HW for 11/30

1. Finish reading the Frost poem packet. Do your Co-leading poem, and be ready to present your ideas in front of the class.

2. Continue to work on Essay 3, which is due Wednesday, December 2, 2015.

HW for 11/25

1. Read and annotate the Robert Frost poems, especially the one you will co-lead (see #2) next Monday, 11/30.

2. Each student will be required to be a Co-leader in teaching to the class everything they can about a particular poem:

• "Out, Out--"
• Max
• Tityonna
• Anthony

• "Acquainted With The Night"
• Jay
• Genevieve
• Daijah
• Alejandra

• "Mending Wall"
• John
• Cristina
• Colby

• "Stopping By The Woods On a Snowy Evening"
• Ashley
• Lisa
• Vu

What Does Co-Leading Entail?

• Use the University of Illinois' Modern American Poetry database to help you with your reading of the poem.
• Also, read the Academy of American Poets links on Robert Frost for help.

1. Posing a question about what you think the poem's basic situation is and then being able to answer and support your answer.
2. Posting a question about the poem's largest thematic statement, and being able to answer and support your answer.
3. Discussing at least two poetic techniques that Frost uses in the poem, and providing examples.
4. Discussing the structure of the poem, including any formal qualities of the poem (in addition to #3), and providing examples of each quality.

HW for 11/23

1. Write your thesis, topic sentences, and conclusion in a Word document; then, post that to Canvas under "Peer Review 3."  We will workshop the conclusions on Monday.

2. Also, to help you out, read the blog posts:

• Paragraph Unity: Linking Strategies
• Editing Transitions
• Conclusions Like A Manifesto of Human Nature's Relationship With Mother Nature
• and the last one, which we reviewed in class: Another Way to Look At Writing Conclusions

Another Way to Look At Writing Conclusions

The last paragraph (or sometimes paragraphs, when writing much longer essays ) should reflect upon the thesis statement and its subtopics that you have addressed in your essay. 

There are other ways to view your conclusions, and viewing a conclusion in these different ways will help guide you in what else you can say beyond being repetitive. You may not address each question below each time, but here are some general ideas you may explore in your conclusion rather than simply "restating the thesis":

• What is important to the general audience/larger world about what you have argued/analyzed/defined. etc.? What knowledge do you provide us, and why is that important? 

• What is the impact of this knowledge I provide ? Who is affected, how? 

• Where does my idea fit in the larger discussion of the subject addressed in the essay? (compare or contrast with socially common views, stereotypes, and/or subjects)

• What recommendations can I make, and why, based on my thesis and other points made in the essay?

• If I were to continue discussing the topic, what are some points that I did not make that are worth exploring, and that are related to what I've already pointed out? 

• What would I like others to consider that I did not have 'time' to in this essay? (Pose questions that you haven't addressed that are relevant to what you have already written. Pose questions that are within the context of your essay--further questions that relate to your ideas.)

Another way of looking at just conclusions and the above general conclusion strategies when dealing with literary analysis:

• Here is how it is put by the University of Iowa's Writing center: "The conclusion is a good place to not only sum up the points made in the paper but to suggest the further implications of your argument.  You do not want to simply reiterate the points you have made in your introduction, thesis, or body paragraphs.  Instead, use the analyses that you have already presented to ask questions, or suggest the possible next logical step in the argument.  You can use the conclusion to draw connections between your chosen text and its genre and historical or cultural contexts.  You want to make sure that the claims you make in the conclusion are not too far-fetched or wildly out of step with the rest of your paper.  The conclusion should be the final step in the progression of your argument."

• Ask questions based on your essay points!

• Suggest next possible step in the argument!

• Draw connections between your essay subject text and other texts in the genre or same time period or cultural perspective 

• Do you know of any novel or other literature that does similar things to the novel you wrote about? Explain connections, if so.

• Do you know of texts outside literature that your novel may connect to? What are they and how do they relate? What does it say that similar things are done outside of literature?

• Culturally, does your text seem to say something about some the time period the author is writing about? Does the novel relate to some historical event outside of the book?  

