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Course
Notes for January 14
Chapter 22
Review Notes
I assigned this brief reading to remind
you of your responsibilities for correctly documenting your use
of outside sources. Although the pages in the chapter following
those I have assigned you to read have all the details of how to
format your Works Cited list and your in-text entries (please use
MLA style for this first essay), the most important part of the
chapter discusses strategies for paraphrasing, summarizing, and
integrating outside sources into your own argument.
Please pay particular attention to the
tips on integrating quotations on pages 696. Although I do not think
the text provides you with a good example of quoting at the beginning
of the sentence, the "in the middle," "at the end"
and "divided by your own words" examples are very good.
For this essay, because the essay is so short, I am asking you to
refrain from using block quotations. Instead, condense through summary
or, better still, just focus on the words you really need from a
larger quotation and integrate them into a sentence of your own
analysis.
Review the basic punctuation rules for
introducing and managing quotations. The text's advice on making
sure that your use of a quotation does not render your sentence
grammatically incoherent is especially important (698-99). And if
you are not sure about methods for paraphrasing and summarizing,
review 699-670 closely.
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Paper
#1 Planning and Drafting activities
For the planning and drafting processes,
you will use SMG pages 273--276. You
should read ALL of these pages carefully before you begin to draft.
Although the text refers to "presentation of the issue,"
you do not have to worry too much about that principle because
your paper assignment has already refined the issue for you. If
you keep the goals of the assignment and your audience in mind,
you should have not trouble crafting an intro and conclusion that
frame your argument effectively and implicitly address these "presentation
of ideas" issues.
Before you begin drafting, create another
document in your file folder: major_outline. In this document,
sketch out a rough outline for your paper. It should include the
following:
Intro
- attention getting opener
- draft thesis
Body paragraph 1 (and each body paragraph
thereafter)
- topic sentence idea
- support: reasons and evidence
- clincher idea
Conclusion
- ideas for making a final
impression on my reader
- ideas for anticipating objections
or addressing common ground
As you can see, this outline is just
a sketch (do not worry about formal rules) designed to help organize
your thinking before you draft.
SMG offers very useful ideas about
drafting on page 276. The key here is to remember that this is
just a draft. It does not need to be perfect. Try to write freely
and explore as many ideas as possible. Ideally, your full-length
draft will be significantly longer than your final product needs
to be, giving you room to pare down and revise later.
Don't forget to stop by my office or
email me if you need help.
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Page last updated:
11 March, 2004
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