Writing 121 - Cora Agatucci
English Composition [
Expository Essay Writing]

WR 121 Assignments (1) ~ Fall 2001
See Fall 2001 WR 121 Course Plan for Deadlines
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Short Cuts to Assignments on this webpage: 
Week #1:  In-Class Writer's Profile #1 (handout); Exercise #1
Week #2: Exercise #2; Exercise #3 (handout)

Go to Essay #1: Literacy Narrative (on separate webpage)
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr121/essay1.htm

Go to Example WR 121 Student Writing - Fall 2001

Week #3: Exercise #4 & Cora's Summary of
Campbell's
"The Four Functions of Mythology" (handout)
Week #4: Handout: Comparison-Contrast Structure;
Exercise #5; Exercise #6; Handout: Evaluation Essays
Week #5 Writer's Profile #2; Essay #2 Directions & Example Topics

Go to Assignments (2) for Weeks #6-10 (on separate webpage)
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr121/assignments2.htm

Week #1
See Fall 2001 WR 121 Course Plan for Deadlines

In-Class Writer's Profile #1 (Survey of Writing Skills & Goals)

Directions:  Read the following WR 121 Course Competency Statements, and do the following:

bullet Rate your current skills in each category using this 5-point scale:
5 = Excellent/A; 4 = Very Good/B; 3 = Adequate/C; 2 = Weak/D; 1=Poor/F
bullet Comment in the space provided - especially  if you (a) have questions about what the competency statement means; (b) are not sure what your skills are in that category;
(c) any other responses you care to make
bullet Circle any Competency statements that represent course learning goals that you think are particularly important; and/or feel free to list any additional course learning goals you have that are not among the Competency statements.

[College Essay Writing, Reading, & Analysis Skills:]

___Competency 1 Write essays that use a thesis to establish control over content; supply relevant and adequate supporting details; employ the organizational strategies of effective beginnings, transitions, and endings; and conform to standard edited English.
Comments:

___Competency 2 Achieve Competency 1 under time constraints (during the WR 121 final exam), while conforming to expectations of an assigned topic and of edited English appropriate for timed writing.
Comments:

___Competency 3 Demonstrate the ability to use a variety of expository essay patterns, such as definition, classification, analysis, problem-solution, and comparison-contrast.
Comments:

___Competency 4 Employ observation; personal experience; active, responsive reading as the basis for essay content.
Comments:

___Competency  5 Employ the responsible use of sources (without plagiarizing) as the basis for essay content.
Comments:

___Competency 6 Demonstrate, in an essay, a sustained style employing rhetorically effective tone, persona, diction, idiom, and syntax.
Comments:

___Competency 7 Use critical reading and writing to analyze and synthesize ideas in an academic writing sample, identifying rhetorical patterns, major assertions, and supporting details.
Comments:

[Teamwork, Self-Assessment, Revision & Editing Skills:]

___Competency 8 Complete appropriate written critical peer reviews of student essay drafts, including suggestions for revision and editing.
Comments:

___Competency 9 Complete at least one (formal or informal) written review of the student's own writing strengths and weaknesses, including effective self-prescriptions for improvement.
Comments:

[Writing Process Skills:]

___Competency 10 Demonstrate, monitor, and articulate the complete idiosyncratic process that the individual writer uses to complete an essay, including such steps as invention, thesis formation, organization, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading.
Comments:

[Communication & Rhetorical Analysis Skills]

___Competency 11 Demonstrate an awareness of a variety of purposes and audiences.
Comments:

List here any other course learning goals of your own:

Exercise #1 (What can we discover about ourselves through writing and reading?)

a.  What Is an Essay? Respond in writing based on your past experience reading and writing "essays."

b.  Select at least two passages from the Week #1 Dreams reading assignment (restated below) that stimulate you to react, think, question, free associate, disagree.  Quote each passage, give the page numbers where the passages are found, and write out your responses to the passages (and be sure to explain why you chose each passage). 

Week #1 Reading Assignment from Dreams
(a) "To the Student," pp. xxix-xxxi;
(b) Ch. 1: "Discovering Ourselves in Writing," pp. 1-10
(c) Ch. 2: "Discovering Ourselves in Reading," pp. 66-71

Week #2
See Fall 2001 WR 121 Course Plan for Deadlines

Exercise #2 

1.  Read from Dreams Chs. 1 & 2 (as agreed upon in class during Week #1)

(a) King, "The Symbolic Language of Dreams," pp. 37-44
(b) An additional Ch. 1 reading of your choice
(c) Wright, "The Library Card," pp. 74-78
(d) An additional Ch. 2 reading of your choice

2.  Ex. #2: For any two of the above four readings:

(a) Summarize/List main ideas and/or interpret main messages/themes
(b) Write your (personal and/or critical) responses (you may wish to respond to one or more of the "Questions" that follow the selected readings)
Recommended: Try to account for your responses by identifying what in the readings you are reacting to (cite passage & page number) and why you are responding as you are.

