Blogging the Peer Review

Paragraphs: close-reading is necessary
Every paragraph needs to work with the text in question; it needs to have a topic sentence that moves into a textual example; most of the time, you will quote from the textual example in question to prove a point. You will prove this point by drawing the reader's attention to certain details in the language. This a practice we call "close-reading." Anchor all of your observations in the "authority" that this close-reading can give you.

You may want to consider anchoring your own perspectives in authority that goes beyond your own life experiences - for how can those experiences be considered universal? Maybe, maybe not.  

External Source
The source should be on the play.
You can bring in any sources you want beyond that, however.

Academic Source

Is one present? How does it work with - or against - your argument?

You can also structure the article into your essay using it as a trampoline for your conclusion.


Citing the dictionary
There is no need to cite the dictionary in a college essay. Assume your audience knows words that maybe you had to look up.


If You Missed the Peer Review
Final drafts will be deducted 10% points unless the student attends a session at the Writing Center in B-200 prior to the due date of the final.

Introductions

Begin with a scene - something attention-grabbing and saucy, or the like. The beginning should avoid  sounding like generic college essays. Move from a "vignette" into your argument. Then explain to your readers what they can expect from your essay.

In any case, the introduction should be the very last paragraph you revise before you turn it in. It will account for 30% of your grade -- that's three sentences anchoring 30%.

Audience

Another element of essays to keep in mind for your draft is "audience." Your audience should be more than just me. To that end, your essay should "make sense" to someone who has not read the text recently, or in a long time.

To jog their memory, a 2-4 sentence summary of The Importance of Being Earnest should be present in the introduction, or in small paragraph after the introduction (minimum five sentences for that paragraph, though).

Plot Context

When you decide to write about a scene and do a 'close-reading,' you will want to offer your reader a brief summary of the events, moments, and character information relevant to the passage you're exploring. One to three sentences should suffice to refresh your reader about the major and important details necessary for them to comprehend the immediate context of the story around the passage you're exploring.

Priorities

There's no point really meditating on anything until you're able to pull a thesis from somewhere in the essay. The better thesis -- with the more interesting idea -- really might be in some other paragraph.


Thesis statements

Thesis statements are 2-3 sentences. Thesis sentences will not earn you full points. Define your terms, particularly any "key" terms that you hang your essay around - re-read your thesis over and over until sentences 2-3 can define for your reader your key terms.

Where is your thesis? Check every paragraph. Where is your best thesis? Check every paragraph.


Critical Thinking

Does the "analysis" part of paragraphs go significantly further than class discussion?

Topic Sentences

Do your topic sentences push along your argument, or do they follow along with the story of the text? They should typically do the former (as a rule of thumb). You should be able to create your argument by presenting passages from the novel out of sequence from how they appear in the actual plot).

To achieve excellent topic sentences, write about an "idea" that you hope to "push" in your paragraph. This is the idea (or ideas) that are at the center of the passage you're close-reading.

In a weird way, we don't have to find the "topic" sentence (the one that contains this idea) in your FIRST sentence of the paragraph. That first sentence may do other things: it exlaims, it transitions, it asks a question, who knows. But at some point in the beginning of paragraphs the reader should get a topic sentence - a mini-thesis that allows them to know a bit of what's coming.

It is Algernon's selfishness that really defines him...

If the paragraph you're writing doesn't introduce a new idea, but merely elaborates on something you've been writing about, find a way to say that in the paragraph.

We can see this [idea] continue in another passage, where...


Writing Process

The purpose of drafts is to discover your best ideas, not stick to the sentences that you wrote just because you wrote them.

Try to hooking ideas from throughout the piece and "reel" them into the revised thesis.

If you feel that you have multiple thesis statements, unwind them a bit at a time in individual paragraphs. Great ideas aren't worth anything if your readers can't follow you.

Templates for Critical Thinking

This shows...
This matter because...
This connects to...[earlier or later moments in text, or other ideas]
This suggests...
Like in the example/paragraph above...
Unlike in the example/paragraph above...