Pre-Drafting Exercises

You are responsible for the completion of each of all of the following pre-drafting exercises (details below)  You will do the first three exercises twice (see course schedule) in order for you to brainstorm about more than one idea before starting the draft:

Brainstorming

Thesis

Introduction and/or First Paragraph 

First Draft Submission

Peer Revision 

Revise and Submit Final Draft

Exercise Breakdowns

Brainstorming

Before you even craft a thesis, you will arrive at your argument by studying the texts, brainstorming, and free writing.  The professor will assign you at least a week before the due date, a specific exercise with instructions you should follow.  These exercises will help you pay  close attention to the details of both the philosophical and literary texts.  

Thesis

You will craft a thesis that is logically sound, focused, and based on the close reading of both texts.  

Introduction and/or First Paragraph

Once you have a thesis, you will articulate a clear and concise road map of how you plan to take your reader through your paper.  The thesis + the road map will be the heart of your introductory paragraph.  

The rest of your paper will illustrate your argument by taking your reader through a clear and cogent close reading analysis.  Illustrating your argument will include clearly introducing each topic, using quoted texts with proper page citations, and providing detailed explanation of how that quoted passage illustrates y our point.   Your paper should also be clear about which philosophy (and whose argument) it is putting in conversation with the literature.   This means you may need to introduce the philosophy text and the portion of its argument you’re focusing on in the beginning of the paper.  

You may submit a first paragraph in lieu of or alongside your introductory paragraph.  If you submit a first paragraph it must be well written and thoroughly executed.  You should clearly say what your point is for the paragraph and walk us clearly through where you read the texts illustrating that point. 

First Draft Submission

Before you submit a final draft of your paper to me, you will submit a clean and thoughtful first draft to your peers for a peer review.  This draft will be complete.  It will have an introduction with thesis and road map; as many body paragraphs as is necessary to make your point; a conclusion; all necessary citations; and be properly formatted

Peer Revision 

Your peers will give you feedback and a grade.  

Revise and Submit Final Draft

You will take their feedback into consideration as you revise your paper before submitting the final version to me. 

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