Due dates:
Rough draft: Wednesday, Oct. 21
Final draft: Monday, Nov. 2
For this essay, you may choose one of two options.
For option 1, you may select a single non-fiction essay and write your own essay in response that presents a close reading of the text. Your essay will both deeply analyze the argument the writer develops, critiquing its logic and the evidence it provides, while also looking closely at how the writer uses language, both effectively and ineffectively. This essay should not only reveal the logical and rhetorical mechanics of the essay in a deep and thorough way but should also evaluate the essay’s effectiveness, both as an argument and as an instance of language use. It should reveal the nuance of the writer’s argument, contradictions or unresolved issues in the text, and areas of uncertainty or complexity that admit no ready either/or solution.
The second option is much like the first, except that you may select two essays and write an essay that compares the two works. In this case, your essay first and foremost must clearly show how the two texts interact with one another both in terms of arguments and thesis but also in their employment of rhetoric and their styles. This will require a thorough understanding of the “moving parts” of both essays: arguments, evidence, rhetoric, language. Again, this essay should take account of complexity, nuance, uncertainty, the unresolved, and the irresolvable.
Note: The preference here is that you find an essay or essays on a topic closely related to the themes we’ve been addressing in our readings so far (the social forces that shape the formation of the Self, with special attention to attitudes and social phenomena relating to race, gender, and work).
If you feel strongly about using one of the texts we’ve read so far, speak with me about it and we’ll see if that makes sense. A good source of essays can be found at the Baruch library using your access to JSTOR and other indexes of academic papers. Work in serious and well-regarded general interest magazines such as The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, the London Review of Books, and Harper’s, are also acceptable.
To reiterate, please remember that in our discussions and readings we are barely scratching the surface of questions regarding racial and gender prejudice and the shaping force of various social forces that marginalize or dehumanize groups within societies. You are invited to range far afield to find a subject fascinating to you—preferably one you don’t know so much about now: ideally the article or articles you write about should be revelatory.