either a copy of the assignment description or the sources you use; I have the first, and should be directed to the latter by your Works Cited or Bibliography. I will be done with your essays on 23 December; if you would like your essay returned to you, please include an unsealed (but sealable) envelope large enough to hold your work. These will be sent to your campus mailbox or (if correct postage is included) an address of your choice. Please ask if you’re not sure whether or not to include something.

Sample essay openings (content / presentation grades)

Outside sources are frequently used in articles to prove a point or strengthen an argument. Expert sources lend credibility to the claims of the author. When the author does not explicitly state their personal view, the portrayal of the experts included in the article can help the audience recognize the author’s opinion.  If the experts are portrayed negatively, for instance, as socially awkward or emotional, their image and credibility are damaged, which might be just what the author intends if he disagrees with them. Conversely, the author can portray them as confident or a standout in their field of study to positively influence the audience’s perception of them. Michael Specter, in his New Yorker article “The Last Drop”, uses emphatic statements from experts he portrays favorably to advocate water usage reform. B/B

Intended audience should have a major impact on the tone and language an author chooses when writing. The type of writing style that authors choose influences readers’ thoughts and therefore influences their opinions on the credibility and effectiveness of the specific work. In Michael Pollan’s “Unhappy Meals”, his use of sarcastic language and writing style for his intended nutritionally-aware audience is ineffective. He never takes into consideration the opinions of outside sources, and rarely introduces expert opinions on nutrition. He bases his article around personal opinions and ideas, which restricts the audience from fully relating to his broader topic of nutrition. This demonstrates a weak style of writing because he does not base his writing style around the particular audience that would be likely to read this type of article, thus causing him to lose credibility in the readers’ minds. However, by comparing Pollan’s style of writing to that of Talbot’s writing style in “The Bad Mother”, it becomes clear that Talbot’s writing style is much more effective because she conveys her information in a clear and focused way by using specific evidence and expert opinions. By directing her information to a particular audience, she allows that audience to gain trust in both her and the article, and therefore gain credibility in her writing. C-/C+

The use of detail to portray a character in a particular way is a classic technique of fiction. We might know Charles Dickens’s Scrooge to be unkind from the fact that the narrator tells us this, but we would also probably be able to infer the same by reading about Scrooge’s “old features… his eyes red, his thin lips blue” (6). Similarly, Washington Irving’s description of Ichabod Crane “dilating [like an] . . . anaconda” (12) as he eats might be all we need to be convinced that Crane is a scoundrel. Details can be used similarly in nonfiction. However, because a nonfiction writer may not imagine details as a fiction writer may, the portrayal of a subject through detail must be executed differently. The portrayal will be shaped not by what the writer invents, which would violate the contract between a nonfiction writer and her reader, but rather by what details she decides to include and the language she chooses to describe those details. A-/A

The choices an author makes when introducing a character have a tremendous impact on the way the audience perceives both the character and the issue the author is discussing. Writers pick and choose from a vast store of researched information and present only what they want the audience to see. By doing so, the author can introduce characters in either a positive or negative light. Once the author has established this perception in the eyes of the reader, they can introduce new – and even conflicting – information about those characters without dramatically altering the reader’s initial impression. Katherine Boo, a writer the New Yorker, uses characterization, traditionally a literary technique, to sway her audience gently and avoid the confrontational effect of an explicitly opinionated and potentially divisive article such as Matthew Chapman’s “God or Gorilla”. First widely noticed in Truman Capote’s nonfiction book In Cold Blood, Boo’s approach bonds her audience with her characters, causing the audience in invest their emotions in the lives and fortunes of those characters and sympathize with their cause. Boo’s method succeeds in several key goals of mainstream articles; she communicates bias without wrecking her credibility, she involves her audience in the topic without confronting or alienating them, and she educates while entertaining. A/A-

A reader is only as knowledgeable as the author allows them to be. A reader cannot be expected to know Bill Buckingham, a supporter of intelligent design instruction in Dover, Pennsylvania, or Cho and Kisuk Shin, parents of MIT suicide victim Elizabeth Shin. The reader, therefore, must rely upon the author to supply whatever information is necessary to an understanding of the topic at hand. The reader is at the author’s mercy, unable (without additional research) to be certain where truth ends and where an author’s personal opinion takes over. While on occasion a journalist will openly state his opinion, as Matthew Chapman does when noting his incredulity about intelligent design in “God or Gorilla”. But more often, the reader must be on guard, because an author will be making a subtle argument using characterization, generalization, and implication. B/B-

Bias in writing can be used in many different ways when an author is covering a subject. Reporters are usually supposed to present even-handed reports of an event. This is often a good technique; it keeps the writing fair and uncontroversial. Bias, when used in an essay, can sometimes seem condescending and unreasonable. The reader can easily mistake the writer’s tone as all-knowing, but when an author’s opinion is presented honestly and directly like when Matthew Chapman in his article “God or Gorilla” openly claims his bias against intelligent design, then the audience accepts that only one side will be presented. In Katherine Boo’s article, “Swamp Nurse”, her opinion is presented indirectly through assumptions and descriptions of her characters, making her seem unfair and judgmental. C+/B-

In dealing with a controversial topic, a writer is bound to cause offense or disagreement to some readers if they make an explicit personal statement in the article. But by carefully selecting and incorporating quotations from various sources related to the subject, a writer may be able to avoid directly stating their own opinion. By using quotations, a writer can avoid stating a direct personal opinion, and at the same time, sway the audience to side with the writer’s own conclusion of the issue. Writers can put quotations to cause a reader to question or disagree with one source, or cause favor and support of another. In the New York Times Magazine article “Who Was Responsible for Elizabeth Shin?”, Deborah Sontag uses quotations from the parents and friends of Elizabeth Shin to put the parents of Elizabeth in an unfavorable light, and argue that they were the ones responsible for the suicide of their daughter. Additionally, Matthew Chapman, writer of Harper’s article “God or Gorilla” uses quotations to portray the supporters of intelligent design as ridiculous and ignorant to argue that evolution is the most credible theory to how humans were created. B/C-

Scheduling Reminders

Due Monday, 7 December

Bring to class notes detailing your working topic (something about writing as inspired by your assigned article) and at least one example from each source.

Due Tuesday, 8 December

Bring to class information-rich construction plans for your Longest Essay that include transitions between ideas/paragraphs and notes about what each paragraph will do for your essay idea. This should take the form of a hierarchical list or outline of explanations, in order, that narrate your intended essay. If you have particular sentences, paragraphs, or portions thereof, be sure to include them where they might eventually be used.

Due Thursday, 10 December

Bring to class as full an essay draft as you can manage (obviously, the better the draft the further ahead you’ll be by the end of class).

* Extra office hours TBA, 11-14 December

Tuesday, 15 December, 2 pm (Optional but encouraged: this is our scheduled exam time; if you would like to attend by an obligation for another class is preventing you, please put me in touch with your professor)

Bring two printed copies of your essay to the Library’s CTL room – you will be reading your essay aloud while someone else follows along and, if there’s time, doing a peer-review exercise.

All extra credit work is due today, to 316 Library

Due Friday, 18 December

Final essays are due, with all process work, by 3 pm to the OLIN BUILDING OFFICE. If you would like your work returned to you, please include an unsealed (but sealable) envelope large enough to hold everything. These will be sent after 23 December (when grades are posted), to your campus mailbox or (if postage and information provided) an address of your choice.

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