Assignment:
A writing 2 course should introduce you to research and scholarly papers. In this class you will not be writing a full on research paper, but this next assignment (and then how you revisit it in the final project) should introduce students to researching scholarly opinion and engaging scholarship in their own writings.
In the first paper you examined a primary text (a piece of literature, a news article, a video, etc.). In this paper you will examine a secondary text. A secondary text is a piece of writing which discusses or examines a primary text. The kind of writing that scholars typically do produces secondary sources. Scholars are interested in talking about primary text and synthesizing data and patterns they see in primary texts. A secondary text though is still a piece of writing. It still has a central aim. It has a beginning, middle, and end, and it employs different devices to accomplish its central aim. Usually in a secondary text the central aim is more explicit in the form of an argument or thesis statement, and subsidiary points are usually clearly introduced. Scholarly essays though can get pretty nuanced and dense. They have a lot of information and the language is very idiosyncratic so that it might be hard to make sure you’re clear about the premise the author is working with in making their argument. In this paper you will apply the close reading attention to analyzing and responding to a secondary and scholarly text.
It will be extremely important in this paper for you to utilize your descriptive summary skill. You must first identify what this scholarly essay is trying to do and how it does it. What is its central argument? What are its main subsidiary claims? What is the premise underneath the article? Where is the strongest evidence for the argument? Then you should continue to think about the details. Are there loose ends in this argument? Are there aspects that contradict each other? Or are there aspects that are even more true when discussed at length than the paper acknowledges? Is there an implication to this argument that is not being addressed? A good place to start when making an argument is with whether or not you are compelled by the argument or not or whether you are compelled by parts and not others. HOWEVER that is only a starting place. This is not an evaluative paper. A thesis that states “I agree” or “I disagree” will not fly. A thesis statement that says “I agree with this but not that” is trying to do more work, but it is also not strong enough. You need to present an argument that is about how the piece is working or what’s at stake in the argument
For example maybe you disagree with an argument about men struggling with emotional expression as a reason for work place violence.
A bad thesis would say: I disagree with this argument about men being more violent because of their emotions.
A great thesis would say: This article depends on the assumptions that women do not struggle with expressions of emotions in the work place, and as such it is quick to make the issue solely about gender difference when if we look at the case studies provided it seems that class and race may also be contributing factors. This thesis is a great thesis because 1) it identifies the underlying premise of the argument 2) it engages that premise and the way it is executed and 3) it indicates specific places in the text that this argument will focus on (i.e. the way race and class show up in the case examples).
This paper should have a clear, cogent, and focus thesis. It should be 4 pages double spaced, 1 inch margins, 12 point Times New Romans font. You should include page numbers in the footer and your full name in the header. This paper should include a proper citation of the scholarly article you address.
Secondary Source Paper Grading Rubrics:
Argument/Perspective
Does your paper have a clearly stated central claim aka thesis? Is the scope of your paper appropriately focused? Does the material you relay in your paper relate to your stated central claim? Is the logic undergirding your argument/perspective clear, consistent, and sound?
Deal Breaker: If you do not have a clearly stated central aim (thesis where relevant), it will affect your grade AT LEAST by a letter.
Engaging Scholarly Text
Do you identify the scholar’s main argument and relevant subsidiary claims? Do you identify the premise and the primary ways in which the scholar attempts to illustrate their argument? When you go to engage that argument are you clear and focused about what part of the scholarly paper you’re responding to? Do you provide relevant passages and do you interpret those passages in a way that while showing your point is also faithful to the integrity of what the scholar was originally trying to say? Are your quotes and references properly cited?
Deal Breaker: If you do not have proper citations, it will affect your grade AT LEAST by a letter.
Also in argument based paper, please know: Just having an example and introducing it (while important) is not enough. If you do not also follow up your example with a detailed explanation of how you want me to interpret this example, you cannot get an A in this section.
Structure
Are your introduction and conclusion focused and doing more than warming up and cooling down. Do you have clear transitions that introduce your points and help the reader relay the individual point back to the overall thesis? Do you present your points clearly and in a strong, productive order?
Language
Do you use clear, complete, and active sentences? Do you adhere to rules of capitalization and correct punctuation? Is your spelling accurate and consistent?
Deal Breaker: Any language issue that puts you at risk of plagiarizing (i.e. incorrect use of quotation marks, not properly formatting titles of texts, misspelling author names, not including citations, etc.) will result affect your grade AT LEAST by one letter.
Deal Breaker: If I give you or the class a language comment more than twice, but you do not show a good faith effort to correct this issue in subsequent drafts and assignments, it will affect your grade by AT LEAST one letter.