Review the thesis in your formal draft. Write a revised thesis that has the qualities of an effective thesis as is described in the Effective Thesis handout. Post your revised thesis below.
(10 minutes)
Exercise 1.5
The aim of this exercise is to better understand the function and structure of an effective thesis.
Estimated time: 10 minutes
Due by 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 27th
For class on Tuesday, please read the Effective Theses handout.
(No writing is due.)
In-Class Writing: Argumentation
Post a revised version of one of the paragraphs from your formal draft below. Make sure you identify the claim (i.e. the topic sentence), the reason, and the evidence. See the example below:
[CLAIM] In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses both repetition and symbolism to draw readers’ attention to the theme of time—and in particular, the past, for which his main characters yearn. [EVIDENCE] The novel begins “In my younger and more vulnerable years…” and ends “borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Fitzgerald goes on to use some 450 time-words, including 87 appearances of the actual word ‘time.’ The Buchanan lawn is described as “jumping over sundials”; Gatsby knocks over a clock during his reunion with Daisy; and Klipspringer plays “In the meantime, In between time—.” [REASONS/ANALYSIS] The clock, sundial and frequent use of ‘time’ all reinforce for the reader the importance of the theme of time and the inevitability of time passing. Fitzgerald seems to want to remind the reader that time will always get in the way of Gatsby and his dreams, and his desire to return to the past—there’s no turning back the clock.
Exercise 1.4
The aim of this exercise is to evaluate the argumentation in your formal draft by identifying the claims you make and reviewing how well you support them.
Estimated time: 1.5 hours
Due by 9:30 a.m. Thursday, February 22nd
- Read the Argumentation Handout.
- Print a copy of your formal draft of Essay 1.
- Underline the main claim in each paragraph.
- Circle the specific evidence you introduce to support the main claim in each paragraph.
- Bring this copy of your formal draft to class on Thursday.
- In a comment to this post, copy and paste the paragraph in your formal draft that you believe makes the most persuasive argument. Briefly explain why you think this argument is persuasive using the concepts of claims, reasons, and evidence.
Essay 1: Formal Draft
The goal of this exercise is to produce a revised formal draft of your first essay. To produce your formal draft, you will extensively revise and develop your zero draft using ideas from class and suggestions provided in my feedback.
Estimated time: 2-3 hours
Due by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, February 20th
Assignment
- Review the guidelines for the Rhetorical Analysis Essay and the guidelines for naming and formatting essay drafts detailed in the course syllabus.
- Create a compelling title for your formal draft, one that would intrigue and inform your intended audience of freshmen readers.
- In one paragraph, write an introduction for your formal draft that briefly identifies the problems that freshmen readers (i.e. the imagined audience for your essay) likely encounter when first reading “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” End this first paragraph with your thesis, which should explanation Cohen’s intended audience and his stance towards his audience and topic.
- In one paragraph, offer a revised summary of “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” Ensure that you define what Cohen means by the term “monster.”
- List, in one paragraphs, the difficult but important writing or rhetorical patterns in “Monster Culture” that could help another freshmen better understand the intended audience of Cohen’s essay (e.g. references to other scholars, the extensive use of endnotes, advanced vocabulary, technical or specialized terminology, historical examples, examples of monsters from a wide range of cultures, etc.). End this paragraph by explaining why analyzing such writing or rhetorical patterns is a logical way to understand the essay.
- Introduce and carefully analyze two writing or rhetorical patterns over the next few paragraphs. For each pattern, you must analyze two specific examples following the guidelines for rhetorical analysis introduce in our last class: http://collegewritingmonsters.qwriting.qc.cuny.edu/2018/02/15/in-class-writing-analyzing-a-rhetorical-pattern/. Use MLA style to correctly cite the page and Thesis where your examples are located. Refer to the course textbook for help with this.
- Include a Works Cited list on a separate page using MLA style. Refer to the course textbook for help with this.
- Include a one-paragraph self-evaluation on a separate page in which you briefly discuss to what extent you think your intended audience (freshman readers) would find your essay clear and insightful. Also, explain what else you will still like to work on as you continue to revise your draft.
- Name your Word document as explained in the course syllabus and then submit it to https://www.dropbox.com/request/FvMXFHt19b0Moz5ps1k1.
In-Class Writing: Analyzing a Rhetorical Pattern
Here are steps you can follow to analyze a rhetorical pattern in Cohen’s essay:
- name or identify the writing/rhetorical pattern as specifically as possible.
- present or introduce a few examples of the pattern. Make sure to indicate where the example is found in the essay. What is Cohen talking about at that moment in the essay?
- analyze two examples of the pattern. This requires you to:
- research the example in order to
- define it and
- explain where it comes from, how it is typically used, and/or who typically uses it
- make a conclusion about the intended audience based on your analysis. In other words, who do you think would be the type of person who would be able to quickly or easily grasp the examples of the rhetorical pattern.
