Select a movie or a book that has had a significant effect on people's lives and write an essay describing and documenting one such effect.
Think about this project in terms of your research question and your thesis. (we've discussed these concepts in class, and the textbook also explains them).
Use at least two text sources and cite them along with the work itself in a separate "Works Cited" page at the end of your essay. You have three choices of citation format: in-text citations, end notes or footnotes. Use the format with which you're most comfortable.
Your essay should be about two pages in length (double-spaced, 12-point font, etc.); make your points concisely and cite your sources judiciously. It will be due Nov. 12.
I'll discuss this assignment in greater detail next week.
On another note, you may want to test your grammar at the following site: It only takes a few minutes, and it will help you get your whos and whoms in order:
GRAMMAR TEST
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Thoughts on Essay #2
Last week, a student asked me to send feedback on the rough draft of Essay #2 via e-mail. As I wrote my comments, I realized they apply to everyone in the class. In fact, they are probably relevant to many situations in which college students are asked to write analytically about literature.
Here are a few of the observations I made as I read your draft of Essay #2:
1.) Saying the story is "very interesting" is not a "very interesting" way of starting your essay. Make your introduction stronger by making a clear, arguable assertion right from the get-go. In other words, clearly state your thesis. Everything you write in your essay should somehow support your thesis. Keep this in mind as you consider the following notes:
2.) Don't summarize the plot (the action that takes place in the story) so much. Your essay should consist mostly of your analysis, with occasional quotations or paraphrases or summaries of the story's action. Only mention parts of the story that are most relevant to your analysis. Be sure to use quotation marks when you are quoting the story's text word for word, whether you are quoting a short phrase or a full sentence or several sentences.
3.) Don't change tenses as you describe action in the story. In general, the standard practice for summarizing action in a story is to use the present tense. For example, one should write, "The boy in 'Araby' is melancholy" rather than "The boy in 'Araby' was melancholy." I suppose the reason for this is that a piece of published literature is usually permanent and unchanging; there's no reason to refer to it in the past tense because it continues to exist in the present (the plot "happens" in the present for the reader each time it is read).
4.) For this essay (not necessarily for a more formal research paper), don't be afraid to write about how the story made you feel. Offer more of your own personal interpretation and reaction, but be sure not to assume that your audience/readers will feel the same way. This approach should make your essay distinctive. Everybody who reads "Cathedral" knows the main character's attitude changes (his "eyes are opened") because of his interaction with the blind man. That's the main point of the story, and it's obvious. Your task in this essay is to observe and analyze the ways this dynamic (the change in the character's outlook) and other elements of the story (Carver's writing style, the "tone" or "mood" of the story, etc.) make the story "work." If it's easier to describe how the story "works for you," go for it. If you liked the story, try to think about how all these elements work together to prompt your personal reaction.
5.) Often, narrowing one's focus makes the difference between a strong essay and a weak one. If you fear your thesis is not original enough or perhaps not worthy of an argument (i.e., too obvious), try narrowing the scope of your essay. Rather than trying to analyze "the whole enchilada," you might want to limit your analytical claims to a particular aspect of your subject. For example, rather than trying to argue that the protagonist in "Cathedral" goes through an experience that radically changes his outlook (which is obvious; see note No. 4 above), focus on something more specific. Perhaps you might want to compare/contrast the relationship between the narrator and his wife with the other relationships in the story: the blind man's relationship with Beulah, the blind man's relationship with the narrator's wife, the narrator's wife's previous marriage, etc. Or focus specifically on all the passages in the text that specifically relate to the themes of "sight" and "blindness" (literal and figurative). Or focus specifically on dialogue (the words characters in the story speak to each other -- their tone, phrasing, vocabulary, etc.). A tightly focused thesis is essential if you want to successfully follow this last bit of advice:
6.) Your introduction should claim no more and no less than what you actually will deliver in the essay. It's better to make a modest claim and follow it up with a solid analysis than to make an overly ambitious claim and fail to support it.
Here are a few of the observations I made as I read your draft of Essay #2:
1.) Saying the story is "very interesting" is not a "very interesting" way of starting your essay. Make your introduction stronger by making a clear, arguable assertion right from the get-go. In other words, clearly state your thesis. Everything you write in your essay should somehow support your thesis. Keep this in mind as you consider the following notes:
2.) Don't summarize the plot (the action that takes place in the story) so much. Your essay should consist mostly of your analysis, with occasional quotations or paraphrases or summaries of the story's action. Only mention parts of the story that are most relevant to your analysis. Be sure to use quotation marks when you are quoting the story's text word for word, whether you are quoting a short phrase or a full sentence or several sentences.
