Paper Assignments and Guidelines

Paper #2: Close Reading

Johnson, “from The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man” (pages 387-395)

Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (pages 153-190)

Kazin, “from A Walker in the City” (pages 731-737)

Delany, “from Times Square Red Times Square Blue” (course site)

Singer, “The Cafeteria” (pages 896-912)

Didion, “Goodbye to All That” (pages 886-895)

Baldwin, “from The Fire Next Time” (pages 831-838)

For this paper, select one of the texts listed above to be your central focus. You will need to perform a thorough close reading of this text—meaning that you will need to locate an argument that indicates why you are interested in or invested in that particular text and prove your argument purely through textual analysis. For example, if you choose to focus on Delany’s Times Square Red Times Square Blue, your thesis might involve a close reading of how Delany’s “Preface” serves as a model for why we need to really interrogate every single New York City neighborhood’s past in order to understand and rationalize our current situation.

Keep these things in mind as you work on your paper:

• Your explanation must be built around the actual text, and not around what you add to, or imagine should be part of, it.  In other words, you can only work with the material, or information, that the author gives you; you cannot add your own stuff to the story.
• Do not summarize the story.  We’ve all read it, and we do not need to know what is in the story; we know.  Instead, analyze those parts that are useful to your explanation.
• Please work in the theme of the course in whatever way you find suitable (if at all).

ROUGH DRAFT DUE: Thursday, March 15, 2012  (3-5 pages typed, bring 3 COPIES to class)

REVISION PLAN/MAP: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 (1-2 pages outlining how you plan to approach your revision of this paper)

RADICAL REVISION: Radical Revision of Rough Draft Paper #2 Due (3-5 pages typed, bring 2 COPIES to class)

FINAL DRAFT DUE:  Thursday, April 5, 2012 (3-5 pages typed)

Jacobs, “from The Death and Life of Great American Cities” (pages 811 to 815)

Dickens, “from American Notes for General Circulation” (pages 51-64)

Poe, “from Doings of Gotham” (pages 91-106)

Sante, “Preface” (from The Low Life)

Riis, “The Down-Town Back-Alleys”

Twain, “Personals”

Foo, “Experience of a Chinese Journalist”

Last week, after reading through selections from John D’Agata’s editor’s notes in The Next American Essay, I asked you to think about what “kind” of essay you would want to write if you could write anything; or to think about defining the essay that you’ve always longed to write. Many of you expressed that you wanted to write an essay that showed your own personality or voice. And, many of you also mentioned that an essay does need to have a purpose or job—it needs to prove something. Some of you also mentioned that essays must have certain parts—introduction, body, conclusion. And, some of you had specific ideas or topics in mind that you want to write about.

So, guess what. For your first essay of the semester, I want you to write that piece you’ve always wanted to write. Of course, there is no escaping the reality that this is a piece of writing that will ultimately be graded, so I will give you a few constraints, but I won’t tell you specifically what you must write about.

Guidelines:

• Your essay should somehow focus on New York City (past or present)—you might pick a specific store, neighborhood, time period, pop cultural moment, etc.
• You must be sure to quote from two of the texts we’ve read thus far this semester—remember, ideally, try to use one quote per paragraph!
• You may not do any outside research!
• This essay needs to revolve around a specific and persuasive idea/argument/thesis. For example, you might choose to write about how graffiti is a way for people in the city who do not necessarily own property to make their mark on property. And, you might use both Riis and Jacobs to support your argument.
• A weak thesis would be: Graffiti is a way for New Yorkers to leave their mark on the city.
• A strong thesis might be: Just as Jane Jacobs describes the chaos of her New York as not unlike a dance performance, I can’t help but think of my New York in visual terms—symbolized by the literal “writings on the wall” I pass by every day. I think of graffiti as a reminder that I am home—that the city that becomes increasingly unaffordable still offers those without property to make some mark on public space. The surveillance society we live in trains us to read these marks as bad, but in reality, they are the thought balloons of the city.

A few tips:

• Be clear and concise in your writing.  Keep in mind that you want your readers to both understand what you are saying, and to sympathize with your position.
• Remember—details and description are always more powerful than vague, general statements.
• Read your paper out loud ahead of time—do you hear any grammatical mistakes, any places where you seem to stumble over your own words?
• Remember to be as assertive as possible. You want your readers to agree with you by the end of the paper!

ROUGH DRAFT DUE: Tuesday, February 28, 2012

(3-5 pages typed, bring 3 COPIES to class)

FINAL DRAFT DUE:  Tuesday, March 6 (3-5 pages typed)