- explain how this helps you to better understand Cohen’s stance towards his topic and audience.
- discuss the rhetorical purpose of the example or pattern. To do this, you should consider how (and why) the example or pattern might appeal to ethos, logos, and/or pathos.
Each group must post their analysis below. Your analysis should take up two to three paragraphs. (Don’t worry about grammar and spelling; this is just a rough draft. Just try to explain yourself as clearly as possible to make a persuasive argument.)
Readings for Class on Thursday, February 14th
In preparation for class on Thursday, please read:
- the Rhetorical Situation handout
- the Ethos, Logos, Pathos handout, and
- the Citing Sources handout
These and all other course readings can be accessed in the Course Readings tab above.
In-Class Writing: Stance
Each group must post below a response to the two following questions:
- What is Cohen’s stance towards his audience? Explain in a few sentences.
- What is Cohen’s stance towards his topic? Explain in a few sentences.
Essay 1: Zero Draft
The goal of this exercise is to produce a very rough draft (a “zero draft”) of your first essay. This will help you find raw material (i.e. potential evidence and rough ideas) that can be refined and further developed in your formal draft.
Estimated time: 2-3 hours
Due by 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 13th
Assignment
- Review the guidelines for the Rhetorical Analysis Essay and the guidelines for essay submissions in the course syllabus.
- In one paragraph, offer a summary of “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” Ensure that you define what Cohen means by the term “monster.”
- Describe, in no more than two paragraphs, two writing patterns in “Monster Culture” that you think are important clues to better understanding the intended audience of Cohen’s essay. Like we did in our last class, provide at least two examples of each pattern, citing the page and Thesis in which the examples are located.
- For around two pages, free-write on each pattern you have chosen and attempt to work towards insightful (i.e. not obvious) and sophisticated (i.e. not simplistic) arguments about each. In other words, how do the writing patterns help you to better understand the specific audience that Cohen is writing for? As we did in class, you will have to look up specific examples of the patterns you’ve chosen in order to better understand what they mean and to determine what type of reader would be familiar with them. This part of the draft should be very rough and messy. (If this is polished and free of grammatical errors, it means you did not follow my instructions.) You should explore potential paths of inquiry without necessarily knowing whether or not they will lead to fruitful conclusions. The point of this part is to explore! Do not “go back” to fix spelling or grammar errors, or to revise or change ideas; keep going forward! Allow your messy, nascent thoughts (and questions) to unfold and develop on the page. If you have a non-English first language, incorporate words and phrases from your first language as much as you want.
- End your zero draft with one paragraph in which you attempt to state your hypothesis or tentative thesis. In other words, how would you describe the specific audience that Cohen is writing for?
- Include a one-paragraph self-evaluation on a separate page in which you briefly explain what challenges you are encountering as you attempt to develop a thesis, and how your understanding of Cohen’s essay has been deepened and/or been complicated since the first time you read it.
- Name your Word document as explained in the course syllabus and then submit it to https://www.dropbox.com/request/lIH85R5aEPUDuHR2JQm1
Exercise 1.3
The aim of this exercise is to summarize “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” for a reader who has not read the essay.
Estimated time: 1 hour
Due by 9:30 a.m. Thursday, February 7th
An effective summary helps an unfamiliar reader to accurately understand the main ideas of a piece of writing. Typically, an effective summary includes:
1) the author’s full name
2) the name of the text
3) a description of the author’s analytical project (USEFUL VERBS: explores, examines, analyzes, investigates; NOT: says, writes, is about, looks into)
4) one or two quotes of the author’s main point (USEFUL VERBS: argues, asserts, states, proposes, hypothesizes, claims)
5) a paraphrase/explanation/example of the author’s main point (USEFUL PHRASES: for example, for instance, in other words)
6) a brief description of how author supports his/her main idea in the text
Here’s an example of a summary of a 25-page essay called “The Trouble with Wilderness”:
In his essay “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon, Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, asks his readers to “rethink wilderness” (83). He criticizes mainstream environmentalism’s portrayal of wilderness as “sublime,” claiming that these “specific habits of thinking” have actually hindered the modern environmental movement by “underpinning other environmental concerns” (97-99). Cronon claims that this insistence on portraying the wilderness as separate from society inadvertently draws attention away from “most of our serious environmental problems” in “the landscape … that we call home” (103). Thus, he concludes that humankind should refrain from a “dualistic vision in which the human is entirely outside the natural” (97). Instead, he advocates that society be self-conscious of its actions in relation to nature everywhere, not just the locations perceived as the wilderness but also the environment that surrounds and permeates human civilization.
Write a one-paragraph summary of “Monster Culture (Seven Thesis)” following the above guidelines. Imagine that you want another freshman who has not read the essay to understand it. (Even though we are only reading up to Thesis IV for the first assignment, you know enough about the essay to be able to summarize it.)
