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Essays in 1B

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Title: Essays in 1B


1
Essays in 1B
2
Part One Opening and Closing
  • /10
  • Framing (Does the author state a clear thesis
    early in the paper? Do the introduction and
    conclusion bookend the argument effectively?)

3
Argumentation
  • /20
  • Development of Argument (Does the argument make
    a logical progression, connecting the dots
    between introduction and conclusion? Are the
    logical links clearly made using transitions from
    one point to another? )

4
Textual Evidence
  • /20
  • Evidence/Sources (Has the author used
    sufficientand relevanttextual evidence to back
    up the claims made in the paper?)

5
General Idea/Argument
  • /10
  • Idea. Does the paper display clear evidence of
    thoughtful engagement with the topic and text(s)
    at hand? Does it enlarge its scope with
    engagement with the critical texts?

6
Paragraph Structure
  • /15
  • Paragraph organization (paragraphs, transitions
    between paragraphs, paragraph structure etc.)

7
Syntax etc.
  • /10
  • Sentences (structure, word choice, clarity etc.)

8
Mechanicals
  • /10
  • Mechanicals (punctuation, spelling etc.)

9
MLA Formatting
  • /5
  • Documentation in text (Are quotations properly
    formatted?)

10
Things to avoid . . .
  • Wordiness
  • I think that Hazels character is a young girl, a
    fact which is revealed by her casual speech.
  • Hazels youth is revealed by her casual speech.
  • Speaking for/to the reader
  • You can tell many things about Hazels character
    based on her diction.
  • Hazels diction reveals her character.
  • And so the reader can see that Hazel is angry
    about her uncles betrayal
  • Hazel is enraged by her uncles betrayal

11
Describing versus interpreting
  • make sure that you are analysing. not
    describing/reiterating    Hazel believes in
    speaking her mind freely when you got somethin
    on your mind, speak up and let the chips fall
    where they may (451).
  • Hazel believes that when you got somethin on
    your mind, speak up and let the chips fall where
    they may (451), a belief that gets her in
    trouble at school and at the movie theatre.

12
Cliches
  • George Orwell had good advice "Never use a
    metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which
    you are used to seeing in print."
  • If you're depending on a stock phrase, you're
    letting someone else do half your thinking for
    you.

13
What you must do
  • As you reread your paper during revision, when
    you come to each quotation, ask yourself "Do I
    interpret the language of my quotations in
    detailed and specific terms?" "Is it clear how my
    close readings support the topic sentence of the
    paragraph, and thus the thesis of the paper?"

14
Follow MLA Format
  • Quotes
  • Margins
  • Fonts
  • Citations
  • Introducing quotes
  • First page (no title pages, please)
  • But have a title

15
A Good Thesis is . . . (Jack Lynch)
  • Argumentative. It makes a case. That's the
    biggest difference between a thesis and a topic
    a topic is something like "Slavery in Huck Finn."
    That's not a case, only a general area. A thesis,
    on the other hand, makes a specific case, it
    tries to prove something. One way to tell a
    thesis from a topic if it doesn't have an active
    verb, it's almost certainly still a topic.

16
  • Controversial. That doesn't mean something like
    "Abortionists should be shot" or "George W.
    Bush's election was illegitimate" it means that
    it has to be possible for an intelligent person
    to disagree with your thesis. If everyone agrees
    on first sight, your thesis is too obvious, and
    not worth writing about. It also has to be
    something you can reasonably argue about it's
    not enough merely to give an unsupported opinion.

17
  • Analytical, not evaluative. A college English
    paper isn't the place to praise or blame works of
    literature theses like "Paradise Lost is an
    enduring expression of the human spirit" or "The
    Sound and the Fury isn't successful in its choice
    of narrative techniques" aren't appropriate.
    That's the business of book reviewers. No need to
    give thumbs-up or thumbs-down evaluate the work
    on its own terms.

18
  • About the readings, not the real world. Never
    forget that books are books and, if you're in an
    English class, you're being asked to talk about
    them. Many books are unreliable guides to the
    real world outside the texts, and it's dangerous
    to talk about, say, Renaissance attitudes toward
    race based only on your reading of Othello. Talk
    about Othello.

19
  • Specific. It's not enough to deal in vague
    generalities. Some students want to write their
    paper on man and God, or on the black experience
    in the twentieth century. Both are far too
    nebulous to produce a good paper. Get your hands
    dirty with the text.

20
  • Well supported. That's the key to the rest of the
    paper after those first few paragraphs.
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