Formal Writing Assignment #2
Drafts Due: Monday, March 18th. Bring three copies of your draft with you to class.
Essays Due: Sunday, March 24th, uploaded to your Google Docs Folder
Essays should be 3-4 pages long, 12 pt type, double-spaced.
For your second formal writing project for English 2150, you will be choosing one of the three options described below.
Option A – Analytical Essay – “Power Steer”
For this option, you will be offering an analysis of Michael Pollan’s “Power Steer”. Building on the work we have done together in class, compose an essay that explores one of the arguments Pollan seems to be making about the beef industry. Pollan addresses the economic, environmental, ethical, and health considerations involved in this industry. Choose one of those “angles” and use your essay as an opportunity to think through and assess the argument “Power Steer” is making about that particular dimension of the business. Your essay will make use of textual evidence (direct quotation, paraphrase, and inclusion of details from the text) in formulating your analysis.
Option B – Review
For this option, you will be writing a thoughtful and detailed review of a restaurant or food purveyor. Choose a business that you are already familiar with and that you would describe as having a particular cultural identity. Your review should take into account the following considerations: What cuisine or food products are being offered? If you are reviewing a restaurant, you will, of course, review the food. If you are reviewing some other kind of food business, describe and evaluate its offerings. What kind of language does the menu or signage use? Who is the target audience for this business? How can you tell? How does this business represent or cater to a culturally specific clientele? Where is this establishment located? Who works there? Does it serve a local population? Who are its customers? What are they looking for here? Think about how this business might be experienced differently by people both inside and outside of the culture being represented. How does this business reflect its location here in New York? What do you think prospective patrons ought to know if they are considering visiting this establishment?
Option C – Analytical Essay – Food and Ritual
For this option, you will be writing about a specific food-related ritual that you are familiar with. The purpose of this essay is NOT to tell your personal story the way you did in your first essay. Instead, this essay will identify a particular food-related ritual that is part of your religious, cultural, or national identity and explore its history, meaning, and significance. Most cultures incorporate feasting or fasting into their rituals. This is an opportunity to think more deeply about how practices related to food/eating/drinking function to elevate, sanctify, or embody other ideas. Your essay will describe the ritual and its various meanings. While this is not a personal essay, you are welcome to include your own experience in formulating your analysis.
Project #1: Personal Narrative
Length: 3-4 pages, double-spaced
First Drafts Due: Wednesday, February 14th
Revised Drafts Due: Monday, February 19th
Essays Due: Sunday, February 25th
For this first essay of the semester, you will be sharing a story that explores some aspect of your personal history or identity through the lens of food. You may want to recount a very specific incident, as Gabrielle Hamilton does in “Killing Dinner”; you could organize your essay around a single food, like Veronique Greenwood does in her essay about ramen; you may want to use food as the thread in exploring a broader, more expansive narrative, as Chang-Rae Lee does in “Coming Home Again”; or perhaps you want to connect your food story to issues of family or cultural history, as Toni Morrison does in “The Day and Its Splendid Parts.” No matter what direction your essay takes, follow the lead of these authors, and be sure that your essay has a narrative or storytelling component.
As you develop your ideas, think about what will make this essay engaging and meaningful for you and for your reader. Your essay should read as though only you could have written it; this is your “special sauce.” This means including sensory detail that will bring your narrative alive for your reader, and it also means crafting an authorial voice or tone that is authentically your own. However, a successful essay will not just describe an experience vividly; it will connect the food experience being shared to more complex issues of identity, relationships, or personal history. To use a food metaphor, you want your essay to be “meaty” – not superficial. How can the reader understand you more deeply after reading your essay? How can you use food as a gateway to thinking about some of the more complicated aspects of your personal story?
You are welcome to use the food memory you shared on the blog as a jumping off point for thinking about this essay, but think about how you might connect that memory to some of the larger issues referred to above.
Submission Instructions:
Drafts: On Wednesday, February 14th, please bring three hard copies of your draft with you to class. (Plan ahead, so that you have time for printing before class.) You cannot submit a finished essay without going through the drafting and revision process, so be sure to have a draft with you (plus the three copies) on Wednesday.
Revised Drafts: Due Monday, February 19th (by midnight.) In order to submit this revised draft, please create a folder called: “Your Name English 2150 SP24,” and share the folder with me at jsylvor@gmail.com). Give the file that contains your revised draft the name: “Personal Narrative – Revised Draft” and place it in your personal folder.
Conferences: On Wednesday and Thursday, February 21st and 22nd, I will be meeting with you in small groups to discuss your revised drafts. These conferences are required and will be taking place instead of our regular class sessions. Stay tuned for the conference schedule!
Finished Essays: Due Sunday, February 25th. Your finished essay will be placed in the same personal Google Docs folder in which you placed your Revised Draft. While your essay itself should have a creative title that communicates something about what your essay is about, the file should have the name “Your Name – Personal Narrative”.
