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English 3564 |
Assignment Assignment Two
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| Due Dates: | Requirements: |
| Working Draft—November 25, 2002 Final Draft—December 4, 2002 |
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To identify the important issues in a work of literature and construct a persuasive argument addressing those issues in a paper.
In the first assignment, you considered very brief passages and examined them in minute detail. It is now time to apply those same skills to an overall literary work from this semester. Attention to detail will still be important, but now it will also be important to select out useful evidence from this longer text. Furthermore, it will be important to situate the work itself within a larger literary context.
In writing this paper, please avoid simply summarizing the work. You can presume that your audience has already read the text, so devote your energies to an analysis of the text. Break it down for your reader and only refer to those parts of it that contribute to your argument. Along these lines, do not let the structure of the chosen work determine the structure of your own argument. Structure the argument according to your thesis statement and the subtopics that will allow you to prove this thesis. Do not hesitate to take quotations from the work out of order in doing this.
In writing this paper, you may focus on one selection from the semester, or you may compare and contrast two selections. Choose from among the following topics or choose one of your own (though, please, talk with me about the topic before you start writing the paper if you are choosing your own topic):
Form vs. Content—The twentieth century has provided American authors with ample opportunities to experiment with different writing styles and techniques. Authors would rarely claim that the structure was simply random. Rather they tend to insist that the structure has emerged from the subject matter. Choose a work from this semester that has a distinct form and explain how that form either advances the author's claims or gets in the way of the author's overall argument. What is innovative about the author's style, and what are that style's limitations?
Challenging Our Preconceptions—Many of the works that we have read this semester attempt to challenge and overturn preconceptions that readers have about the world in which they live. There is plenty of room for disagreement about whether such preconceptions deserve challenging or the challenge causes more problems than it solves. Choose a work that attempts to challenge existing preconceptions and explain how that work goes about doing this. Explain also whether this challenge is appropriate or not and why.
Some possible arguments for this topic (you may make these more specific to the subject matter of your own paper or choose your own argument about literature and politics):
The author's attack on ___________________ is thought-provoking but also wrong, because . . .
The author's radical new approach to _____________________ is appropriate, because ____________________ had caused too much harm for us to continue as we had in the past.
Arguing for Certain U. S. Policies—Some texts are personal and meditative, but others have undeniable political goals. From the author's point of view, what is wrong with the United States? What should its people do to solve these problems? What is the ideal society that the author has in mind when addressing these problems?
Some possible arguments (you can make these more specific to the subject matter of your own paper or choose your own argument about literature and politics):
This author presents a strong argument, but he or she is wrong, because . . .
This author's argument for ________ was once controversial but now is widely accepted. There are nonetheless some crucial differences between the original argument and what we have retained from it in the present day.
Choose a topic from the above list and one or two works that genuinely interest you and that will allow you to elaborate the most effectively on the chosen topic.
Read through the works again and take notes on the salient points as well as similarities and differences between related works.
Adapt one of the thesis statements that I have provided to your chosen works or come up with a thesis on your own.
Break the argument down into between two and four subtopics that are likewise arguable (three, of course, is the standard number of subtopics). Think about the most logical arrangement of subtopics for the structure of your argument.
Write a draft of your argument. Go back and reconsider your thesis statement. Revise it.
Bring the draft to class on November 25 for peer-editing. If you cannot attend class on that day, let me know. You can regain some of the points lost to an absence on peer-editing day if you can exchange papers with another classmate and edit it before turning in the final draft.
Be sure to include a Works Cited List on the last page of the paper.
Be sure the paper is at least six pages long. Six pages is the absolute minimum length, and papers under six pages will lose some points. That is, please write six full pages of text (not six pieces of paper with some writing on them).
Revise and proofread the paper over the weekend and turn in the final draft on December 4.
I have based many of these tips on my comments to you on your previous papers.
In most cases, your first thesis statement will not be arguable enough. Keep revising it until you have a statement that truly arguable and truly interesting. Do not hesitate to revise it after you have written a complete draft of the paper. The thesis statement should directly address your two chosen works.
Examples (for a comparison paper addressing two different works-you may, of course, choose to address only one work in your paper):
FIRST TRY: Coming of age is not an easy thing to do.
SECOND TRY—NOT THERE YET: Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is about a boy who comes of age, whereas Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie is about a woman who comes of age.
A GOOD THESIS: Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie are both typically American tales of the coming of age, but, unlike Huck Finn, Dreiser's protagonist Carrie does not have the opportunity to fashion her identity from scratch.
Notice the evolution from an overly general, though accurate, statement about the two works to a statement about the difference between the two works to a precise explanation of how these books compare.
Organize your paper around the thesis statement and be sure each part of your argument bears some clear relationship to the thesis statement. Do not leave it to your reader to figure out what each subtopic is doing in your paper. Consider the following outline for an argument supporting the above thesis:
THESIS: Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie are both typically American tales of the coming of age, but, unlike Huck Finn, Dreiser's protagonist Carrie does not have the opportunity to fashion her identity from scratch.
America thought of itself as a country that had recently come of age, and Twain's and Dreiser's novels both recreate that movement in the lives of their characters.
The setting of Huck Finn's adventures is slightly outside the margins of community, whereas the setting of Sister Carrie immerses its characters in the community.
Though she cannot fashion her identity from scratch, Carrie still manages to take control over her world much as Huck Finn does over his.
Turn each of these subtopics into a unified paragraph with supporting evidence in the form of quotations. If a paragraph gets too long, break it down into two paragraphs, but make careful use of transitional phrases to keep the logic clear to the reader.