• Does the text (or, do the texts) do something special within the genre that relates to your essay argument?  (For instance, our book has some differences between it an a normal novel, right? What could be said about those differences?)

Conclusions Like A Manifesto of Human Nature's Relationship With Mother Nature

First, let's take a quick look at one famous manifesto--the Unabomber's Manifesto!

What are five larger ideas about man's views towards nature that are expressed by each author? Write these out as five commandments.  (i.e.  London's Laws; O'Brien's Laws)

• To inspire you, here are some questions that may provide you with those five commandments:

• What problem with man or with nature does each speaker or narrator seem to have?

• What type of culture is each author fighting against or with?  

• How does each speaker or narrator personify nature?

• What does each story or poem seem to value most about the world, based on what--or shown through what or who?

Editing Transitions: What to think about; what to edit?

Sentences should logically follow one another, but often the writer will need to create the right relationship between words through transitional phrases.

Within a paragraph, sentence to sentence:

• Any place you shift time
• Any place you shift from point to reason
• Any place you shift from reason to example
• Any place you want to subordinate a sentence's point to another
• Any place you want to coordinate a sentence's point to another
• Any place you are leading in to an example
• Any place you are leading out of an example
• At the end of every paragraph and/or...
• At the start of every paragraph

Paragraph to Paragraph:

• Do you need a "hinge" or a "bridge"?

• Are you shifting to a new point on the same subject (same character, same author, same element, ...)

• Are you shifting to a new subject of sentences (new character, new author, new element)

• How did you set up your idea in the introduction?

How to edit:

• Read each sentence in pairs to test clarity or relationship, and write the relationship (time, example, contrast, etc.) in the gap above each pair.

• Read sentence one and sentence two...do they have a clear logical connection stated?

• Then, read sentence two and sentence three...do they have a clear logical connection?

• Paragraph to paragraph: read the end and start back to back paragraphs...

Paragraph Unity: Linking Strategies

Techniques to String Sentences Together...

• Have a topic sentence, of course! (In all college essays, this will be a duh! strategy)
• Here are 2 ways to create greater sentence-to-sentence clarity by repeating or restating key words & word groups:

• Subject: ______?
• Object: ______?

1.      Maintain the same subject in the next sentence.  

• Klein writes that, “The cost of youth unemployment is not only financial, but also emotional” (A25). Klein’s argument may not expand on the kind of emotional tolls not having a job can cause, but … 

2.      Turn the object of the previous sentence into the subject of the next sentence. 

• Example: Klein writes that, “The cost of youth unemployment is not only financial, but also emotional” (A25). The emotional cost of unemployment that Klein references could include the creation of a high number of severely depressed citizens who devalue of education.  The high number of depression is a likely outcome for those largely taught that things such as one’s job define individual worth. If one has no job for which to define their worth …

Other Linking Strategies

•  Avoid standalone pronouns (especially weak to start sentences): “This, That, These, Those, It”

• Only use if you attach these pronouns to modifiers, such as “these pronouns” or “These phrases…”, or “This belief…,” or “Those reasons for…”  The extra, more specific word or phrase can clarify what the “these” or “this” or “those” or “that” is referring to from the last sentence!

• Avoid “It” altogether. It=Ebay!!!  Besides harming coherence of a paragraph, careless writers often do the following without being critical of his or her language:

• the word "it" as subject often causes a writer to digress from original subject in the sentences that follow

• the word "it" is used in one sentence to mean two different things (very confusing--writer is lazy and implying meaning with such language)

• the word "it" is used in one paragraph to mean two more more things (subjects).

• "it" can refer to either the subject OR the object of the previous sentence, which is bad, bad, bad. All of us as writers need pronouns to have a clear reference (a clear antecedent).

• Use Transitional Devices (Seagull, 23-25):  words and phrases whose specific function in the sentence is to link one sentence (or independent clause/complete thought) to the last, or to the next one.  Such words give the reader “location” or “position” of how to read a sentence. Study the list on Purdue’s OWL site and use these transitional devices every time you write. 

