WEEK 10
For Tuesday
Rough draft (~1000 words) of the "Text-in-Conversation" Essay to be uploaded to Google Folder. As a way of getting started.
Freedom of choice can suck when it comes to brainstorming for paper ideas. For those finding it challenging coming up with a topic for this essay, I thought a brief self-directed assignment would help.
Here it is: write yourself a paragraph describing the direction of your essay. Include:
1. The subject you're exploring;
2. The primary source you're going to use to explore it;
3. The reason the subject and the text interest you;
4. The sources you've found so far; and
5. What direction each of these sources is suggesting you might take. This last part is what you should spend most of your time on: it's a kind of survey of the literature in the fields that intersect in your interest.
The "texts in conversation" do not by any means have to be "related" to each other. This essay will, in fact, be far more interesting if the texts you find can be seen to contribute from differing angles to the subject you have in mind. To bring them all together in the context of a reflection, or "conversation," is what we're shooting for in this project.
***
PLEASE READ EXAMPLES FROM ESSAY PRIZE ARCHIVES
***
Additional resources for writing and research
Andrea Lunsford, Everything's an Argument
LINK to Folder with PDF for download
Stedman, "Annoying Ways"