assignments ENGL 101 Writing Rhetorically: THE BIG IDEA
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Overview. The title of this assignment “The Big Idea” is, of course, inspired by the phrase, “hey, what’s the big idea?” When you hear that, you know that someone has said or done something that tics somebody else off. I’m not saying that this paper is about writing things that tic people off, not at all. In fact, I’ll hate it if that’s all your paper does. But what I do hope you’ll write is a paper that other people could agree or disagree with. I would like for you to take a position on an idea that matters to you on a topic that you have some expertise in and have an opinion about.
I have this paper as the last we write together because it is a good bridge from the more personal kind of writing that we’ve been doing into the more academic writing that you will need to do for most of your other classes in college. It is both personal—in that these are your ideas and your experiences and your interests. But it is also public—it’s about ideas that everyone could have an opinion about: some movie, some baseball game, some form of dance, some kind of hairstyle. This essay is about you and your areas of interest and expertise. Your life experience will help you flesh out your argument.
The tradition of the personal essay is a critical one--meditations on war and peace and culture and style, on quirky trends and larger, timeless concerns that define our shared humanity—all of this is the stuff of the traditional essay. As you will see from the readings we are doing for this part of class, the personal essay takes on issues and ideas that we are all aware of (or should be aware of), but looks at them from a personal perspective.
Details: The Role of Research in the Research Paper. I have encouraged research in small ways in our class during both book club and with your papers. Many of your have taken advantage of the opportunity to include research in your papers, and it has almost always helped. But research has not been a major component of our writing this semester. This essay requires some. We will take some time to use the library to do this work.
Too often when people find out that they have to do research they panic. Sometimes people think this means that having to include research means they can cheat. Well, really, the reason scholars quote is because they are demonstrating how they are a part of a community of other smart people who have other ideas about the same topic. Quoting and citation (how we put research in a paper) is how they show that they know who these other smart people are and what they are saying and how it is or is not related to what they are saying.
Think of it this way: If you were eating dinner with your friends and you were all arguing about something you have an opinion about—a TV show, a call by a coach in a game, a new style in clothes—you’d all sit around and sort of listen to each other and shout at each other and interrupt and all of that. But you can’t do that in a research paper because, well, all the people you need to talk to aren’t actually in the room with you. So that’s why you quote. To bring these other smart people and their ideas into your paper just as if you were all sitting around a dinner table talking about your ideas.
So, as part of this paper, you will have a research assignment to help you learn a healthy way to approach the important and creative work of doing good research. You will need to complete an annotated bibliography assignment for five articles or book chapters that you will then use to help you think about your thesis, your argument for your paper. I will also pass one out during the library instruction day of our class.
The worst thing that happens when students write this final essay is that they over do it by thinking they’ve got to pick some big topic like gun control or abortion or flag burning. Ack. The key to successfully writing this essay is not about picking some big and emotional issue. It’s about dealing with whatever issue you choose (the consummate value of a movie like E.T. or Dirty Dancing or Pretty in Pink, why stretching is the most important exercise you can do, the best way to invest your money in difficult economic times, how to manage obsessive-compulsive behavior during dorm life) with honesty and intelligence and wit.
OTHER THINGS
HOW I WILL EVALUATE THIS PAPER
This paper is worth 10% of your grade. In order to earn a "B" on this paper, you need to turn in/show up for the following:
I have this paper as the last we write together because it is a good bridge from the more personal kind of writing that we’ve been doing into the more academic writing that you will need to do for most of your other classes in college. It is both personal—in that these are your ideas and your experiences and your interests. But it is also public—it’s about ideas that everyone could have an opinion about: some movie, some baseball game, some form of dance, some kind of hairstyle. This essay is about you and your areas of interest and expertise. Your life experience will help you flesh out your argument.
