Overview and Rationale:
The goal of this assignment is to learn and practice key strategies/concepts that “expert” writers use to enter into a greater “conversation.” Almost all academic writing is created in response to what has already been said, as opposed to being generated solely from a writer’s independent, ground-breaking insight.
This assignment is asking you to take on that role. You will be reading a text, listening to what the author is saying, and then developing your own view on the issues being discussed. Your papers will not only need to have original ideas, but they will also need to speak to the author who has already joined the conversation. In other words, you will need to connect your own ideas to what someone has said, showing how you are adding to the conversation and not merely speaking into the air.
This is the conversation cycle: listen to what others are saying about an issue (read), develop your own position on the issues (annotate, elaborate, synthesize), directly connect your position to the conversation taking place (talk about the ideas that the author puts forth), and use parts of what they say to support your unique contribution (integrate quotes into your own original ideas).
Assignment Prompt:
You have read an article (from Week 2 Really Writing Again.pdfDownload Really Writing Again.pdf
) that presents one or several ideas within its text. Now you will want to engage with this/these ideas in a way that you choose. This will require careful (re)reading, as well as additional annotation work. Throughout your process of developing this essay, you should be careful to fulfill the following three tasks:
· Generate your own “take” on what you’ve read – your essay should not merely repeat the same ideas from the texts – this is *NOT* a summary! (we are moving beyond summary.) You *should* add to the author’s ideas by including your own thoughts, prior knowledge, experiences, analysis, etc.
· Reference the author/article within your text.
Present your ideas/thoughts in such a way that your reader is invited to think about this issue. In other words, offer insights that might lead In other words, offer insights that might lead someone to ask questions or consider his/her own situation.
Length: 500 words minimum
Format: MLA (9th edition)