Follow MLA format when using quotations or paraphrases to support the argument:
Use blended quotations for quotations under four lines and block quotations for quotations over four lines. Remember the tricky punctuation rules for each type of quotation. If you have questions about this, ask me or look it up in a style manual such as Keys for Writers.
Write a list of Works Cited at the end of the paper. The last name of the author comes first, then the title of the selection. Then, if applicable, the title of the book in which you found the work (i. e.: The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. C). Notice that you should italicize the name of a book whenever you mention it.
Examples:
James, Henry. "The Beast in the Jungle." 1909. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume C. Sixth Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003. pp. 524-553.
West, Nathanael. Miss Lonelyhearts. 1933. Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust. New York: New Directions, 1962.
Alphabetize works cited according to the author's last name. The year of original publication after the author's name in the above two examples is optional, but the year of publication after the publisher is required. There are many other rules for MLA format for peculiar instances that will come up, but the above two examples should serve as useful models for the vast majority of cases for this class. Do not hesitate to look these rules up.
Grammar issues:
Refer to events in a work of literature in the present tense. This may sound strange at first, but it is the convention for addressing literature. Notice that we tend to follow this rule in class discussion.
Avoid the passive voice whenever possible.
PASSIVE VOICE: Odd characters in a small town are depicted in Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology.
ACTIVE VOICE: Edgar Lee Masters depicts odd characters in a small town in his Spoon River Anthology.
Notice that the passive voice sentence does not emphasize who depicted these characters. Leaving out the subject makes the sentence less interesting, and doing so repeatedly will bore your readers.
Avoid contractions in academic writing. Contractions say "casual" and academic work tends to be more formal. The same rule applies to business letters. So, replace they're with they are and replace don't with do not (just two among many examples of contractions).
A grammatically complete sentence has at least one subject and one verb. If it is missing a subject or a verb, it is a sentence fragment. Sentence fragments are sometimes acceptable, but only if you mean to use them.
The word it's (with an apostrophe) is a contraction of it is. The word its (without an apostrophe) is the possessive of it.
Comma rules are complicated, so look them up in a style manual if you had trouble with them on the previous paper. A comma splice is what happens when you try to separate two grammatically complete sentences with only a comma. Comma splices are bad. Avoid them.
Example:
WRONG: I hope it starts snowing soon, snow would make Duluth so much prettier.
CORRECT: I hope it starts snowing soon, because snow would make Duluth so much prettier.
ALSO CORRECT: I hope it starts snowing soon. Snow would make Duluth so much prettier.
Transitions. These are words that serve as signposts pointing out the direction of your argument to your readers. Some of these transitions are like "One Way" signs leading your reader on to the next point. Others are like "U Turn" signs indicating a reversal of direction. There are other more subtle transitions that alter the tone or indicate approval or disapproval of what you are discussing.
Examples:
One Way Signs (leading from before to after or from cause to effect)
Edna Pontellier falls in love with Robert Lebrun just before he travels off to Mexico. Subsequently, she falls under the influence of the disreputable Alcée Arobin.
World War I caused many young artists to question the very basis for their systems of belief. Consequently, their art depicts a world of disorderly and, at times, indecipherable fragments.
W. E. B. DuBois was an early supporter of Booker T. Washington. Therefore, his public disenchantment with Washington's educational programs surprised his readers at the time.
U-turn Signs (establishing a contrast between ideas)
Whereas Sherwood Anderson portrays living characters in a small town in prose, Edgar Lee Masters depicts dead characters in a small town in poetry.
Wallace Stevens evokes many different traditional images of religious belief and practice in his poem "Sunday Morning." However, these images fail to provide him with a unified basis for his religious contemplations.
These are just a few examples of the numerous transitions out there that can help you arrange your ideas. Most style manuals will give you a more exhaustive list of options and fuller explanations of how to use them. Your best resource, however, is your own experience with written and spoken language. You undoubtedly hear and use dozens of these transitions per day. Integrate the appropriate ones into your writing.
Keep in mind also that these transitions are often the most important as you move from one subtopic in your paper to the next. Very frequently, the first sentence in a new paragraph needs to provide the reader a clear transition between ideas in the previous paragraph and ideas in the new one.
| A | Confident, persuasive written expression An original approach to the work in question A strong thesis statement that is arguable and interesting Exemplary in the clarity and organization of its argument Engaging to its audience in a manner that commands attention Consistently good use of evidence in support of your contentions and in accordance with MLA format Nearly flawless mechanically (format, spelling, grammar) |
| B | Clear written expression with a few minor breakdowns in sentence clarity Somewhat original approach to the work in question A strong thesis statement that is arguable and interesting Well-organized argument that signals its structure to readers by way of effective transitional sentences Good use of evidence to support your contentions and in accordance with MLA format Only a few mechanical flaws |
| C | Satisfies the basic demands of the assignment Generally clear though with some confusing sentences Makes a clear argument about the meaning of the poem A thesis statement that is arguable and interesting A well-organized argument Use of evidence in support of your contentions and in accordance with MLA format, though not consistently Several mechanical flaws, but not so many that they confuse the meaning of your paper. |
| D | Almost satisfies the basic demands of the assignment Numerous breakdowns impairing the clarity of your argument Thesis statement is either not arguable or is uninteresting Argument has minimal organization Use of evidence to support contentions is wildly inconsistent and/or not in accordance with the MLA format Numerous mechanical flaws interfering with paper clarity |
| F | Does not satisfy the basic demands of the assignment Unclear writing style Lacks a thesis statement No clear argument-a seemingly random arrangement of ideas Mechanical flaws throughout the paper No use of evidence to support the argument Plagiarized work |