Paper #3: Analysis of a Single Text
LENGTH: Minimum 500 words
DUE DATE: 10/7
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Apply the criteria for analysis of a written text (Norton Field Guide, Chapter 8): summary, understanding of context, interpretation, and supported conclusions
2. Apply conventions of writing for academic discourse, including appropriate voice, person, and diction
3. Use correct MLA form for quotations, in-line citations, and citing the source essay
PAPER FORMAT:
Your paper should use standard MLA manuscript guidelines, which are explained in the Quick Access Compact, Chapter 35a, and the Norton Field Guide, page 521-3. This assignment must have the following parts:
Name block (left corner, double-spaced)
Header with last name …show more content…
and page numbering in the upper right corner
Centered title of paper
Double-spaced text throughout, standard margins, a readable font, and indented paragraphs
The components detailed below and on pages 69-70 of the Norton Field Guide.
SOURCES:
For this assignment, you will use one of the eight essays you have already read from Chapter 14 of They Say, I Say or Chapter 58 of The Norton Field Guide.
Four of these you have previously used for the annotated bibliography. Now you will write a much more in-depth analysis of one these essays of your choosing.
PREWRITING and IN-CLASS WORK:
1. Review purpose, audience, stance, and media/design in the Field Guide.
2. Review your own summary of the essay for paper #2. Some student samples may be used for class discussion. Be sure you understand the difference between summary and analysis (interpretation or judgment).
3. Plan your organization in more detail—page 76 of Field Guide. You may choose either the “thematic” plan or the “part-by-part” plan illustrated on page 76, but keep in mind that some texts work better with one method or the other.
ASSIGNMENT:
Prepare single text analysis with all of the parts as follows.
1. Introduction—Prepare one paragraph, starting immediately with the title of the work and author in the opening sentence, a paraphrased (not quoted) statement of the essay’s thesis (you can borrow wording from your own annotated bibliography), a context for this work (you might check the introductions to the chapters in They Say, I Say for ideas), and your own thesis statement. As you plan your thesis, also look at the sample essays in the Field Guide, Chapter 8, and the editors’ notes after each title. These notes help us see the context, purpose,
and thesis for those sample essays.
2. Body Components
3-4 body paragraphs with topic sentences identifying either a theme or a point for a section.
Supporting quotations from the selected essay within the body paragraphs only. These quotations do not occur until you have made a point in your own sentences, so they should not start or end a paragraph.
Correct in-text citations for the quotes, correct punctuation, and effective, coherent integration of the quotes (voicing).
3. Conclusion—Write a short paragraph that concludes from what you have written and responds to the author’s position.
4. Work Cited—You are using a single work, so cite it at the end of the paper in correct MLA form as a work in an anthology with an editor (sample in NFG, #9, page 491; sample in QAC, #11, page 365). Your article is an essay, so it is punctuated with quotation marks. Also review the Quick Access Compact, Chapters 28f and 30f-g, for correctly punctuating all titles.