Review: Writing Analysis & Integrating Sources

•       Arguable Thesis – make a claim that goes beyond “facts” or summary of what happens

o   Verb choice=transformative

o   Look at something that is not explicitly stated

o   In literature, you often argue something about: 

§  The piece’s larger themes (how the text is an example of the larger, real world; for example, how the plot resolution may show a common result of a certain type of relationship) 

§  Or about an idea one of the literary elements (such as plot or characterization or imagery’s symbolization)

o   Put the story into a larger context! Try to discuss the piece “as an example of ….” 

o   Be analytical, not evaluative:  your emotional judgment or your own beliefs don’t matter; your intellect does.  Think: every character detail or action may symbolize something deeper than just in the individual moment for that character. 

§  Example: Perhaps a story’s main character is a stoner with a bad job. Rather than just summarizing how you feel about stoners with blue-collar jobs, you need to recognize what that character represents about, say, societal pressures and their impact on relationships. 

o   Writing Style: academic essays are not casual or informal, and therefore the language and the structure of your arguments/points are not to be either. You cannot just say what you want and think your opinion is your opinion! 

§  In academics, logical support and logical examples need to be provided.

§  Also, you need to write in a consistent point of view. 

·       For analysis essays, write in the 3^rd person

§  Write in present tense for the primary tense. Use past tense to put historical ideas into context. 

·       Example: Segregation still existed in the 1950s, so when Sonny says, “….”  (pg. #).

Work Cited Pages

•       Alphabetize by last name à which last name comes first depends on the type of source. For our stories in an anthology…always the writer of the story or poem, then the editors, etc.

In-text Citation (

•       Make sure that the source citing is named (in the introduction, preferably) first!

o   If citing multiple sources, this becomes imperative, and how much you put in the ( ) becomes a question of logic.

•       Quoting lines of poetry:  

o   Linebreaks:   use the “/” symbol where a line breaks

o   If you are quoting two lines that are separated by a stanza break, then use “//”

o   If you are quoting two lines that have lines between them, then “line /…/line” (lines 1, 3)

o   ***Logic: no matter the format, whenever a poem is reprinted the lines maintain their same line.  Line 5 is always line 5, unlike in reprinted editions of fiction and non-fiction! 

Introductions & Thesis Statements for Literary Analysis

Vital Context (background information needed to understand subject)

•       ALWAYS name the author’s complete name and the text you are analyzing in the essay.

•       Introduction to larger topic (such as stating what the specific family relationship is that you are analyzing in the essay, and perhaps some common, specific points of view held on that topic)

•       The hook of your essay – that first sentence – begins to narrow down the larger topic into a clear context.  Generally, the more specific your hook is, the more specific and developed your thesis can be. 

o   If you start too generically, too distant in view, your essay will likely be average to below average in its development of content and organization.

Vital Argument/Purpose of Essay

•       Thesis claim/argumentative points (statement now seems too misleading for many):  What are you focusing on proving in the essay?  

o   Make sure to name your subject

o   Name a literary element that gives lens (see below)

o   “…because…” (see just below)

•       Subtopic claims: what are some claims or points that develop from thesis (these are repeated in body as topic sentences, right?!?)

o   What are “becauses” that stem from your argument.

o   Show your hand: Show your points in introduction; an essay is not a game of poker.

•       Literary element focus:  each literary element is like a camera lens that dictates/filters how you are dissecting the subject

HW for 11/18

1. Look over chapter S-9 in Seagull.


2. Here is yet another website I've used in the past that demonstrates the type of sentences we are after: SALT.  They focus one using the subject slot in SVO to put concrete details from the subject and your "commentary" in the object slot. 

Mini-Quiz

Choose the most effective in-text citation evidence sentence:

• In line 9, the fork becomes "large, bald, beakless, and blind."
• By the last line, the fork transforms into a man's fist, "...bald, beakless, and blind," which signifies man's powerlessness (9).
• In the final line, the fork becomes a man's fist, signifying the tone in the image of him being "large, bald, beakless, and blind" (9).