Exercise #3

1.  Read (then re-read) from Dreams Ch. 3:

(a) [Introduction] "Memories from Childhood," pp. 111-117
(b) Two selections of your choice from Ch. 3 "Readings" section

Recommended Procedure:

·        To help you identify and analyze narrative techniques, use the Ch. 3 introduction (pp. 111-117) and the "Questions for Discussion" following each of your two selected readings.

·        Proceed by re-reading and identifying features or passages of the selected readings that you think represent necessary, effective and/or striking techniques used to tell the stories.

 

2.  Ex. #3: Identify & Analyze Narrative (Storytelling) Techniques in the two Ch. 3 readings that you have selected

 

(a) Choose two or three features/passages from each of your two readings that you would like to discuss in Exercise #3.
(b) Cite
(summarize, paraphrase, and/or quote) those chosen features or passages in your two selected Ch. 3 readings, accompanying your citations with page numbers (and paragraph numbers if applicable) so that we can locate your citations.
(c) Then analyze (comment on) each citation: Describe the narrative technique used as best you can, and explain why you think that it is worthy of examination--with attention to why it enhances the effectiveness of the reading, what WR 121 writers could learn from it, and/or how we might apply this technique to our own writing.

Week #3
See Fall 2001 WR 121 Course Plan for Deadlines

Essay #1: Literacy Narrative
[on separate webpage] - URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr121/essay1.htm

Exercise #4

1.  Read (then re-read) from Dreams Ch. 4:

(a) [Introduction] "Dreams, Myths, & Fairy Tales," pp. 170-175
(b) "Portfolio of Creation Myths," pp. 198-202
(c)
Groban's "Two Myths, pp. 221-223

2.  Ex. #4: Outline (chart, or list) similarities and differences among the creation myths  (Tip:  Use Questions, p. 202, to help you.)

“The Four Functions of Mythology”
by Joseph Campbell
(1904-1987), from Myths, Dreams, and Religion (1970)
Summary (with examples) by Cora Agatucci

1.  Mystical Function.  To reconcile human “consciousness with the preconditions of its own existence”:  that is, to redeem “human consciousness from its sense of guilt in life.” “In mythological terms: we have tasted the fruit of the wonder-tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and have lost our animal innocence.”  Different cultures have developed different ways of coping with the “brutal bloody facts of life.”  In the traditions of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the basic myth is that an originally good creation has been corrupted by a fall, but ultimate world domination by a single, true religion will restore the pristine state of the original good creation. (185-186).

2.  Cosmological Function. To develop a totalizing cosmology of the universe that encompasses all things “as parts of a single great holy picture, . . . . all opening back to mystery” (186)—a “sense of an ideal harmony resting on a dark dimension of wonder” (188).

3.  Social Function.  To validate and maintain “some specific social order, authorizing its moral code” (186). Examples:  In the Bible, a personal god who created the world is the same god who has authored the Ten Commandments, a moral code by which believers are to live.  :  In India, “the basic idea of creation is not the act of a personal god, but rather of a universe that has been in being and will be in being forever (only waxing and waning, appearing and disappearing, in cycles ever renewed).”  Within this cosmology, the caste system is traditionally regarded as part of the order of nature (186).

4.  Psychological Function (which Campbell sees as the root and support for the first three functions).  To shape individuals “to the aims and ideals of their various social groups, bearing them on from birth to death through the course of a human life” (186).  All mythologies and their rituals, according to Campbell, are structured to help humankind address or control some psychological problems common to “the very biology of our species.”  Example:  Psychological problems created by reaching puberty and undergoing the necessary cultural passage from childhood into adulthood, from childhood dependency into adult responsibility appropriate to one’s social role—a kind of second birth.  Another passage that creates psychological problems for us is brought on by aging, the loss of youth, crossing from the “prime of life” into declining powers of older age, that ultimately lead “back to nature and on through the last dark door” (188).

Quotations are taken from Rpt in Dreams and Inward Journeys,
ed. Marjorie Ford and Jon Ford, 4th ed. (New York: Longman, 2001), pp. 184-189

Cora’s Post script: Narrative Storytelling

Every culture seems to create stories (narratives) as a way of knowing and making sense of the world.  Not all stories and myths are sacred, of course, yet secular stories still serve key cultural functions as they are passed from generation to generation:  e.g. to explain, entertain, teach, transmit or challenge cultural history, values, beliefs, wisdom, ethics, behavior codes, perceptions of the world, etc.

