Due Dates
2/1, 2/10, 2/17, 3/8: S-A papers due prior to the beginning of class, submitted to your Dropbox folders.
As we collect possible texts for our anthology throughout the semester, you will be composing 1-page summary-analysis (S-A) papers. These papers will be extremely useful when you write the preface to the book. In fact, some of the work you do in these papers might be copy-pasted directly into your preface (though, your preface will certainly have to be much more than a copy/paste job).Your papers will be no more than one page, single-spaced and will have one-inch margins. Please include your name in the upper left-hand corner. One page gives you about 500 words to both summarize and analyze a text (this is not a lot of words). About 300-350 of those words will summarize your chosen text and about 150-200 of those words will be a rhetorical analysis of the text. Keep the following things in mind as you write your s-a papers:
Summary
Summarizing a text is not as easy as it sounds, especially when space is limited. The summary section of S-A papers should very concisely and carefully provide a summary of the argument. Please note that you are summarizing the argument and not every bit of information in the article. You should be looking for the main idea that guides the author's argument in the article/chapter. This will require you to set aside your own thoughts and opinions about the piece while you provide a summary of what the author is saying. Because you are limited to 300-350 words, you won't be able to mention every single point the author makes. Your job is to decide what's important and to provide a reader with a clear, readable, fair summary of the text. You won't have much space for quotations, so focus on summarizing the author's argument in your own words.
Analysis
If the summary section focuses on "what" is said in your chosen text, the analysis section focuses on "how" things are said. This is not a section in which you give your opinion about the content of the text you've chosen. Instead, your job is to analyze how the argument of the text works. In class, we have discussed how the tools of rhetoric help you make sense of an argument. In this section, you should use these tools to dissect and analyze the argument.
Grade Criteria
While I will not be grading your papers, I will be providing feedback. Here is what I will be looking for:
* Is your paper formatted correctly (one page, single-spaced, 500 words max, name in upper-left-hand corner)?
* Does your summary fairly represent the argument made by the author?
* Have you used your own words to summarize the argument?
* Have you devoted the appropriate amount of space to the two sections of the paper? Remember that the word counts I provide are just guides (not strict word limits), but also remember that both summary and analysis have to be adequately addressed in the paper.
* Does your analysis apply the tools and concepts we've talked about in class?
* Is your paper written effectively and coherently with very few grammatical errors?
* Was the paper turned in on time? (Reminder: I do not accept late work.)
For SA paper #4, you will be conducting your own research. For this paper, I will be asking:
* Have you chosen an appropriate text? Could this text be re-printed as part of an anthology? Is it long enough to be a book chapter? Does it belong in the book that we are designing?