Week 4 Homework

Your homework for next week is to go on with Graff and Birkenstein's They Say / I Say, to move into the "I Say" section of the book. The main question for the "I Say" part of an argument is: How do you, the writer, come into the conversation of your essay? To remind you of Graff and Birkenstein's point: Just jumping in and stating your opinion right away doesn't work so well; you've got to start with a strong "They Say" move and keep track of the voices you'd like to argue with. But then, if you start with others' ideas, how does your actual argument begin?

So make sure that you follow with the assigned readings for next week. I'm not saying anything definite, but maybe I'll be in the mood to quiz you on what's been going on in They Say / I Say. I won't be too hard on you, but I'll try to test your knowledge and reading on your own.

Notice again that, in addition to the chapters out of They Say / I Say, you've got another online essay to read, "On Plagiarism," by Richard A. Posner. (Just saying: I might quiz you on this one, too.) Well, here's a link to Posner's essay, published on The Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/04/on-plagiarism/302469/.

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Next, I'd like to give you some written homework, too. What I'd like you to do is rather simple and brief, but I also want you to approach this homework assignment with an open mind, and to be as objective as you can when you write:

-- Take an article that you think you might use for your Essay 2 first draft, and write two paragraphs about it.

• In your first paragraph, describe the ways the author of this article seems to argue his or her point. Notice: Even if the author tries to be informative a lot of the time, that could be part of a tactic to try to convince his or her readers of something. So, really, this assignment can be restated in this way: Write a paragraph in which you describe both the overall strategy the author uses and the specific tactics that he or she takes in his or her article to persuade his or her readers of his or her ideas.
  
• In your second paragraph, describe the intended audience for this article. In other words, who is the author really writing to? You can think of a very specific group of people, if you want. But it might be best to discuss the qualities this audience has that makes them ideal for this writer to try to convince. For example, if you think they're old, what is it about an old audience that makes them likely to listen to this writer's ideas? Try to think of several other possible qualities on your own: How educated the audience is, what they generally care about in life, how much time and focus they have to read this article, and so on.

Makes sense? If not, be sure to email me with questions. I'll collect this paragraph next Monday, 2/9.

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Finally, remember that your Essay 2 first draft is due on Wednesday, 2/11. Please try to write a complete draft, as complete as you can make it. And be sure to go longer than 500 words. As an English teacher, my tendency is to say "More is more." So if you write more, and parts of it are bad, that's better to my mind than writing an essay that's too short. Also, keep in mind that with Essay 1, a lot of people wanted to write deep critiques, but they couldn't because their partners didn't write finished essays. Help your critique partners out. Write more.

And, as usual, if you're having trouble getting your work done on time, let me know ASAP, and we'll try to negotiate an alternative for you.