  "…it is only the story that can continue beyond the war and the warrior.
It is the story that outlives the sound of war-drums and the exploits of brave fighters.
It is the story...that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars
into the spikes of the cactus fence.
The story is our escort; without it, we are blind.
Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story;
rather it is the story that owns us and directs us.”
--Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

  "I will tell you something about stories....They aren't just entertainment...
They are all we have...to fight off illness and death.
You don't have anything if you don't have the stories."
--Leslie Marmon Silko, epigraph to Ceremony (1977)

Week #4
See Fall 2001 WR 121 Course Plan for Deadlines

Comparison – Contrast Organizational Structure

Common Bases (or Points) for Comparison-Contrast Analysis
In the case of the “Portfolio of Creation Myths” (Dreams pp. 198-202)—the topic of Ex. #4, the “Questions for Discussion” (p. 202) suggest some common bases (or points) for comparing/contrasting the creation stories.  Cora’s handout, a summary of Joseph Campbell’s “Four Functions of Mythology” offers another set of categories that could be used to analyze similarities/differences among myths and other stories; and/or to classify myths and stories according to the function(s) they serve.  Similarly, Bruno Bettelheim’s “Fairy Tales and the Existential Predicament” (pp. 203-207) presents his theory of the functions of fairy tales (see also “Questions for Discussion,” p. 207)—which could be applied to analyzing the “Four Versions of Cinderella” (pp. 208-220).

**********

Joshua Grogan’s “Two Myths” (Dreams pp. 221-223) is an example of a comparison-contrast essay.  Grogan’s essay is organized in Point-by-Point Structure (alternating between Subjects).  In Paragraph 1 (p. 221), Grogan:

bullet identifies the Subjects to be compared/contrasted, and indicates that his focus will be on analyzing differences (rather than similarities): 

Subjects (to be compared/contrasted)

A.     Bible’s Genesis

B.     Yao myth “Chameleon Finds”previews the Points (common bases) for comparison/contrast—listed in the same order that they will be addressed in the body of his essay:

bullet

reviews the Points (common bases) for comparison/contrast—listed in the same order that they will be addressed in the body of his essay

Points:

1.   gender relations

2.   human connection with and responsibility to the environment;

3.   relationship of human beings to God

****************

1.  Point-by-Point Organizational Structure (alternating between Subjects)

Point 1:  “different views of women” (para. 2, p. 221)
[gender relations]

            Subject A: Genesis (para. 2, p. 221)

            Subject B:  Yao “Chameleon Finds” (para. 3, pp. 221-222)

Point 2:  different views of nature (para. 4, p. 222)
[human connection with and responsibility to the environment]

            Subject A: Genesis (para. 4, p. 222)

            Subject B:  Yao “Chameleon Finds” (para. 5, p. 222)

Point 3:  different portrayals of “man’s relationship to God” (para. 6, p. 222)
[relationship of human beings to God]

            Subject A: Genesis (para. 6, p. 222)

            Subject B:  Yao “Chameleon Finds” (para. 7, pp. 222-223)

Conclusion (para. 8, p. 223)

bullet

Restates Points of comparison/contrast
”gender issues, the environment, and man’s relationship to God” (223)

bullet

Discusses the implications of his comparative analysis & asserts his theory of significance

P.S. **Can you locate Grogan’s Thesis?**

  There is another way to organize comparison-contrast essays.  If Grogan had used Subject-by-Subject Structure, the outline of the body of his essay would look like the following.

  2.     Subject-by-Subject Structure

  Introduction (para. 1)

  Body:

Subject A:  Bible’s Genesis

            Point 1:  gender relations: view of women (para. 2)

            Point 2:  environment: view of nature (para. 3)

            Point 3:  man’s relationship to God (para. 4)

Subject B:  Yao myth “Chameleon Finds”

            Point 1: gender relations: view of women (para. 5)

            Point 2: environment: view of nature (para. 6)

            Point 3: man’s relationship to God (para. 7)

  Conclusion (para. 8)

Exercise #5

1.  Read from Dreams Ch. 4:

(a) Bettelheim's "Fairy Tales and the Existential Predicament," pp. 203- 207
(b) "Four Versions of Cinderella," pp. 208-220
(c) Scheps's "Cinderella: Politically Incorrect?," pp. 224-228

2.  Ex. 5: Summarize (or Outline) Main Ideas in Bettelheim's essay
(Tip: Use Questions #1 - #5, p. 207, to help you.)

Exercise #6 (slightly modified):

Identify evaluation criteria, judgments, & supporting evidence you find in two of the following:
(a)  Grobin, "Two Myths," pp. 221-223
(b) Scheps, "Cinderella: Politically Incorrect?" pp. 224-228
(c) Bettelheim's essay

Structuring & Developing Evaluation Essays

Evaluation essays are a kind of argument because a key, audience-centered purpose is to persuade your readers to accept your (positive, negative, or mixed) evaluation of the subject(s) as reasonable and persuasive. 

