Essay: Reading Analysis

Important Due Dates:   Please remember that you lose points if you are unprepared on workshop days such as brainstorm, outline and rough draft. Late steps suffer a ten point deduction and those steps must be checked off before the final draft of the essay is completed. Check in with me about how you are verifying that your process is complete. Only essays with all the process steps completed are eligible for a grade.  If you have received fewer than seven points on any of the steps, it is your responsibility to check in with me before the next step of the essay is due to talk about revision.

 

Outline due Sept 29 for CRN 22479 and Sept 30 for CRN 20619 and 20611 by the beginning of your scheduled class session.

Make sure to attend the REQUIRED ZOOM session during your scheduled class time. Remember this may be different than the 20611 that appears on our shell.

 

Rough Draft due Oct. 11

If you do not turn your rough draft in on time, you will not be paired for peer review and will lose those ten points. Additionally, it is your responsibility to schedule a visit to the writing center to receive feedback and revision strategies.

 

Final Draft due Oct 18

This draft must be 1000-1250 words.  Do not count the Works Cited toward this minimum development. Make sure you have considered not only the feedback you received on your rough draft but also addressed all suggestions on content and formatting you received on Essay 1.

 

Essay Two Prompt

This essay will identify and fully articulate the theme of one literary story. That means you will step back from the work and express an opinion about what value the story has for the reader. What human truth is the writer sharing? To defend that interpretation, use literary devices (such as plot, characterization, symbolism, irony, setting, etc.) that the author utilizes to realize the theme. You will support your theme statement with direct quotations from the story.

 

Texts

· Choose ONE of the short stories we discussed as a class. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” “The Red Convertible” or “Say Yes.”

· You may NOT use “Offerings”

 

Brainstorm ideas:

· In choosing the story, think about what class discussion really engaged you.

· You might also harvest quotations you are confident about discussing and explaining. If you’ve got at least six quotations, you can shape your discussion around logical paragraphing.

· Think about what tool helped you best unlock a story. You might use that to help you locate suitable quotations, and it will also help you think about essay organization.

 

In this essay I’ll be looking for:

· A general introduction and conclusion that express how the story speaks to today’s reader and a thesis that states a general theme that can be explored with formal criticism.

· Your ability to use literary devices to organize and discuss the points you make. DO NOT provide a laundry list of literary terms. Do apply the literary terminology to help you defend your theme and develop your commentary.

· Your ability to select appropriate quotations, cite them properly, and offer commentary that explains how the evidence selected defends or clarifies your theme.

· Attention to word choice and academic tone.