1.
Manuscript Preparation:
Final/Revised draft
(to
be graded) must
be typed
/ word-processed
and double-spaced,
& prepared in
standard manuscript format
(see
WR 121 Syllabus):
e.g. use a
standard sized font and point size (e.g. 12-point Times New
Roman or 10-point Arial), printed in black ink on only one
side of standard-sized (8 1/2" X 11") white paper, with
one-inch margins at top, bottom, and both sides. You
should also use MLA-style Heading
in the upper lefthand corner of page 1:
NO separate title page is necessary! Use Running Page Headers in the upper righthand
corners of page 2 and subsequent essay pages, including the separate Works Cited
page at end of your essay.
2.
Genre: A
non-fiction, expository Essay controlled by a
clear (explicit or implicit) Thesis / Purpose (see Outcome
#1 above & What Is an Essay? - Evaluation Criteria
below.
3.
Essay Topic: Topic is your choice with these
limitations:
(a) No Argument topics - for formal
argument is difficult to do well and is taught in WR 122,
not in WR 121. What is "argument"?--see Muller's
discussion of "Argument" (36-37);
(b) Narration topics--i.e. telling non-fiction story/ies
drawn from your personal experience--must serve expository
(informational) purpose: e.g. the story or stories must make
a point, illustrate a principle, explain something (often
employing process or causal analysis to explain how/why
something happened)--see also "Narration" (Muller 26-27).
Advice on Essay Topic choice & scope: Keep
#4 Essay Length (below) in mind as you choose and focus
your topic, develop your thesis, and draft Essay #1. If
you can't achieve at least 3 typed/wordprocessed & double-spaced pages, you need to either provide more specific
development of your points, or expand the scope of your topic/thesis. On the
other hand, if you have reached page 7 in drafting your essay and you still
have much more you want to write to make your thesis point, you need to narrow
down the scope of your topic/thesis.
Need
Topic Ideas? Review the "Writing" &
"Connections..." sections following Muller reading
selections--though keep in mind the limitations given above
under #3 Essay Topic.
4.
Essay Length:
The
Final/Revised Draft of Essay #1 itself should be 3-to-5 typed / wordprocessed
and double-spaced pages long--or about 750 to 1000 words--not
counting the separate Works Cited page at the end of
your essay - see #5. Reading Citation requirement
below.
5.
Reading Citation, Works Cited, & Avoid Plagiarism:
You must incorporate at least one in-text citation
(summary, paraphrase, and/or quotation - see Muller 11-14,
699-700) from a Muller reading selection (or other outside
source) into your essay. And you must, therefore, also
prepare a separate Works Cited page, placed at the
end of your essay, that presents a full MLA-style
bibliographical entry for the reading(s) cited in your essay
(see Muller 725 for a sample student Works Cited page -
although your Essay #1 Works Cited may contain only one
bibliographical entry.)
Advice on "incorporating" an in-text citation into your
essay: Yes, this Essay #1 requirement is meant
to be challenging (and also meant to prepare you for
reading-based In-Class Essay assignments that lie ahead):
that is,
--You have to find and select a citation (summary,
paraphrase, or summary) from a Muller reading selection (or
other outside source) that is relevant to a point you wish
to make or develop in Essay #1.
--You have to figure out where to place the citation in
Essay #1 and how you can use or apply it--e.g. to
introduce or express, develop or illustrate, provide a
definition of or an alternative (contrasting) view on, one
of your points (whether your thesis point and/or one of your
supporting "body" points).
--You cannot expect a quotation to speak for itself: rather
you must supply commentary to accompany the citation
that explains explicitly how/why the citation is relevant to
your Essay #1 point.
--You must follow MLA-style in introducing (e.g. use an
"author tag" - see Formal Academic Summary directions) and
parenthetically citing the summary, paraphrase, or quotation
- in order to distinguish the citation from your own words &
ideas, and avoid plagiarism;
--You should try to integrate the citation into your Essay
#1 text smoothly (considering flow, style and grammatical
correctness) - and for direct quotations cited, you may need
to use ellipses (if you leave out part of the quote) and/or
brackets (if you want to add something to the quotation)
1. TOPIC
SCOPE: Topic focus is neither too broad or too narrow for satisfactory
development within the scope of recommended essay length
2. CONTENT, TONE/PERSONA,
AUDIENCE: college-level critical and creative
thinking demonstrated; tone and persona are effective for essay topic,
purpose, & audience; persona, tone, diction convey clear sense of author
engagement; strong awareness of audience is demonstrated: “general”
college-level but "uninformed" audience addressed clearly & effectively
3. THESIS/PURPOSE,
UNITY : thesis & purpose clearly
established &/or implied; thesis statement effectively placed; essay is
unified (sticks to the stated/implied thesis & purpose), supported by
integrating timely thesis transitions to connect body points to essay
thesis/purpose; title is effective in previewing essay topic and thesis.
4. ORGANIZATION
& COHERENCE: Overall, organizational plan/arrangement of ideas is
sound, logical, effective; introduction and conclusion are appropriate to
thesis/purpose and effective; internal body paragraph organization is strong,
and paragraphs breaks are logical and "readable"; reasoning is convincing and
logical, with no unacknowledged / unreconciled contradictions; good coherence,
continuity, clarity are maintained in the essay--e.g., through explicit,
accurate transitions, clear expression, grammatical consistency in person,
tense, pronoun reference, etc. [Competency #1]
5. BODY PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE &
DEVELOPMENT: each body paragraph presents a
clear main idea (explicit or implicit topic sentence) which unifies the rest
of the paragraph; good idea progression (unnecessary restatement and circling
are avoided); effective balance of meaningful generalization and specific
supporting development; specific development is effective to clarify, support,
elaborate, illustrate, dramatize, make vivid the author’s general points--to
"show" readers what the author means; body points important to support of
thesis/purpose are accorded proportional emphasis & development, and are well
explained/analyzed/interpreted; body content is well selected to achieve the
essay purpose/thesis
6. STYLE:
Overall, sentence style & word choice are
clear, effective, sophisticated: e.g. effective/logical use of emphasis,
subordination & coordination (to distinguish main and subordinate ideas), and
parallelism; diction is precise (clear, accurate, concise); pleasing use of
sentence variety & vivid, fresh diction, etc.
7. GRAMMATICAL CORRECTNESS -
Effective editing/proofreading demonstrates
command of Standard Written English (including diction, idiom, syntax): major
sentence errors (esp. fragments, fused/run-on sentences, comma splices) are
avoided; sentence structure & word choice do not hurt clarity and coherence;
strong command of other conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, and
mechanics.