1.  Thesis: This part is usually easy because, by definition, an Evaluation Essay evaluates —that is, the thesis expresses an opinion that passes judgment (positive, negative, or mixed) upon the subject(s) under discussion.
(Evaluation of a single subject:)

            The Victorian Café is a great place to have breakfast in Bend.

Oscar and Lucinda is a film well worth seeing.

An evaluation essay can also be a comparison/contrast essay when the thesis evaluates two subjects in relation to each other (e.g.. Subject A is better--or worse--than Subject B.  Or Subject A is better in some ways but worse in other ways than Subject B.)

(Evaluation of two subjects:)

The Westside Café and Colors both serve good food at affordable prices, but if you dislike long waits and noisy crowds, Colors is a better place than the Westside Café to have breakfast on a winter morning in Bend.

For people who like unusual love stories and great acting, Oscar and Lucinda is a better film than Titanic.

2.  Supporting Reasons based on clear Evaluation Criteria: A complete thesis for an evaluation essay must also preview good reasons to support the thesis judgment on the Subject(s): in other words, you need a “because” clause to support your thesis judgment.  These supporting reasons should be based on clear, explicit evaluation criteria appropriate to judging the subject(s) being evaluated and likely to be accepted as valid by readers.  Supporting reasons and appropriate evaluation criteria are proposed in the following thesis statements:

The Westside Café and Colors both serve good food at affordable prices, but if you dislike long waits and noisy crowds, Colors is a better place than the Westside Café to have breakfast on a winter morning in Bend.

For people who like unusual love stories, great acting, and beautiful atmospheric cinematography, Oscar and Lucinda is well worth the price of admission.

3.  Evaluation Criteria for judging Subject(s), as stated above, should be:

bullet

appropriate and relevant to judging the subject(s) being evaluated; and 

bullet

likely to be accepted as valid by readers.

Identifying evaluation criteria for judging one or more Subjects requires that you analyze and identify categories (common bases/points for evaluation) that are appropriate, relevant, and valid for judging Subject(s) belonging to a this type—e.g. restaurants or films, in the case of the two example theses given above.

Restaurants, for example, might be judged based on these evaluation criteria (and you can probably think of more):

bullet

quality of the food

bullet

affordability of the prices

bullet

quality of the service

bullet

pleasantness of the atmosphere

bullet

comfort of the physical accommodations

Films might be judged based on these evaluation criteria (and again you can probably think of more)

bullet

genre preferences (love story, action film, horror, comedy, etc.)

bullet

predictability and/or plausibility of the plot line

bullet

quality of the acting

bullet

quality of cinematography and production values

bullet

use (or absence) of special effects

4.  Organizing and Developing an Evaluation Essay

Evaluation criteria should be used to organize the body of an evaluation essay.  If you are comparing/contrasting two Subjects in order to evaluate them, you should use one of the two structures previously introduced: a.  Point-by-Point or b. Subject-by-Subject.  In this case, your evaluation criteria = your Points.

To develop your evaluation essay fully and persuasively, you need to apply your evaluation criteria and then show, through well-selected examples from the Subject(s) under discussion, that the Subject(s) do (or do not) meet your stated evaluation criteria. 

Each body paragraph offers a topic sentence that passes judgment on the Subject using the Point (evaluation criterion) being developed in that paragraph. 

(For example:)

Both the Westside Café and Colors serve good, hearty breakfasts at affordable prices under $10.00 per person.

The love story dramatized in Oscar and Lucinda is unusual and interesting both because of the offbeat leading characters and the surprising plot twists their story takes. 

Then, taken together, the body paragraph topic sentence judgments and supporting development must be consistent with the overall Thesis/Central Judgment on the Subject(s).

Week #5
See Fall 2001 WR 121 Course Plan for Deadlines

Writer's Profile #2

1.  Analyze and evaluate:

bullet Your Essay #1 Writing Process and any other relevant writing behaviors.
bullet Key strengths and weaknesses of Essay #1--in your opinion.

2.  Write your Response to (and/or questions about) Cora's evaluation, grading, and/or revision requirements.

3.  List areas of your essay writing skills that you now target for improvement, and briefly explain how you plan to improve those targeted areas.

