[In-Class] Essay #4
WR 121, Prof. C. Agatucci - Fall 2002, Weeks #9 & #10
Worth: 15% of course grade - letter graded & scored using Final Exam rubric
[but see WR 121 Syllabus - Course Grading]
NO Late/"Make-Up" In-Class Essays are allowed
(See WR 121 Syllabus: Course Grading & Late Work Policies)

DEADLINES: See WR 121 Course Plan for week-by-week assignment schedule & deadlines relevant to In-Class Essay #4.

NOTE WELL:  In-Class Essay #4 will be a SHORT VERSION in-class essay writing - i.e. you will be given only one class period (75 min.) during Week #10 to complete your In-Class Essay #4.  Because of the shortened (less than two hour) writing period . . .

·         Your essay should be shorter in length (500-750 words) than expectations for In-Class Essay #2 and WR 121 Final Exam Essay (800 - 1200 words in two-hour writing periods). 

·         It is particularly important to your success on the Short Version In-Class Essay #4 that you limit your topic focus and thesis to only two or at most three key supporting points (as required by the chosen topic) - remembering that you will be expected to develop each key point in some depth in your essay, and still allow yourself adequate time to reread, revise, proofread, & edit your written work within the 75-minute writing period.

IN-CLASS ESSAY #4 Directions & Topic Choices

Come to class Week #10 prepared to write your In-Class Essay #4:
    (1) BRING Preliminary Draft or Detailed Outline (including thesis) of In-Class Essay #4 (to be turned in at the beginning of class) - for P.C. Points.  Extra/Make-Up Credit will again be awarded if you also turn in a practice timed essay writing completed at home.
   (2) BRING bluebook(s), black or blue ink pens, Muller textbook, topics handout (with Works Cited written on the back); optional dictionary &/or thesaurus OK.  Note Well: No Notes, Outlines, Drafts, etc., may be used when writing In-Class Essays.

Prepare your essay in response to one of the assigned topics given below, each based on a reading. Make sure your essay is unified by a clearly stated thesis and narrowed focus.  Your essay should be developed with supporting explanation, specific examples and detail drawn from observation, experience, and the relevant Muller reading.  You must avoid plagiarism & integrate required point/s from relevant reading/s, using correct MLA style to cite point/s (summary, paraphrase, quotation) from reading (as well as any other source/s you may decide to use).  More advice on Citing Sources is given below.

In-Class Essay #4 Topic Choices

Topic 1.  In "Loose Ends," Rita Dove claims that television's "projected reality" is powerful--not because children and adults "confuse TV with reality," but because many of us "prefer [television] to [the] reality" of our own lives (503-504).  Write an essay in which you affirm or challenge Dove's claim, by analyzing one or two appeal/s of selected popular television programs.  Draw upon your own personal experiences and/or observations, as well as at least one point drawn from Dove's essay. 

Topic 2.  Write an essay in response to this question: Are traditional gender expectations of "feminine" and/or "masculine" behavior losing their power to influence how males and/or females behave in today's U.S. society?  In your essay, identify two traditional expectations of "feminine" and/or "masculine" behavior, and compare/contrast these gender expectations to actual behaviors of females and/or males in contemporary U.S. society. Draw upon your personal experiences and/or observations to develop your comparative analysis, and integrate at least one relevant point from Deborah Tannen's "Sex, Lies and Conversation" or Paul Theroux's "Being a Man."

Topic 3.  In "Red, White, and Beer," Dave Barry offers a satirical analysis of how television commercials have used "retail patriotism" (520) to sell beer.  Classify, illustrate, and analyze two or three different appeals used in advertising--including the appeal of "retail patriotism" analyzed by Barry--in order to demonstrate either (a) why such appeals are effective in persuading consumers to buy the advertised products; or (b) how your critical analysis of such appeals can help consumers resist these advertising tactics.

Topic 4.  Basing your essay in part on Margaret Mead's "New Superstitions for Old," explain why even modern, so-called  "civilized peoples" continue to practice old superstitious rituals and/or to invent new ones (433).  Draw upon your own personal experiences and/or observations, as well as at least one relevant point from Mead's essay, to develop your essay and support your thesis.

Topic 5.  Evaluate the effectiveness of one of the Muller essays previously assigned for class, to demonstrate why selected  aspects of this essay do or do offer useful lessons for WR 121 students to study in order to improve their essay writing skills.
Cora’s Advice on Topic #5: 
Thesis:  State whether you do or do not recommend the selected essay as a good model for WR 121 students to study in order to improve their essay writing skills. 
Identify Two Criteria - on which your thesis recommendation is based - for judging an effective essay.  Choose criteria that you deem relevant, significant and likely to be persuasive with your readers.
Body Development:  apply each of the two criteria to the selected Muller essay, and demonstrate--by citing and analyzing specific examples from the selected essay--how/why the selected essay does or does not meet each of your two criteria in order to support your thesis evaluation.
[Tip:  Do NOT base your evaluation on whether or not you agree with the ideas presented in the selected essay. Instead, use your rhetorical analysis skills to consider how well the author achieves her/his essay purpose and/or how effective the author's writing strategies are. 
Note:  criteria = plural form; criterion = singular form]

Advice on Citation

In your essay, (a) you must effectively incorporate point/s from the relevant reading (Note: the WR 121 Final Exam Essay will require that you incorporate at least two points from a supplied reading); AND (b) you must avoid plagiarism (even if unintended!) by citing the source/s in-text correctly (typically, the author's name and page number) and by providing a full bibliographical entry for the source/s on a separate end page entitled Works Cited

(1)  Create a complete MLA-style Works Cited bibliographical entry for each source to be cited in your essay.  Prepare for In-Class Essay #4 in advance, by working out and writing your Works Cited on the back of the In-Class Essay #4 topic sheet.

