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RANSDELL’S ASSIGNMENT PACKET FOR ENGLISH 102/108
GENERAL TIPS FOR WRITING ACADEMIC PAPERS
1) You must do your own original writing for every assignment in this class. Your peers and I will offer advice, but the ideas and writing must be your own. In addition, your work must be originally written for this class in English BY YOU.
Naturally, you might want to quote the text you are writing about. That’s fine! Clearly show when the material is not your own by putting quotation marks around the borrowed words and giving the citation in parenthesis: “Parrots don’t usually turn into human beings” (Barnes 45). Note that in most cases, your quotations shouldn’t be more than one sentence long.
You MAY NOT COPY FROM THE INTERNET or anything else unless you clearly CITE YOUR SOURCES. Otherwise you will receive a zero and I will be forced to complete a dean’s report.
2) Write your papers on aspects of the texts that intrigue you. The more interested the writer, the more interesting the essay.
3) Create a worthwhile thesis. A thesis is the purpose of your paper—the main thing you want to prove. A strong thesis needs to be debatable (you need to try to prove something not everyone will agree with), innovative (you need something fresh that no one has thought of), and manageable (you don’t need to write a book, just an essay).
You want your readers to think: “Wow, I never thought about that!”
You also want them to think: “I am not sure I agree…. but I will read the rest of the essay to find out.”
4) Provide a road map of your essay by stating your thesis (main point) and forecasting important sections of your essay. Include this information at the end of your first paragraph unless you start with an anecdote or similar device. The forecast hints at how you will prove your thesis. Your intro should also include the name of the text you are analyzing and its author.
5) Organize your essay in standard academic fashion (title, introduction with thesis/forecast, topic sentences, PIE paragraphs, conclusion)
6) Your conclusion should balance the intro by summarizing your main points. It should also be a similar length. The conclusion is the one place where you have room to break form by adding extra information or sneaking in information that didn’t fit anywhere else. Try to leave your reader with a lasting impression that’s a natural progression from your writing.
7) The key to writing a successful paper lies in the depth of your analysis. Discuss specifics and wrestle with them. Dig down under the surface and analyze details. Most body paragraphs (pars. aside from the intro and conclusion) should have PIE: point (a topic sentence that states the main idea of your paragraph and shows a direct tie to the thesis or previous paragraph), illustration (an example or bit of proof), and explanation (your reasoning). In general, you should use one sentence to state your point, one or two to describe your proof, and several to explain how the proof proves your point. A basic body paragraph might look like this:
10% = topic sentence
20% = illustration (proof)
70% = your analysis
Most of each body paragraph should be your analysis, not a quote from the text or research material.
8) Save drafts of your essay in different files so that you can analyze significant changes, and save each draft in at least two places so that you don’t lose it. When you submit your essay, include drafts, especially any I commented on. Essays submitted without drafts showing significant changes will not be accepted. Why? This is a workshopping class. You must show that you have completed your writing using a workshopping process, not scribbled your essay in desperation the night before it was due.
9) Word process your drafts and final versions. Double-space your essays using one-inch margins and a twelve-point font. You must submit a hard copy of your essay in order to receive a grade for it. You must also submit to the dropbox in d2l.
10) Create a title that makes us curious about your essay. (Not “Essay 1” or “Analysis.”) Use MLA format: capitalize words other than articles or prepositions or conjunctions unless they’re the first or last words. For example: Jealousy Is the Biggest Crime of All.
11) Write first, edit last. After you are satisfied with the content of your essay, edit your essay for grammar and style. Editing is quite hard work, but it is very important. All writers need to go through this process, me included. If you turn in work with lots of small mistakes, your readers will assume that you are lazy. Not only will you lose credibility, but your readers won’t trust the content of your words. (Also, you will lose credit. You might lose part of a letter grade, a full letter grade, or, in extreme cases, you might even fail the paper.)
Even though grammar and punctuation are important, save yourself time by focusing on content first rather than editing material you throw out later anyway. To edit successfully, first spend ample time trying to find easy mistakes yourself. Use your grammar book to help with punctuation and other rules. Then get some outside help. If English isn’t your first language, try to find a native speaker who can help you. Even if English IS your first language, try to find someone who is “good” at English to help with small details. You might want to make an appointment at the free university service called the Think Tank to get private tutoring.
12) Submit your work on time. Otherwise you lose credit. (5% per day)
13) Make sure your essay follows the assignment. Otherwise your paper won’t earn a passing grade.
14) You don’t need a title page. On your first page, simply include at the top: your name, my name, course number, type of essay, date. Number the subsequent pages.
15) If you get stuck when you’re trying to write the introduction, write a different part of your essay first. Often writers don’t discover what they’re trying to say until they reach the conclusion and start working backwards.
16) Don’t include unnecessary information such as “I think” or “I liked this short story.” Of course it’s what you think: It’s your essay! Of course you liked this short story. Otherwise you would have chosen something else to write about!
17) For papers that include research, submit a copy of any sources not found in our textbooks and a Works Cited page that follows MLA style. You can get all the information you need from Rules for Writers. (If your major field of study uses APA, feel free to use that style instead, but use it consistently and correctly throughout your document.)
