WA#2 Post

WA#2 Post

Please post the draft of WA#2 (see below) here BEFORE you come to conference. You may have to split the draft into two posts.

Your greatest weakness as a writer

By Monday, 2-28-10, write a paragraph describing your greatest weakness as a writer and blog it here. Again, use the classic "upside-down triangle" paragraph move: State the strength as a topic sentence. Develop the strength in a sentence or two or three. Then, give examples and details from your writing to demonstrate your claim.

Your Greatest Strength as a Writer

By Wednesday, 2-16-10, write a paragraph describing your greatest strength as a writer and blog it here. Use the classic "upside-down triangle" paragraph move: State the strength as a topic sentence. Develop the strength in a sentence or two or three. Then give examples and details from your writing to demonstrate your claims in the paragraph above.

Writing Assignment #2: Responding to a Single Source

Length: 750+ words

Due Dates: See syllabus (3/4 as a draft and 3/14 for a grade)

1. Pick one of the two essays on pp. 194 – 200 and argue in favor of (confirmation) or against (refutation) its premise/ thesis. However, you should try as best you can to develop your own thesis, your own unique perspective, about the topic.

2. In the first paragraph, develop your perspective as a response to the source. You might want to mention the author’s name and the title of the essay in paragraph one.

3. In paragraph two, summarize the source’s thesis and main supporting ideas. Note: You have already written this paragraph, but you might have to make some changes to put it in the context of the larger essay.

4. In subsequent paragraphs, confirm or refute the source’s thesis and main supporting ideas in separate paragraphs. Let the summary paragraph guide the organization of these “body” paragraphs.

5. As you write those paragraphs, think in terms of the paragraph “moves” we discussed in class. In any given paragraph, are you discussing the effect(s), positive or negative, of the source’s general thesis/ proposal? Are you confirming its general argument/ thesis in a way that the writer did not? Are you confirming one of its supporting arguments/ sub-points? Are you refuting the general premise/ thesis? Are you refuting one of its supporting arguments/ sub-points? Are you responding to one of its counter arguments? (Are you refuting its refutation? Doesn’t writing a response essay get durned complicated?) Each paragraph is an argumentative move and therefore requires a specific argumentative pattern.

6. Provide evidence for the source’s point of view in the form of SHORT quotation. You want to sound objective and even-handed here even if you disagree.

7. Provide evidence for your point of view in the form of short quotation and paraphrase. Cite the sources informally in the text.

8. Include a concluding paragraph, but in an essay this short, you should not be summarizing your essay or the sources ideas. We will discuss approaches to introductions and conclusions in class. If you want to jump ahead, read Chapter 13 of the Handbook.

9. By 3/4/2011, post your advanced draft here and bring a hard copy to class for peer review.

ALERT (Pa#9, just for fun)

Alert! Because of the cancelation of classes on Wednesday, February 2, I have cancelled my out-of-town trip so that we can meet class on Monday, February 7. Since I'll be in town anyway, we might as well meet on February 9, as well.

Thus, the following further revision of the syllabus will apply:

Yet another syllabus revision, weather related this time:

Yet another syllabus revision, weather related this time:

W/2/2 Dead because of the ice storm

F/2/4 Bring PA#7 to class for in-class editing

Read the two essays in WFS, pp. 194 – 199. Come prepared to discuss them in class, with an emphasis on summarizing their complex arguments.

Week 5

M/2/7

Blog PA#8 (a summary paragraph of one of the essays).

Bring PA#8 to class for in-class editing. Do so carefully and completely. It will become the basis for the next writing assignment.

W/2/9

Blog PA#9 (description see below) and bring it to class. Again, it counts as a blog entry but not as a portfolio paragraph.

F/2/11 Discuss WA#2.

Responding to a single source.

Submit paragraph portfolios.

For February 9, blog the following paragraph, just for fun:

Find some moment in your life, some experience that changed you in some way. Describe it in a paragraph.

1. You don't need a topic sentence this time. Descriptive paragraphs rarely have them. Try to establish the context in the first sentence -- that's all.

2. Give all the details that apply. Be vivid and specific.

3. Show. Don't tell. Try to move the reader. Help her or him to understand how your life was changed or how the moment moved you without telling the reader the meaning of the moment or how exactly you were moved.

PA#8 -- Another Summary

PA#8 -- Another Summary

By Monday, summarize and blog one of the essays assigned from Spatt's book (pp. 194 ff). The goal here is to create a summary paragraph you will be using to write a single-source essay later, so choose wisely.

In the first sentence, mention the author and the title of the essay. In addition, state the thesis, the main argument, of the essay. Then, in subsequent sentences, describe the main arguments that the author uses to develop his thesis.

Some advice:

1. Don't try to do too much here. The examples and details that support the author's argument may be the subject of later paragraphs. However, here you are trying to summarize those arguments, not develop them. In later paragraphs of YOUR essay, you may need to to develop details of the author's arguments to confirm or refute them. In this paragraph, summarize.

2. For now, be objective. In later paragraphs, you may choose to evaluate the author's argument. In this paragraph, you must establish the pose of objectivity.

3. Thus, quote brief passages of the text to show that you are letting the author speak for him/herself. Don't overdo it, though. Don't let the author do your writing for you.

4. Don't do too little. Search for the author's arguments. Summarize them completely.

5. Look for the principle of argumentative organization (more on this point in class). Finding it will help you to provide a complete argument.

P.S. This assignment should not be included in the paragraph portfolio. As always, I'm trying to get you to start the writing process on future assignments. You'll be using this paragraph to write WA#2.