(2)  In-Text Citations - i.e. quotations, paraphrases, and/or summaries to be cited in the text of your essay:

--In your first reference to the relevant reading, introduce the author’s full name and title of the article; and use Author tags to introduce summary of main idea(s) from an article.   Example:

Summary (author & article tag given in sentence):
In his essay "Being a Man," Paul Theroux explains the many reasons why he objects to gendered expectations of American men.

--MLA-style in-text citation requires author's (last) name and (page number) with any quotation or paraphrase of
specific passages from the reading.  But if you mention the author's name in your sentence introducing a quotation or paraphrase, then you need give only the page number in your parenthetical citation.  Examples:

Quotation (author's name NOT given in sentence):
"The whole idea of manhood in American is pitiful . . . . It means: Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient, soldierly, and stop thinking" (Theroux 219). 
Mixed Quotation & Paraphrase (author's name IS given in sentence):
One "emotionally damaging and socially harmful" consequence of "believing in the [American] masculine ideal," according to Paul Theroux, is that it separates a man "from women and he spends the rest of his life finding women a riddle and a nuisance" (220).
Paraphrase (author's name NOT given in sentence):
An American man who becomes, or wants to become, a writer may find that his chosen profession is not considered manly enough in our country (Theroux 220-221).
Paraphrase (author's name IS given in sentence):
Paul Theroux, a successful writer, has learned that his chosen profession is not considered manly in U.S. society (220-221).

Brief in-text citation only works if full bibliographical entries on in-text cited  sources are given in Works Cited at end of your essay.

--Effective "incorporation" of in-text citation – esp. important with direct quotation - means:
(a) clear and grammatically correct integration into or among your own sentences, which may require use of ellipses . . . and/or brackets [  ]
(b) accompany all citations with your own commentary - do NOT expect quotations, especially, to speak for themselves!  It's your job to explain how/why the citation is relevant to your thesis and/or supporting point;
For Quotations especially: 
--Don't quote a passage just because it sounds good or sophisticated if you don't really understand it, because you will also be expected to interpret (in your own words) the meaning and explain the relevance of any complex, abstract, or difficult quotations (and if you can't, don't use that quotation!);
--Be suspicious of an inclination to quote a particularly long passage (5 or more lines)--ask yourself:  Am I just trying to fill up space? (a bad reason to quote extensively); Do I really need to quote all of it to make my point?  Could I paraphrase all or parts of it to make my point more concisely and clearly? 

In-Class Essay #4 Evaluation           Name___________________________________

Wr 121, Fall 2002, Prof. C. Agatucci Overall Score & Grade_____________________

___1.  ADDRESSES TOPIC:  PASS 4:  Clearly addresses the question & explores the issues  3:  Adequately addresses the question and explores the issues
NO PASS:  2:  Distorts or neglects parts of the question 1:  Fails in its attempt to discuss the topic

___2.  CONTENT & THESIS:  PASS 4:  Shows some depth and complexity of thought and has clear focus governed by a thesis statement; 3: Shows clarity of thought and focus, governed by a thesis, but may lack complexity. 
NO PASS:  2:  Simplistic in thought or lacking in focus; 1:  Unclear thought, lacking in focus

___3.  ORGANIZATION:  PASS 4: Is effectively organized by a clear pattern of organization appropriate to the topic; 3:  Is adequately organized by a pattern of development appropriate to the topic. 
NO PASS:  2:  Demonstrates problems in organization; 1: Seriously flawed organization

___4.  DEVELOPMENT: PASS 4: well-developed, with supporting detail; 3: adequately developed, with some detail.
NO PASS 2. underdeveloped: lacks supporting detail; 1. so incompletely developed as to suggest or demonstrate incompetence

___5.  STYLE, STANDARD EDITED ENGLISH: PASS 4.  Demonstrates control of word choice, sentence variety, and transitions that promote coherence; may have a few flaws in mechanics or punctuation; 3.  Demonstrates competent word choice, sentence variety, and transition; contains no more than three similar high distortion errors (such as fragments, comma splices, run-ons, subject­­-verb agreement, faulty tense shift). 
NO PASS 2.  Lacks appropriate sentence variety or word choice or demonstrates a pattern of writing errors serious or frequent enough to distract or confuse the reader; 1.  Demonstrates severe or persistent writing errors

___6.  USE OF READING & SOURCE CITATION:  PASS 4.  Smoothly and effectively integrates viewpoints and/or quotations from the article into the student’s own work, responsibly citing the source within and at the end of the essay; 3. Integrates viewpoints and/or quotations from the article into the student’s own work, with occasional awkwardness, while responsibly citing the source within and at the end of the essay. 
NO PASS:  2.  Uses viewpoints and/or quotations from the article, but may misinterpret the author’s viewpoint or fail to clarify or cite the original source of ideas within the essay;  1: Uses viewpoints and/or words from the article, but confuses the author’s position or plagiarizes by failing to use quotation marks or to cite responsibly within the essay.

Cora's WR 121 Course Web Site:  Index
Fall 2002 Syllabus | Course Plan | Assignments

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Last Updated: 26 July 2003

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