Choose the most effective thematic statement sentence:

• The poem is about man's connection with nature.
• "Fork" symbolizes man's ineptitude through images.
• "Fork" symbolizes humanity's own limits of power through images that mock it. 

Choose the most effective reasoning sentence:

• There are several transformations that get more and more absurd as the poem continues.
• There are images in the poem that give the reader the poet's tone and theme.
• The poet includes many images that illustrate how the fork transforms into a fist. 

Discussion Questions for short stories

“To Build A Fire”  | Theme-driven questions

1. Define in one concise sentence the moral of the story that the man learns too late.

2. What specific ways would you contrast the man and the dog? Again, state this in one specific sentence.

3. How is nature portrayed by London in this story?

4. What is the thematic significance of London calling the main character “the man”?

“The Things They Carried”

1. Can you make an argument than man is part of nature, and if so, what role does man play in nature in this story?

2. What does the soldiers’ discussion of a “moral” symbolize about the actions of man in war?

3. How do the men show respect for nature in the way they operate, on a general level?

4. In what way would you compare the soldiers in Vietnam to London’s Yukon-trekking man? What can you say each character symbolizes about man?

Discussion ?s for Poems

1. "The World Is Too Much With Us," William Wordsworth

•  This poem is a sonnet in which the first eight lines make one argument, and the last six lines take on a different perspective.
• What is being said in the first eight lines?
• How do the last six lines respond to the idea about how we live life?
• What religious or spiritual allusions are made, and how do they inform the speaker's view of the modern world? 
• How would you redefine "the world is too much with us" in contemporary language that we can understand? What does Wordsworth's speaker seem to be saying about the way we live our life today?
• What does consumerism mean, and how does that concept relate to this poem?

2. "The Fish," Elizabeth Bishop

• Jot down a few of the images of the fish that indicate notions of time. What is Bishop emphasizing about time's role in life through these images? What does it say about man versus other? 
• What are a few of the ironic images in the poem, and how do they help a reader understand the speaker's view of the natural world and man's place within it? Especially, describe the irony in the image of the "...where the oil spread a rainbow."

3. "Fork," Charles Simic

• In what ways does Simic transform how one looks at the everyday object? What is the purpose of making us look at a fork in such ways? 

Reasoning Statements with Literary Elements

• The (modifier)___________ imagery symbolizes/creates/illustrates/develops/etc.  ___________________________  (insert your idea).

• Is the image impacting tone? How so? 
• Is the image emphasizing something different about the subject thing?
• Does the imagery lead to thinking about people/things outside the poem--and what?

• The  simile/personification/metaphor of "[insert evidence]" reveals/evokes/ suggests _______.

• The resolution suggests _______________.

• The speaker's ___________ tone suggests...

• Author's use of an __________ suggests....

• Author 1 crafts ______ imagery [ to ____________], while Author 2 crafts ______ imagery [to___________].

• Author 1's ______ is demonstrated at the _______ and ________ of the story/poem. 

Look at how this topic sentence (P) is followed by a reasoning sentence (R) that helps structure the paragraph and develop ideas of a. type of images used, and b. how authors use imagery:

Both Benn and Poe use grotesque imagery that deals with the body being destroyed. While Benn crafts images in which the speaker is disgusted by what has happened to the young girl's body, Poe crafts images in which the narrator, Montresor, is unaffected by his destruction of Fortunato. In Benn's "Beautiful Youth," the grotesque imagery evokes disgust because.....  In Poe's "The Cask...," there is no direct description of Fortunato's dead body, so....

HW for 11/16:

1. Finish Essay 2, and hand in your complete draft, following all guidelines. The essay is worth 200 points, just to remind you.

2. Read and take notes on the two human//nature short stories.

Working On Essay 2

1. Let's look at this website and mimic the thesis statements and topic sentences in re-writing our own topic sentences: http://depts.gpc.edu/~gpcltc/handouts/communications/literarythesis.pdf


2. For entire introductions, let's follow this: http://www.bucks.edu/media/bcccmedialibrary/pdf/HOWTOWRITEALITERARYANALYSISESSAY_10.15.07_001.pdf


3. Let's look at that second one, again, for writing body paragraphs, but also let's also consider transitions and parallels because our point is to make each point about two texts.