Essay #2 Directions and Example Topics
For further direction Review
Handouts on Comparison- Contrast Structures & Evaluation Essays

Deadlines:  See WR 121 Course Plan

Preliminary Outline should be as detailed as you can make it, and  must include (1) Tentative Thesis; (2) Main supporting points (make them complete statements); (3) Specific examples you will use to support your points.

Essay Length & Manuscript Format : Same as for Essay #1. 

GENRE:  What you write must be an ESSAY.

ESSAY TOPIC IS YOUR CHOICE. 

NOTE WELL:  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT OR INCLUDE ANY CITATIONS FROM DREAMS OR ANY OTHER OUTSIDE SOURCES.  HOWEVER, IF YOU DO, YOU MUST AVOID PLAGIARISM:  follow the directions and models for citing sources and preparing a Works Cited page given in Essay #1 directions handout.

EXPOSITORY ESSAY PATTERN:  You must use at least one of the following expository essay patterns to structure and/or develop your essay (see also WR 121 Course Competency #3, in WR 121 Syllabus).  And remember . . .

YOUR ESSAY MUST HAVE A THESIS!!

1.  ANALYSIS of a single subject.
Example Topics:

Analyze a myth or fairy tale, breaking it down into a limited number of its characteristics and/or functions that you deem significant to discuss.  Use your analysis to reveal the cultural/social values underlying the myth or fairy tale.
NOTE:  You may use a myth or fairy tale given in our textbook.  Or choose another one that you are familiar with (but note that you may need to include a summary of the story for uninformed readers in your WR 121 audience!)  You can use relevant points for analysis suggested by class exercises and discussion (e.g. see “Questions for Discussion” in our textbook), functions suggested by Campbell (see Cora’s summary handout), and/or by Bettelheim.  Or you can develop analytical points and/or functions of your own.

Analyze the characteristics of a modern hero/ine (e.g. a Jedi knight from the Star Wars films or Madonna or Michael Jordan or your mother or  . . . your choice).  Use your analysis to demonstrate the sources of this hero/ine’s appeal and/or why this hero/ine is (or is not) worthy of admiration and emulation.

2.  COMPARISON and/or CONTRAST ANALYSIS of two subjects.
Example Topics:

A food prepared in a particular way often suggests much about its culture of origin. Compare and/or contrast two characteristic dishes from two cultures with which you are familiar.

Write an extended comparison and/or contrast of two myths or fairy tales, using points (or bases) of comparison/contrast that you deem significant.  You might use your comparative analysis of stories from different cultures to speculate on significant differences in cross-cultural values and beliefs that inform these stories.  Or you might focus on similarities in the two stories to speculate on common functions or human needs served.

Compare and/or contrast human behavior with the behavior of a particular kind of (non-human) animal.  You will need to develop a limited number of categories of behavior that provide points (or bases) for comparison.  Be sure that you use your comparison and/or contrast analysis of similarities and/or differences in behaviors to make a thesis point.

3.  EVALUATION of a single subject.
Example Topics:

Evaluate a game, a public service, a popular magazine, a favorite book, an internet provider, a college course, or….your choice.  Be sure to establish and apply a set of significant evaluation criteria that are appropriate and relevant to the subject being evaluated, and likely to be accepted as valid by your audience.

Demonstrate that Bruno Bettelheim would approve of young children reading The Brothers Grimms’ version of Cinderella, “Aschenputtel” (Dreams 208-214).  Support your thesis by identifying a limited number of key criteria that Bettelheim presents in his essay “Fairy Tales and the Existential Predicament” (Dreams 203-207), and demonstrating that “Aschenputtel” meets these evaluation criteria.

4.  EVALUATION of two subjects (using Comparison and/or Contrast Analysis)
Example Topic:

Evaluate two different parenting strategies or styles you have observed or experienced.  Use your analysis to demonstrate that one way of parenting is better than the other, or that each parenting style has its advantages and disadvantages.

Go to Assignments (2) for Weeks # 6 - 10
See Fall 2001 WR 121 Course Plan for Deadlines

Fall 2001 WR 121 Syllabus | Course Plan | Links: Writer Resources |
Assignments will be webposted after they are discussed in class
Assignments (1) | Essay #1 | Assignments (2)

Example Student Writing - Fall 2001
Cora's WR 121 Home Page | Past Student Writing Humanities Dept Web: Writing Home Page

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URL of this webpage: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/wr121/assignments.htm
Last Updated:  26 July 2003

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Humanities Department, Central Oregon Community College
I welcome comments: cagatucci@cocc.edu
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