Due Dates:
| Prewriting due (1½ -2 pages, single-spaced) | Thursday, April 7 by class time (submit on bcourses) |
| Peer review of working thesis and outline | Thursday, April 9 at class time (submit before class for credit on bcourses) |
| Revised working thesis and outline | Saturday, April 11 by midnight (submit on bcourses) |
| Email your peer reviewer your revised working thesis and 3-4 body paragraphs total (and cc Gianna) | Saturday, April 18 by 11:59pm |
| Read and make minor marginal comments on your reviewee’s working thesis and 3-4 body paragraphs | Tuesday, April 21 by class time (send by email and cc Gianna, then post on bcourses) |
| Rough draft due in class (3-4 pages) | Thursday, April 23 at class time on bcourses |
| Mandatory office hours to discuss rough draft | TBA |
| Final draft (6-7 pages), MLA formatted | Thursday, April 30 at class time on bcourses |
Length: 6-7 pages (must be at least 6½ pages and should not go over 7)
Format: 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced throughout and with 1-inch margins. Please number your pages and include a title and a works cited page for your paper. You will turn in an electronic copy on bcourses.
The process of this analytical essay assignment builds on the close reading assignments and analytical essay we have done so far. I encourage you to revisit the strategies we used for those assignments in order to help you with this longer essay, which will be our culminating essay of the semester. This assignment will have several stages, and, as always, revision and editing will be key aspects of writing this longer paper. For this paper, you can choose to write about any one primary text that we have read or looked at together, so long as you have not already written a paper on that text.
Guidelines
The prewriting assignment (1½ -2 pages single spaced) will be graded as homework (if you complete each step thoughtfully, you will receive full credit: 15 points). Please see the prewriting instructions below (Steps 1-4) for details. I will respond via bcourses with feedback.
The working thesis and outline will be graded as homework (15 points for completion). The thesis should use the subordinating style and 3-story house model, and the outline should follow the guidelines we’ll discuss in class on 4/7.
Your revised working thesis and outline should show substantial revisions based on your peer review. This will be graded as homework (10 points for completion and revision from previous version). I will respond via bcourses with feedback.
You will also be peer-reviewing each other’s revised working thesis and 3-4 body paragraphs. You will send these to your peer reviewer in advance via email and cc me, and we’ll continue the peer review during our digital class. You should take into account your partner’s comments as you work later on your rough draft. These will be graded as homework (20 points for completion of writing, 15 points for peer review preparation).
Your rough draft (3-4 pages) should include a thesis and body paragraphs, and perhaps the beginnings of an introduction and conclusion. It should have a developed and specific argument, detailed analysis, organized paragraphs, clear and proof-read sentences, and proper formatting. Despite its name, the only rough aspect of your rough draft is how it will read when compared to your final draft—as you write it, you must strive to demonstrate the same level of thought and engagement that you would put into a final version. In other words, don’t skimp on this draft: doing so will only make you have to work harder on the revisions. I will respond to your rough draft with feedback and an imaginary grade according to the criteria in the rubric. This will be graded as homework (25 points).
Your final draft (6-7 pages) should show a sincere attempt to substantively rework the ideas, argument, and analysis of the first draft; a mere cosmetic rewriting of the essay to fix minor errors will not satisfy the requirements for revision. Refer to the comments and suggestions you received on the first version of your paper, and start with the biggest areas for revision (argument and analysis).
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Prewriting Instructions
*Note that Steps 1 through 4 are all part of the prewriting assignment and should all be completed by the due date.
- Write your own prompt
The prompt is a short paragraph that generates the questions that the paper will answer. Start with a theme or question you find particularly interesting in the text you have chosen. Then choose ONE short passage that gets at what you find so interesting or strange about how this topic is treated in this text. Your prompt should
(a) identify the text and topic under consideration;
(b) offer an initial passage that generates the line of investigation; and
(c) generate questions both about the initial passage and the text more globally that will be important to the investigation of the topic.
See the end of this handout for examples of what your essay prompt might look like. Make sure that your questions go beyond the level of plot/content (what happens) to address form and interrogate how the way the text is written contributes to or complicates its meaning. Try to generate a range of questions from the very specific to the more global. Remember to include open-ended analytical questions (how, why, to what extent). As always, the most interesting and productive questions are those that do not have obvious answers. As we’ve done with close reading assignments, challenge yourself to ask questions to which you do not yet have answers
- Gather evidence from the text
With the questions you generate in your prompt in mind, go back through your reading notes and pick out a few more of the observations that you find most interesting and significant in relation to the topic you are developing. Remember, you are looking for quotes that show how the text works on the level of form and not just which ideas are expressed. Try to pick quotes that will yield rich analysis; you will use your close reading of these quotes to answer the questions you have generated in your prompt and introduce new levels of complexity to your argument. You may need to re-read your text (the whole thing if it is short or key sections of it if it is longer) with these questions in mind. Format this section as a list, with each entry including the quote (or the first and last words of it if it is longer than a few sentences), the question it addresses, and the page number.
- Close reading
Choose one moment in the text that you think is particularly significant, interesting, or representative of a larger pattern you are noticing (choose a different passage than the one you cited in your prompt). Identify it by context and page number. Re-read this passage carefully, several times over, noting how the formal decisions that shape this passage affect the meaning produced. How might this passage shed light on your central questions? Write a short paragraph in which you analyze the passage or scene you have chosen. This paragraph should have all of the elements of a (mini) body paragraph:
1) a topic sentence that makes a claim about what this passage shows us;
2) one or more quotes from the text, properly integrated and adequately contextualized; 3) close analysis of the textual evidence you provide, emphasizing how the passage shows what you claim it shows. For this step, please do write in complete sentences.
- Freewrite/reflection
Spend some time reflecting on any new ideas that came up in the process of the close reading: Were any new questions or problems raised? How might the passage you have analyzed connect with other moments in the text? How does it change the way you read the text as a whole? Might you need to revise your prompt, either making it more focused or adding a new layer of questioning to it? Where do your observations so far seem to be leading you? Can you hazard a hypothesis that answers some of the questions in your prompt? Do you feel like you have the basis for an interesting argument? Have you addressed the significance of your observations yet? What further questions might you need to ask and answer? What other evidence might you need to take into account? Based on your experience writing your last paper, are there any particular goals you want to set yourself for this one?
Translating Women 