18) And, most importantly, for your essay to be on time, you need to bring everything at the same time. You will need to turn in:
Final Draft
Works Cited page (E2 and E3 only)
A list of peers’ comments
Drafts 1A, 1B
Drafts 2A, 2B
Any drafts I commented on
You will also need to upload your final essay to d2l by midnight on the day it’s due. (doc, docx, rtf only)
THE WRITING PROCESS
Drafting: If you’ve read hundreds of books and penned thousands of words, you might be able to produce an A/B paper in a couple of drafts. If you’re not an avid reader and haven’t spent much time writing, you should plan on creating multiple drafts per essay and investing a lot of time to achieve a passing grade in this class.
Most writers do their best revising by concentrating on one area of writing per draft. One plan might be:
Draft 1: Just get it out.
Draft 2: Coordinate your thesis with your topic sentences.
Draft 3: Develop the analysis (add more examples and explanation).
Draft 4: Edit for grammar and style.
Note: The reason to do multiple drafts is that you can’t hope to improve any one draft by a thousand percent. Instead you need to improve on it a few steps at a time. Each workshopping session should help you get to the next level.
Don’t forget to edit your final draft. Note the famous words of Peter Elbow: “Not editing is like leaving your dirty socks around for someone else to find.” (Writing with Power, p. 234)
WORKSHOPPING: THE WRITER
For a couple of class periods before each essay is due, we’ll devote our time to workshopping. The point of workshopping is for you to gather enough information to go on to the next draft. Workshopping is an excellent way to find out how your writing is working and to learn about yourself as a writer. It might be frustrating to realize that your draft still needs work, but if you can make use of opportunities for revision, chances are that your writing will be more effective and earn you higher grades.
Your classmates will work hard to offer their best advice, but that’s not to say that they will always be right! Sometimes you need to reject advice rather than embrace it. The point is that by thinking carefully about the decisions you make in your writing, you’ll develop a better sense of what your writing is doing and what it still needs to do. Here’s the beauty of being the writer--you make the final decisions.
For each essay, you’ll have the opportunity to get feedback from your classmates. Make the most of your time by preparing your best possible draft. Think about the information you need from your peers and ask them specific questions about your draft. Press them for an honest opinion about your work. If they gloss over your material and tell you it’s “really good” or “it really flows,” realize that they might not have spent enough time on your draft to give you a solid reading.
Note that you are responsible for 1) bringing copies of your drafts to class and 2) getting signed responses from your classmates. For full credit (10 points per workshopping session), bring two drafts labeled 1A and 1B (first workshop), new and improved drafts labeled 2A and 2B (second workshop), and new and improved drafts labeled 3A and 3B (third workshop). Use the information you gather from one class period to bring a stronger draft to the next one. Recycled drafts will not earn credit.
If you have to miss class, come to class without your draft, or fail to get comments from your classmates, you will lose points.
WORKSHOPPING: THE READER
Giving your classmates feedback will help them think about their essays, help you become a more perceptive reader, and give you strategies for working through your own essays. There are two basic types of comments: suggestions or directives. Use suggestions when you’re not sure what’s wrong but want to offer possibilities: You might…. You could…. Use directives when you feel more confident about what the essay needs: Add a thesis. Find more proof.
Write comments about your classmates’ content on the margins of their drafts and a short paragraph at the end. Make “facilitative” comments to help the writers consider new lines of thought: What about...? Write “directive” comments when you feel confident that you know what’s wrong: Add more analysis.
For all drafts:
* Respond to aspects you find particularly interesting. (I like this because....)
* Praise parts that seem effective (writers assume that everything is effective!)
* Warn writers about serious flaws (if you can’t find the thesis, say so)
* Give your overall impression about what the writer should do to create the next draft
Considerations for Day 1:
1) Is there a clear thesis and forecast?
2) Does the intro mention the name of the text(s) the essay is based on and its (their) author(s)? (if applicable)
3) Do the body paragraphs match the thesis?
4) In what ways does the draft match the essay assignment?
Considerations for Day 2:
1) Does the author include a hook or does the essay start too abruptly?
2) Does each TS (topic sentence) have a clear tie to the thesis or preceding paragraph?
3) Do the paragraphs have PIE? (point, illustration, explanation)
4) What points could be added? What extra proof would be helpful?
5) Consider the essay’s organization. Which paragraphs might be more effective elsewhere?
Considerations for Day 3:
1) Is the title interesting and appropriate? If not, what other titles would you suggest?
2) Does the thesis include a clear forecast that helps you make your way through the essay?
3) Where should the writer add more proof? (What other facts might the author use?)
4) Where should the writer add more analysis? (What sections need longer explanations?)
5) How well does the conclusion match the intro? (They should reflect one another without being worded exactly the same way, and they should be a similar length.)
6) Does the conclusion provide closure, or does it present key points that should have come earlier?
7) How could the writer leave readers with more food for thought?
For your end comment:
* Give your overall impression of the essay’s strengths and weaknesses.
* Point out especially noticeable problems. (“Your conclusion doesn’t match your thesis.”)
* Encourage your classmates by including positive comments.
* Respond as a reader--share some of your own views about the topic.
Although using Standard Written English is important, drafting is not the time to worry about it. Please ignore spelling and grammar until the last day of workshopping unless you can’t understand what the writer is trying to say. Editing should be the very final step in writing an essay.
NOTE: If you need time to complete your responses, you may take them home, or, if the essays are due the next class period, send your classmates comments via email. If your responses on your classmates’ drafts are incomplete, YOU WILL LOSE POINTS.