Project 3

Evaluation 33

ENGH 039 059 Eleventh Grade English 1

Analysis and Response

There are two parts to this written project: one literary analysis essay and one creative response. For each part, you will choose one of several options. Project 3 is worth a total of 100 possible points. It is 12% of your course grade.

Note that you are completing a written project, not just two papers. Each aspect of the project involves a series of steps that will lead you through the writing process and help you to create a powerful piece of writing. As you delve into the project, make sure that you thoroughly read and complete each step.

The final draft of each part of this project should be two double-spaced pages (about 600 words). For each paper, note the part of the project and the option you have selected at the top of the first page before you begin the paper.  Review the information on the process of writing before you begin. When you are ready, type the final drafts of your essays into the space provided at the end of this document.

“The” Writing Process

Quotation marks are put around “the” in “The Writing Process” for a reason. There is no one single process that works best for everyone. There is also no one single writing process that is best for all kinds of writing. The process can vary from writer to writer and task to task, based on such factors as the author’s style, habits, and level of writing experience, as well as the nature of the writing to be done. There is, however, a model that illustrates the basic components of most writing processes. This process includes the following stages: understanding the task (the assignment), exploratory or discovery writing, shaping and planning, drafting, revising, editing and proofreading, and learning something from the entire process.

Even though the stages are listed in order, the process is not linear. Circular is a more accurate description. There is no clear, step-by-step logic to the process. Instead, it is recursive. Though it always starts with understanding the task, and ends with learning something from the task, the steps in the middle are not always straightforward. Writers swing back and forth between stages of the process as is appropriate. For example, a writer may decide to rearrange a couple of paragraphs while revising. Such recursive “swinging” around the circle can and should happen repeatedly in the process of creating well-written prose.

Also, notice that the “drafting” stage usually comes somewhere in the middle of the process. If you’ve ever suffered from writer’s block, it may well be because you’ve jumped to the drafting stage too soon. Such a situation does not allow enough time for shaping and planning.

Remember that the process does not end with drafting. Revising and editing are important parts of the process. You might move back and forth between drafting and revising and then jump to exploratory writing if you get stuck.

Keep in mind that revising and editing come toward the latter part of the process. If you try these too early, they might cause some writer’s block as well. The simple fact is that our brains can only handle so many tasks at one time. The task of putting ideas and experiences into words takes up a lot of brain space. When we are trying to articulate and construct knowledge, but are also worrying about spelling, punctuation, grammar, and mechanics, we are simply giving our brains too much to do and both parts usually suffer. Nobody cares how sloppy or “incorrect” your early drafts are! Concentrate on getting your ideas on the paper!

One more important point you should notice is that revising, editing, and proofreading are three distinct acts. Revision means to “see again.” It deals with the global aspects of writing—focus, purpose, audience, development, coherence, organization, introductions, and conclusions. Editing deals with more sentence-level issues, like grammar, punctuation, and style. Proofreading involves reading for mechanical errors, like typos, missing capital letters, etc. This task should be saved until all other parts of the process are completed to your satisfaction.

Finally, notice that learning to write, writing, and writing well are more than questions of where to place commas. Writing is about making meaning and constructing knowledge. When you are at the “end” of the writing process for one writing task, you are really only at the beginning of benefiting from what you have learned.

Part A: Literary Analysis

In this exercise, you will interpret the theme of a short story. Remember that a theme is a main idea about life. You will examine a story’s conflict and resolution, and draw a greater meaning from these events.

Choose one of the three following options:

                a.             Analyze Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

                b.             Analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”

                c.             Analyze Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker”

As you complete this assignment, you should work through the following steps. You used these steps in Project 1 and Project 2. As you go through them again, they should seem comfortable and familiar to you.

Step 1: Exploratory Writing and Collecting

Review any notes you may have made when you studied the story earlier in the course. The, read the work another time. As you read, notice the characters in the story. How do they interact? How do characters react to their situations?

Remember that the four kinds of conflict in literature are Person vs. Person, Person vs. Nature, Person vs. Society, and Person vs. Self. What seems to be the most important conflict in the story you have selected? What type of conflict is it? Which character(s) and force(s) are involved? Spend ten minutes free writing about the characters’ relationships and situations.

Once you have determined the conflict in the story, ask yourself how the conflict is resolved. What does the resolution of the conflict suggest? Does there seem to be a message, or even a moral, to the outcome of the story?

What statement about life is the story making? This statement is a theme. You should know that this type of reasoning is called inductive reasoning. In inductive reasoning, one draws general conclusions from observable bits of data. Deductive reasoning, by contrast, is the process of making conclusions about specific data based on known principles.

Step 2: Planning and Shaping Your Essay

Now that you have collected your thoughts and gathered your data, it is time to start planning your essay. You will need to express your interpretation of the story’s theme in a thesis statement. For example, let’s look at Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” (which you will read in the next unit). The main conflict in the excerpt is between the man and the harsh conditions of nature, or his environment. The man at the center of the story does not give nature the respect it deserves, and also falls victim to bad luck, the combination of which seals his fate in the Alaskan wilderness. The conflict is resolved when he dies at the end of the story, alone and defeated. A suitable thesis statement would be:

“To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, suggests that disrespecting the sheer power and unpredictability of nature leads to our demise.

Be sure to include the story’s title and author in your thesis statement.

Once you have established your thesis statement, you will need at least three points to support it. These main points will form the topic sentences of your body paragraphs. Your main points should be instances from the story that show your thesis to me true. If you were writing about “To Build a Fire,” you would use the many instances in which the man’s condition or luck worsens as a man point. Each paragraph would explain how the man was at the mercy of the larger, natural world.

