{"id":134,"date":"2014-09-08T15:15:04","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T19:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/?page_id=134"},"modified":"2014-11-24T11:30:38","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T16:30:38","slug":"essay-assignments","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/essay-assignments\/","title":{"rendered":"essay assignments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><b>Essay 3: Personal research essay<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For your final essay, you will analyze a text you love using close-reading, secondary research, and personal narrative. The text may be any kind of text (a book, a poem, a play, a short story, a film, a TV show, a video game, a painting, a sculpture, a photograph, a song, an album, etc.) but it must meet two requirements: (a) you must love this text, and (b) you must feel either proud or ashamed of your love for this text.<\/p>\n<p>Your essay should be 1800-2100 words, and must include at least 3 outside sources. It must demonstrate both your proficiency with close-reading and the considerable thought you\u2019ve given to how and why your text affects you. The essay is the culmination of the writing and reading skills you\u2019ve developed over the semester, and it has a lot of moving parts. Get started early.<\/p>\n<p><b>Wednesday 11\/12<\/b>: writing assignment 3 due on the course blog by 9PM.<br \/>\n<b>Thursday, 10\/20<\/b>: first draft due as a Google doc at the beginning of class. Come to class with your laptop and a link to your essay.<br \/>\n<b>Tuesday, 12\/2<\/b>: second draft due as a Google doc at the beginning of class. Post links to drafts 1 and 2 on the Google spreadsheet before class begins.<br \/>\n<b>Monday, 12\/15<\/b>: final draft is due in my dropbox at 9PM. Upload your essay to dropbox by following the link on our blog.<\/p>\n<p><b>Your draft will be evaluated according to this rubric:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. <b>Structure<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Focus and argument: does the essay coalesce around a specific and interesting interpretation of the text?<\/li>\n<li>Paragraphs: does every paragraph feature a distinct topic sentence that both relates to the thesis and accurately predicts what the paragraph actually says?<\/li>\n<li>Organization: is the organization of paragraphs logical? Are there transitions between paragraphs?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. <b>Content<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Close-reading: does the essay feature close, formal analysis of the texts? Are the examples and the analyses specific, precise, and detailed?<\/li>\n<li>Research: did the author cite at least 3 outside sources that are germane to her focus? Does the research help illuminate the text\u2019s cultural capital?<\/li>\n<li>Personal narrative: does the author make this text come alive for the reader? Is it clear what\u2019s so compelling about this text, and why it affects the author as it does?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3. <b>Process<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Peer review: did the author provide her or her peers with thoughtful, critical, detailed feedback during peer review and workshop?<\/li>\n<li>Revision: are the second and final drafts significantly revised? Did the author make the most of feedback from peer review and workshop? Is the essay free of typos and grammatical errors?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Essay 2: Close-reading essay<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Write a 1500-1750 word essay that responds to one of the prompts below.<\/p>\n<p>1. Compare the first chapter of <i>Lady Audley\u2019s Secret<\/i> to either the pilot episode of <i>The Wire<\/i> or the pilot episode of your TV show. Close-read the formal devices of each in order to compare how they hook their audiences.<br \/>\n2. Compare the representation of a female character in one chapter of <i>Lady Audley\u2019s Secret<\/i> with the representation of a female character in one episode of your TV show. Close-read the formal devices in each in order to compare the functions and roles women fulfill.<br \/>\n3. Compare a cliff-hanger from <i>Lady Audley\u2019s Secret<\/i> to a cliff-hanger from your TV show. Close-read the formal devices of each in order to compare how they create suspense.<br \/>\n4. Choose your own adventure: what lens would you use to compare <i>Lady Audley\u2019s Secret<\/i> with TV serials (either <i>The Wire <\/i>or your show)? This lens should be specific enough to help you focus your attention on a single portion of each text. (You must discuss your adventure with me before the first draft is due.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Friday 10\/17-Wednesday 10\/29<\/strong>: if you chose option 4, discuss your plan with me.<br \/>\n<strong><b>Thursday, 10\/30<\/b><\/strong>: first draft due as a Google doc at the beginning of class. Come to class with your laptop and a link to your essay.<br \/>\n<strong><b>Tuesday, 11\/4<\/b><\/strong>: second draft due as a Google doc at the beginning of class. Email me links to draft 1 (with the comments from peer review) and draft 2 before class begins.<br \/>\n<strong><b>Friday, 11\/7<\/b><\/strong>: the final draft is due in my dropbox at 9PM. Upload your essay to dropbox by following the link on our blog.<\/p>\n<p><b>Your drafts will be evaluated according to this rubric:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>1. <strong><b>Argument<\/b><\/strong>: does the essay have a specific and debatable thesis? Does the essay as a whole coalesce around this thesis?<br \/>\n2. <strong><b>Close-reading<\/b><\/strong>: does every paragraph feature close, formal analysis of the texts? Are the examples and the analyses specific, precise, and detailed?<br \/>\n3. <strong><b>Structure<\/b><\/strong>: does every paragraph feature a distinct topic sentence that both relates to the thesis and accurately predicts what the paragraph actually says?<br \/>\n4. <strong><b>Peer review<\/b><\/strong>: did the author provide her or her peers with thoughtful, critical, detailed feedback during peer review and workshop?<br \/>\n5. <strong><b>Revision<\/b><\/strong>: Are the second and final drafts significantly revised? Did the author make the most of feedback from peer review and workshop? Is the essay free of typos and grammatical errors?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Essay 1: Persuasive essay<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Write a 1200-1500 word essay in which you respond to Ruth Graham\u2019s article \u201cAgainst YA.\u201d Where do you stand in regards to her claim that adults should feel ashamed about reading young adult novels? What are the stakes and implications of your position? What does your position suggest about the act of reading in general?<\/p>\n<p>You should use <em>The Fault in Our Stars<\/em>, your secondary research and blog posts, any of our course readings, information from class discussion, and examples from YA fiction that you\u2019ve read on your own, in forming your argument.<\/p>\n<p>The essay is due as a <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/\">Google doc<\/a> at the beginning of class on Thursday September 25. Come to class with your laptop and a link to your essay.<\/p>\n<p>Your drafts will be evaluated according to this rubric:<\/p>\n<p>1. Does the essay have a specific and debatable thesis that can be distinguished from Graham\u2019s own argument?<br \/>\n2. Does the essay contribute to an ongoing conversation about YA fiction by referring to secondary research on the topic (at least one outside source)?<br \/>\n3. Are there concrete and detailed examples in every paragraph that support the author\u2019s claim?<br \/>\n4. Does the author analyze these examples rather than letting them speak for themselves?<br \/>\n5. Is the essay consistent and cohesive? Does it stay on topic, or does it veer off on a tangent?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Essay 3: Personal research essay For your final essay, you will analyze a text you love using close-reading, secondary research, and personal narrative. The text may be any kind of text (a book, a poem, a play, a short story, a film, a TV show,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":871,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/871"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134\/revisions\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/guiltypleasures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}