• Topic sentence should include both texts, and should claim something that includes attention to either symbols or theme.

• Parallel structure: maintain order of discussion of each texts...

• Transitional phrases: use to shift back and forth between texts

Editing/Using Transitions:

Sentences should logically follow one another, but often the writer will need to create the right relationship between words through transitional phrases.

Within a paragraph, sentence to sentence:

• Any place you shift from one text to another text; one subject to another subject
• Any place you shift time
• Any place you shift from point to reason
• Any place you shift from reason to example
• Any place you want to subordinate a sentence's point to another
• Any place you want to coordinate a sentence's point to another
• Any place you are leading in to an example
• Any place you are leading out of an example
• At the end of every paragraph and/or...
• At the start of every paragraph

Paragraph to Paragraph:

• Do you need a "hinge" or a "bridge"?

• Are you shifting to a new point on the same subject (same character, same author, same element, ...)

• Are you shifting to a new subject of sentences (new character, new author, new element)

• How did you set up your idea in the introduction?

How to edit:

• Read each sentence in pairs to test clarity or relationship, and write the relationship (time, example, contrast, etc.) in the gap above each pair.

• Read sentence one and sentence two...do they have a clear logical connection stated?

• Then, read sentence two and sentence three...do they have a clear logical connection?

• Paragraph to paragraph: read the end and start back to back paragraphs...

HW for 11/11

For 15 points, make sure to read, annotate, and answer the questions on all three poems under the human//nature poems handout. The three poems are "The world is too much with us,""Fork," and "The Fish."

Peer Workshop (20 Points)

Today, we will critique these as a class. We will read and respond. Credit will be given based on participation and constructive points made.

Editing Parallelisms

Parallel Structure

As the OWL website clarifies, a parallelism is when you have a list or multiple ideas that are presented in the same pattern, same basic syntactical structure.

Here are a few things to consider about your sentences that have lists (or could use a list) or that present multiple ideas:

• verb forms should match (especially in a list)
• clauses should have matching word patterns
• correlative expressions also need to be edited (check the link)

Furthermore, Towson University up in Baltimore has a great breakdown for how to identify and work on parallel structure. 

How can knowing and working on parallel structure help me out?!?

• A strong parallel made within a thesis statement can outline your entire essay body.

• Besides using the structure for thesis statements, the technique is good to use for:

• outlining multiple reasons or examples within a body paragraph
• reiterating in a conclusion the points made in an essay (especially if you didn't use the same structure in the introduction/thesis)
• complex compound sentences

• Example  error 1:  Religion and  man's superiority complex with regard to nature thematically drive these two pieces.

• Both are verbs, but "religion" is one word long and broad, whereas the second idea is more thought out. 

• Fixing error 1:  Man's lack of religious faith and man's superiority complex with regard to nature drive these two pieces. 

• Example error 2: One's spirituality can be defined through religious beliefs, expressed through artistic views, and nurtured. 

• The first two parts of the list agree in clauses, while the third part only has the verb.

• Fixing error 2: One's spirituality can be defined through religious beliefs, expressed through artistic views, and nurtured through daily interactions.

• Notice how the verbs match in form, and the objects have the same pattern

• Error 3 (passive voice to active voice): The boy was bitten by the dog, so he called his mom.
• The dog bit him, so the boy called his mother

Editing and Testing for Parallelism

• First, look for sentences that have multiple ideas using FANBOYS or serial lists.
• All singular sentences with multiple actions
• All compound sentences

• Stack each part of the parallel like you are writing a poem; each separate idea gets its own line.
• Example: "Religion and  man's superiority complex with regard to nature" -->

• Religion
• Man's superiority complex with regard to nature

• With this example, the length differences tell us all we need to know about how un-parallel these two ideas are. However, we can also logically understand more in the longer clause, which is the other "test."