The tradition of the personal essay is a critical one--meditations on war and peace and culture and style, on quirky trends and larger, timeless concerns that define our shared humanity—all of this is the stuff of the traditional essay. As you will see from the readings we are doing for this part of class, the personal essay takes on issues and ideas that we are all aware of (or should be aware of), but looks at them from a personal perspective.
Details: The Role of Research in the Research Paper. I have encouraged research in small ways in our class during both book club and with your papers. Many of your have taken advantage of the opportunity to include research in your papers, and it has almost always helped. But research has not been a major component of our writing this semester. This essay requires some. We will take some time to use the library to do this work.
Too often when people find out that they have to do research they panic. Sometimes people think this means that having to include research means they can cheat. Well, really, the reason scholars quote is because they are demonstrating how they are a part of a community of other smart people who have other ideas about the same topic. Quoting and citation (how we put research in a paper) is how they show that they know who these other smart people are and what they are saying and how it is or is not related to what they are saying.
Think of it this way: If you were eating dinner with your friends and you were all arguing about something you have an opinion about—a TV show, a call by a coach in a game, a new style in clothes—you’d all sit around and sort of listen to each other and shout at each other and interrupt and all of that. But you can’t do that in a research paper because, well, all the people you need to talk to aren’t actually in the room with you. So that’s why you quote. To bring these other smart people and their ideas into your paper just as if you were all sitting around a dinner table talking about your ideas.
So, as part of this paper, you will have a research assignment to help you learn a healthy way to approach the important and creative work of doing good research. You will need to complete an annotated bibliography assignment for five articles or book chapters that you will then use to help you think about your thesis, your argument for your paper. I will also pass one out during the library instruction day of our class.
The worst thing that happens when students write this final essay is that they over do it by thinking they’ve got to pick some big topic like gun control or abortion or flag burning. Ack. The key to successfully writing this essay is not about picking some big and emotional issue. It’s about dealing with whatever issue you choose (the consummate value of a movie like E.T. or Dirty Dancing or Pretty in Pink, why stretching is the most important exercise you can do, the best way to invest your money in difficult economic times, how to manage obsessive-compulsive behavior during dorm life) with honesty and intelligence and wit.
OTHER THINGS
- Papers should be about 1500 words, double-spaced, in 10 or 12 point fonts, with one inch margins all the way around.
- Do not use a cover page. Instead, put your name, date and ENGL101 in the upper left corner and call it a day.
- Always, always, always have a title. A good one.
- See syllabus for specific dates regarding the workshop for the draft of this paper and due date when you will turn it in to me.
- You will get feedback on the draft you turn in to me and will be expected to revise this piece for the final portfolio.
HOW I WILL EVALUATE THIS PAPER
This paper is worth 10% of your grade. In order to earn a "B" on this paper, you need to turn in/show up for the following:
- Turn in at least 3 annotated bibliography worksheets for three different sources.
- Show up for your writing fellow meeting to discuss draft at least once.
- Show up for the workshop in class (see the syllabus for when that is) with a complete draft of your paper.
- Turn in the workshop worksheet your reader filled out during the workshop.
- Turn in your revision plan reflection that you completed in response to your reader's workshop comments
- Turn in a 1500 word draft to me on the day it is due (see the syllabus for when that is) with reflection on what you feel is successful about the paper and what you want help with (NOTE: increased length will not make up for late or incomplete work) .
- Turn in all five annotated bibliography worksheets for five different sources.
- Write thoughtfully about how you used your revision suggestions in your paper as part of your reflection on what you feel is successful about the paper and what you want help with.
- Turn in a 1500 word draft to me that reflects the ideas we discuss in class about writing a good research paper: a strong and original thesis, strong evidence to support it drawn from the research that you've conducted, strong written voice appropriate to the topic.
- Turn in at least two annotated bibliography worksheets for two different sources.
- Show up for the workshop in class (see the syllabus for when that is) with a complete draft of your paper.
- Turn in a 1500 word draft to me on the day it is due (see the syllabus for when that is) with reflection on what you feel is successful about the paper and what you want help with.