3.) Don't change tenses as you describe action in the story. In general, the standard practice for summarizing action in a story is to use the present tense. For example, one should write, "The boy in 'Araby' is melancholy" rather than "The boy in 'Araby' was melancholy." I suppose the reason for this is that a piece of published literature is usually permanent and unchanging; there's no reason to refer to it in the past tense because it continues to exist in the present (the plot "happens" in the present for the reader each time it is read).
4.) For this essay (not necessarily for a more formal research paper), don't be afraid to write about how the story made you feel. Offer more of your own personal interpretation and reaction, but be sure not to assume that your audience/readers will feel the same way. This approach should make your essay distinctive. Everybody who reads "Cathedral" knows the main character's attitude changes (his "eyes are opened") because of his interaction with the blind man. That's the main point of the story, and it's obvious. Your task in this essay is to observe and analyze the ways this dynamic (the change in the character's outlook) and other elements of the story (Carver's writing style, the "tone" or "mood" of the story, etc.) make the story "work." If it's easier to describe how the story "works for you," go for it. If you liked the story, try to think about how all these elements work together to prompt your personal reaction.
5.) Often, narrowing one's focus makes the difference between a strong essay and a weak one. If you fear your thesis is not original enough or perhaps not worthy of an argument (i.e., too obvious), try narrowing the scope of your essay. Rather than trying to analyze "the whole enchilada," you might want to limit your analytical claims to a particular aspect of your subject. For example, rather than trying to argue that the protagonist in "Cathedral" goes through an experience that radically changes his outlook (which is obvious; see note No. 4 above), focus on something more specific. Perhaps you might want to compare/contrast the relationship between the narrator and his wife with the other relationships in the story: the blind man's relationship with Beulah, the blind man's relationship with the narrator's wife, the narrator's wife's previous marriage, etc. Or focus specifically on all the passages in the text that specifically relate to the themes of "sight" and "blindness" (literal and figurative). Or focus specifically on dialogue (the words characters in the story speak to each other -- their tone, phrasing, vocabulary, etc.). A tightly focused thesis is essential if you want to successfully follow this last bit of advice:
6.) Your introduction should claim no more and no less than what you actually will deliver in the essay. It's better to make a modest claim and follow it up with a solid analysis than to make an overly ambitious claim and fail to support it.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Important update
Here's a quick recap of some of the schedule-related things we decided in class this week:
1) I have given everyone an additional week to complete the final draft of Essay #2, so it will be due Oct. 22 instead of Oct. 15. I will return copies of your rough drafts with comments Oct. 15, so you can consider my feedback in addition to your classmates'.
Please review your graded copies of Essay #1 as you revise Essay #2. I didn't put all that red ink on the first essay for my own amusement! I hope to see significant improvement from each of you in several areas: correct grammar, good sentence flow and paragraph structure, solid logic, clarity of expression, and proper use of citations and/or quotations.
2) The mid-term quiz will happen next week -- Oct. 15. I plan to reserve about an hour for it at the end of class. You can expect to see material from both the readings and class discussions on the quiz. Here is a partial list of terms and concepts you should brush up on:
thesis
theme
hyperbole
charicature (& grotesque)
exposition
denoument
dichotomy
rhetoric
egalitarianism
narrative
The differences between an arguable position and an inarguable one.
Consideration of counterarguments in rhetorical situations.
Outlining (as in a technique for preparing to write).
1) I have given everyone an additional week to complete the final draft of Essay #2, so it will be due Oct. 22 instead of Oct. 15. I will return copies of your rough drafts with comments Oct. 15, so you can consider my feedback in addition to your classmates'.
Please review your graded copies of Essay #1 as you revise Essay #2. I didn't put all that red ink on the first essay for my own amusement! I hope to see significant improvement from each of you in several areas: correct grammar, good sentence flow and paragraph structure, solid logic, clarity of expression, and proper use of citations and/or quotations.
2) The mid-term quiz will happen next week -- Oct. 15. I plan to reserve about an hour for it at the end of class. You can expect to see material from both the readings and class discussions on the quiz. Here is a partial list of terms and concepts you should brush up on:
thesis
theme
hyperbole
charicature (& grotesque)
exposition
denoument
dichotomy
rhetoric
egalitarianism
narrative
The differences between an arguable position and an inarguable one.
Consideration of counterarguments in rhetorical situations.
Outlining (as in a technique for preparing to write).
Friday, October 3, 2008
If you enjoyed 'Cathedral' ...
... you might be curious about this item from The New York Times. A new movie coming out soon has upset the National Federation for the Blind:
'Blindness' film sparks protest
If you want to know more about Raymond Carver, check this out:
www.carversite.com
'Blindness' film sparks protest
If you want to know more about Raymond Carver, check this out:
www.carversite.com
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