Your second essay will be based on the letter(s) you select for your Letters of Note presentation. You will select a letter from Letters of Note website and books. Everyone must select a different letter/author. Use the following resources to select your letter(s):
Use the following to review letters to make a selection:
- Letter of Note, Vol 1; link to ebook
- More Letters of Note; link to book on reserve
- Website Archive
- Other background information / research
Once you have selected one or more letters or a particular author that may have intrigued you, you will dive in using your analytical skills to share that information. Using that letter/group of letters, as well as synthesizing and connecting the readings, videos, other letters, content from class, and additional information you may find, write an essay that further explores what grabbed your interest in the Letter of Note you chose. This essay is an opportunity to more deeply connect with the author/letter, as well as place that letter into context.
Utilize the Five Analytical Moves, 3-2-1, or other analytical tools from your writing toolkit to help you approach your essay in a more critical and analytical way. We also discussed other strategies for being more analytical in both our reading and our writing. Chapter 3 in Writing Analytically is another helpful resource for making your essay more analytical.
The essay should summarize and synthesize your particular focus or question from one of the letters, make connections with aspects of other letters, resources, and other ideas or information, and present a compelling argument/point-of-view grounded in evidence from those resources.
For your essay, you should:
- Brainstorm and develop your topic and central idea. This can be done with a free-write, outline, mind-map, etc. What did you find interesting about the letters or letter topics so far? What questions are you trying to answer? What can you challenge about your own understanding of these letters? What claim do you want to make?
- Do research on your letter idea/topic and collect resources. You become a better writer on a topic by reading more and connecting your topic and ideas to other information. You should use and find information beyond your chosen letter or material covered in class.
- Have an interesting, relevant, perhaps even funny title.
- Include a brief summary, focus more on thoughtful analysis and evaluation (react to, identify strands, find problems or contradictions with, give strengths of, explain why you agree or disagree with, etc.)
- Synthesize (place in relation to, bring together themes with, relate to other resources) information to other letters/topics/discussions/readings/experiences.
- Engage thoughtfully, critically and originally with one or more of the historical letters.
- Display a mastery of close reading and analytic skills in engaging with the letters and resources.
- Credible and relevant evidence supporting your claims, with clearly tied links to letters, readings, articles and other sources.
- Include relevant visual elements, such as quotes/screenshots/photos/visual representation of data or information.
- Present your analysis with a clear sense of order and organization and with a careful eye on spelling and grammar.
- Draw a conclusion about your thesis or idea.
- This is YOUR writing and should be in your VOICE, providing a unique argument building upon your own perspective.
- Meet the length requirement with a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 1,500 words. Again, the focus should be on content and not on length or stylist elements, but a word count helps put some workable boundaries in place.
- Even though this essay will be posted on your blog, you still need to provide references and links to your sources. You should do in-text links directly to your sources as well as include a list of references.
- Include the category ‘FYS183’
- Include 2-3 meaningful tags/keywords.
- Meetings with Keanna or the Writing Center are optional for this assignment; strongly consider taking advantage of the Writing Center and the wonderful tutors there.
The Research and Writing Process
To become a better writer, you need to do research and read a great deal. To become a better researcher and analytical thinker, you need to read and write a lot. The two are very closely related and are tied together in the overall process. The more you research, the easier you will be able to write your paper, and, as you write, you may continuously reformulate your thesis and ideas, requiring you to do more research.
One of the main focuses of this class is to help you develop a variety of skills to become a stronger student. These skills include writing, critical thinking, analysis, research, evaluation, synthesis, and communication. The research and writing process should not be a solo endeavor. Ask if you have questions. And push yourself to ask questions–questions can help you with your analysis, writing, and understanding. Below are some additional ways of thinking or questioning:
- Utilize the 5 Analytical Moves:
- Move 1: Suspend Judgment
- Move 2: Define Significant Parts and How They’re Related
- Move 3: Make the Implicit Explicit
- Move 4: Look for Patterns
- Move 5: Keep Reformulating Questions and Explanations
- Pay attention to tone, audience, purpose, and the particular words they use. Highlight or transcribe some important quotes.
- Some possible questions to ask:
- Who is the audience?
- What is the purpose of the text? What is the pitch? What does the writer want you to believe?
- What is the context of this text? Can you identify the moment that the author is writing about (the Greek term for this is kairos). What is the historical context? What is the cultural context? Situation? Location?
- Who is the writer? What does your audience need to know about the writer in order to understand this text?
- In what ways does the writer attempt to appeal to the audience? Are there examples of logos (logic), ethos (credibility), and pathos (emotion)?
- Is the writer making a particular argument? Do they prove their argument? What is the complaint? What is the writer reacting to or worried about?
Take advantage of the resources you have here for you: myself, Keanna, the Writing Center, librarians, and peers.
Chapters 1-4 in Writing Analytically are particularly helpful for this essay.
Due Date: Essays are due by the end of Friday, November 4, 11:59pm. Essays are to be posted on your website and the link submitted to Canvas by November 4, 11:59pm.
