Purpose:
The purpose of this conference is to enable us to individually discuss:
1) your returned section essay, what your strong points were, and what specific
writing or literary analysis skills you will work on, and 2) your thesis
statement and a supporting paragraph for your lecture essay.
Your meaningful attendance at this mandatory conference will be a part of
your participation grade. By meaningful attendance, I mean that you must follow
the directions below to enable us to get the most out of our meeting.
Directions:
My 15-20 minute conference will be held at
__________ (time) on ___________ (date) in Royce B-14. Please
plan to arrive 3-4 minutes early to ensure your punctuality. If you haven’t
been to Royce B-14, make sure to look at the directions on the policy sheet—it
is not accessible from all entrances to Royce Hall.
Overall: Congratulations on finishing your first essay
for English 85! The skills of literary
analysis demanded in this course may be different from what many of you have
done before, and you’re all making excellent progress. Please note that your grade on this paper
reflects your performance on one assignment at a specific moment in time. It is NOT a reflection of: a) your overall abilities or
potential as a writer or English student, b) your final grade in the class, or
c) your worth as a human being. This paper is only a small portion (14%) of
your overall grade in English 85, and most people do improve on
their second paper (with effort, of course). Through the intellectual exercise
that we are asking you to do in your papers—focusing on a specific, debatable
argument and proving it through textual analysis—we hope that you will become
stronger analytical thinkers and writers.
Thinking about
thinking: As you consider
how you will approach the next paper, consider not just what you are going to
improve upon (i.e. a more daring thesis statement, or better use of quotations,
etc.) but how you are going to do it. Again, the goal is not just to improve
your writing (as it manifests itself in your next essay), but also (and more
importantly) to enhance your analytical thinking and writing process. With
everything we do in this class, I hope you will think about not just your end
product (in this case, your paper), but what processes you can take away from
writing it.
TOP THREE
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
1.
Selection, integration, and analysis of
textual evidence (quotes). See the
sample supporting paragraphs and essay on the website. A few general
guidelines: a) Each of your supporting paragraphs (not your introduction or
conclusion) should include analysis of textual evidence (i.e. direct
quotes from the novel that you close-read in relation to your argument), b)
Your quotations should be integrated into your sentences; they should
not be “floating” between sentences, c) Each quote you use must be followed-up
with analysis and close-reading (of specific words, phrases, or
sentence constructions) to show how said quote relates back to your argument.
Strong essays generally have about three lines of analysis for every one line
of quotes.
2.
Sometimes you have to go back and revise
your thesis statement. While it is
helpful to have a solid idea for an argument before you start writing, remember
that this argument is not set in stone. After you finish writing your first
draft, you might find that your evidence and analysis have taken your paper in
a different direction than you originally anticipated. In this case, your
revision process should include revising your thesis statement and the
structure of your paper accordingly. Many of you had thesis statements that
could have been more specific or debatable, but then uncovered a stronger “so
what” by the time you got to your conclusion; the fun of writing sometimes
comes through such discovery, but then you need to go back and revise
accordingly. On a related note, the order of your paragraphs should mirror the
structure of your argument as it is set out in your introduction. If it doesn’t
when you finish your draft, then it means you should go back and revise one or
the other.
3.
Your thesis statement should address a
position that the novel as a whole is taking. Many of you
have brilliant observations about what certain characters represent or how various
literary techniques are used. Make sure to take these a step further by asking
yourself “so what?” or “why is this important to an interpretation of the novel
as a whole?” In other words, make sure your argument addresses not just a
character (or set of characters) or literary technique(s) but a debatable,
daring, specific position the novel is taking on an issue.