|
As most of you know, first drafts -- or even second and third drafts -- often need more work before they actually "say" what you want them to. This exercise is designed to help you clear your throat: to help you say what you want to say, clearly and with verve and authority.
How do you do this? By revising and by adding sources to support your own ideas.
Ultimately, this assignment entails the kind of revision and incorporation of secondary sources that you'll be working on with your research essay but on a smaller, more manageable scale. Think of it as an appetizer paragraph before the main course essay.
Take any of the paragraphs that you've already written, and
1)using my comments and the suggestions on the course site as a guide, revise for depth and clarity and
2) add a quote or information from one secondary source.
Remember that revision involves substantial changes -- addition of an analogies or comparisons to "real life" or other literary works, rewording of several (most) sentences, and a general movement from focusing on your ideas to a focus on how best to communicate them.
Use MLA Works Cited documentation style.
To see how your work has developed you'll send both the original and the revised paragraph in a single email. Mark them as follows:
Revised Paragraph
[insert revised paragraph]
Works Cited entries
Original Paragraph
[insert original paragraph]
In your subject line, write "Revised Body Paragraph."
Feel free to bring in your draft to discuss revision strategies with me before submitting it. Remember too that the Writing Center (R124) is a great place to get feedback as well.
Use this as an opportunity to begin research and, particularly, to practice incorporating a source and accurately citing a secondary source.
Follow MLA format -- and remember to avoid You are expected to understand and avoid plagiarism. Be SURE to review the definition of plagiarism and use MLA documentation. See citing sources link for more info on this. The "Secondary Source" page offers suggestions on how to incorporate sources and a few links to sources.
|
General encyclopedia (Britannica, etc.) articles, as well as "Google" and other open web sources are usually not considered scholarly and should not be used (there goes Sparknotes . . . )? Instead, use books or a source from one of the college's databases (JSTOR, Literature Resource Center, EBSCOhost, and SIRS Renaissance are you best choices), accessed by clicking on Library Links on the Course site to the right. Check with me before using any internet source that is not from our databases.
If you know of a source from the open web that you'd like to incorporate into your essay, check with me before using it. |
To receive a passing grade, your paragraph should meet the following criteria:
Organization: follow the argument set forth in your topic sentence in an orderly fashion, supplying transitions as you move from quotes to explanations or as you work in different facets of your argument. Secondary sources should be smoothly incorporated into your own work.
Content: specific quotes and examples from the work to prove your point -- AND a full and complete discussion on why and how that particular quote or word proves your point. REMEMBER: examples do not speak for themselves -- the core of a good literary paragraph is in your commentary and explanations of the examples. You will also need to incorporate a secondary source.
Proofreading: Sentences that are clear and no more than 1 major errors (these errors include sentence fragments, run-on sentences, verb-tense error, subject-verb agreement error, unclear phrasing/tangled wording, documentation, formatting, and spelling/wrong word error).
© 2008 David Bordelon
|