Step 3: Drafting

At this point, you should have a skeleton outline of your thesis statement and topic sentences. Let this outline grow into a paper. Begin with an introductory paragraph. In your introduction, note the title and author of the work about which you are writing. Briefly summarize the nature of the conflict in the story and note how it is resolved. Then, express your interpretation of the work’s theme in your thesis statement.

Each body paragraph will begin with a topic sentence, and elaborate upon the idea that the topic sentence expresses. In your paragraphs, you will note the details and evidence from the text that support your thesis. Your paper will end with a conclusion. Here, you will restate your thesis (in different words) and make a final statement about what your essay shows.

Note the author’s first and last name the first time you mention them. After that, use only their last name. Cite all direct quotations from the textbook properly. If the quotation is no more than four lines, simply incorporate it into the text:

Jack London suggests that the man in “To Build a Fire” does not have a severe killer instinct when he writes that the man “realized he could not kill the dog.”

If you are using a quotation longer than four lines, you will need to begin the quotation on a new line and indent each line of the quotation. Cite the page number for the quotation at the end of the quote. These quotations do not use quotation marks. Look at the following example:

And all the time the dog ran with him, at his heels. When he

fell down a second time, it curled its tail over its forefeet and

sat in front of him, facing him, curiously eager and intent. The

warmth and security of the animal angered him, and he cursed

it till it flattened down its ears appeasingly. (609)

If you have further questions about the proper use of citations, a good reference source is the MLA Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publications. A summary of the guide appears on pages R21–R23 of your textbook.

Step 4: Revising

After you have completed your draft, read through it and check for the following. Revise your work as necessary.

My Thesis

                a.             Does it directly respond to the assigned topic?

b.             Does it reflect a personal view or belief about the subject you are addressing?

                c.             Do I introduce the writer and the title of the piece of writing?

d.             Does my paper cover everything that I promised I would in my thesis? (If                            not, revise the thesis or develop the body portion of the essay.)

My Topic Sentences

                a.             Does each topic sentence support my thesis statement?

                b.             Does each statement relate directly to the thesis?

My Evidence

                a.             Do I have enough evidence to prove each of my topic sentences?

                b.             Is my evidence specific?

                c.             Have I cited direct quotations?

My Conclusion

Have I restated my overall point and made a final statement about what my essay shows?

Step 5: Editing and Proofreading

Print a hard copy of your draft. Read it out loud and check for the following.

                a.             no skipped words

                b.             complete sentences

                c.             correct spelling

                d.             correct words (for example there or their)

                e.             appropriate use of apostrophes

                f.              appropriate use of commas

                g.             appropriate use of semicolons

                h.             appropriate use of colons

                i.              appropriate use of quotation marks

Now you are ready to print and submit your polished literary analysis.

Your grade for Part A will be based on the following criteria:

Part B: Creative Response

In this part of the project, you are going to give voice to the environment. You will retell a story you have read from nature’s point of view. To do so, you will write your own version of the story with nature as a first-person narrator.

You may use a realist perspective, which would stress details, human routines, and human uncertainties about life. Also, you may use a naturalist perspective, which would emphasize humanity’s struggle for survival. Naturalist thought emphasizes that nature is beyond human control. Moreover, naturalist writing often shows nature to be working against people. A naturalist story with nature as the narrator may view people as intruders or rebels. It is possible that you feel that neither realism nor naturalism fairly represents nature. If this is so, you will want to show how nature truly perceives the events in the story.

Choose one of the following options:

                a.             Retell “An Episode of War” from nature’s perspective

                b.             Retell the excerpt you read from Moby Dick from nature’s perspective

This part of the project should be constructed so that it has an introductory paragraph, body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. In your introduction, note the title and the author of the story about which you are writing. Using a first person narrator, briefly summarize the impact that the events in the story have on nature. Write from nature’s perspective in the first person.

In the body paragraphs, retell the story in your own words. Concentrate on how the characters and events appear to nature, the first person narrator. Does nature see the characters as enemies, friends, or puppets? Does nature care about people? In this exercise, you are the one who will answer these questions. You may summarize many of the details and events in your version of the story. Focus on showing how the events affect nature.

In your conclusion, summarize your main ideas. Based on the events in the story, how does nature perceive human beings? What does your story suggest about interactions between people and nature? This is an exercise in which you may be creative. You may include elements of human.

Your grade for Part B will be based on the following criteria:

When you have typed your essays into the space provided at the end of this project assignment document (scroll down), save the project assignment document on your computer’s desktop: ENGH039059-Project3.doc.

Be sure to include your name and Student ID in the spaces provided on the first page of the project assignment document. Then, use the UNHS content management system to submit your project assignment document to your teacher. From any page in your online course, click on the MY WORK button on your screen. In the pop-up box that appears, click START next to Project 3.

Once you have the project opened in the content management system, use the BROWSE button to upload your project assignment document from your desktop. Be sure to save your file with the SAVE button at the bottom of the page before using the SUBMIT button to submit the project. You can review your results and grades by clicking MY GRADES on the top right corner of your screen.

For complete directions about submitting projects electronically, access the “Project Submission” instructions from your online course access portal homepage

BE SURE TO WRITE YOUR NAME AND ID NUMBER
 IN THE SPACE PROVIDED ON THE FIRST PAGE
OF THIS PROJECT ASSIGNMENT DOCUMENT!