• Also, read the original sentence over with only one part of the list at a time:

• Religion thematically drives these two pieces.
• Man's superiority complex with regard to nature thematically drives these two pieces. 

• Ask the question: Which one seems to lack clarity or coherence?
• Then, work on making sure each part of the parallel can work with the rest of the sentence.

Grammar Aside, How Does Effective Parallelism Impact My Writing?

• You can organize your main idea(s) in a sentence list that gives you directions for each paragraph to follow. Organization!!!

• You can order ideas in a list that emphasizes a certain priority to the list. Which idea is most important or strongest?

• Order impacts understanding. The more you create a consistent order, the more coherent your work is (the easier it is to understand your ideas).  

Practicing Synthesis

Prompt

Compare or Contrast two pieces’ symbols of death impact on the thematic meaning of each piece: how does each author use these symbols to make thematic statements, and what are those statements?  

Word Bank

whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison, compared to, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast

Symbol, theme, represent, illustrate, evokes, creates, central conflict, plot, speaker, narrator, poem, short story, metaphor, unreliable narrator, suspense, horror, grief, fear, anger, humane, personify, body, violation, 

Joyce Sutphen's "The Exorcism" and Gottfried Benn's "Beautiful Youth"

Charting Similarities  (Extracting points by lining up similar evidence)

“The Exorcism”	“Beautiful Youth”	Comparison point
“the smallest tooth of wickedness” (24) – last line of poem	“a bower under the diaphragm” (4)
“It was homemade and primitive” (1)	“the lot of them” (11)
“their fleshy hands” (11)	“the little muzzles’ oinks” (12)

How Coordination and Subordination Helps Comparison and Contrast

The methods for fixing run-ons also works well with coordination and subordination of two ideas!

If you are writing on two texts in the same essay, you will want to make your points (thesis, topic sentences) using techniques that are found in S-8 (pages 258-260), as well as those demonstrated in the Editing Run-ons lecture. 

Linking Equal Ideas: making sentences where two subjects are addressed in relationship to each other....

• coordinating conjunctions (, FANBOYS)

• Both _______ and _______  [verb]  significant idea
• _________ , but/yet _____= contrast formula
• complete sentence, FANBOYS complete sentence

• correlative conjunctions (especially, with our assignment:  Just as...so   OR Not only...but also...page 259)
• Just as ______ [verb], so does ______ [verb]...

HW for 11/9

1. Bring in TYPED  thesis statement (label) and two body paragraphs for Essay 2, for Peer Workshop.  Peer Workshop is graded.

• Be sure to use the website sources linked in class to help you build your  essay.

2. Upload the same document as a Word file (.doc or .docx) to Canvas. 

Synthesis of Multiple Sources

The following are some samples of how to synthesize ideas seen in two texts. We have discussed these ideas in theory, but here are some simple ways of seeing the ideas in action...

1. "The danger of this subject-by-subject organization is that your paper will simply be a list of points: a certain number of points (in my example, three) about one subject, then a certain number of points about another. This is usually not what college instructors are looking for in a paper—generally they want you to compare or contrast two or more things very directly, rather than just listing the traits the things have and leaving it up to the reader to reflect on how those traits are similar or different and why those similarities or differences matter. Thus, if you use the subject-by-subject form, you will probably want to have a very strong, analytical thesis and at least one body paragraph that ties all of your different points together."    -- University of North Carolina's Writing Center website


2. "Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are two contemporary African-American writers.  Although almost a generation apart in age, both women display a remarkable similarity in their lives.  Each has written about her experiences growing up in the rural South, Ms. Walker through her essays and Ms. Angelou in her autobiographies.  Though they share similar backgrounds, each has a unique style which gives to us, the readers, the gift of their exquisite humanity, with all of its frailties and strengths, joys and sorrows." -- Student Example, Roan State CC 

3. Here is a great link on funneling down to thesis: http://www.columbiasc.edu/files/pdf/ComparisonContrastIntroSample.pdf