Project 2: Summary Response Essay Final Draft
Why are we doing this assignment and who is my audience?
The goal of this project is two-fold: one, students will hone their analysis skills through the close reading of a text. Second, students will develop skills in engaging with opposing arguments in order to make their own positions stronger.
For this project, students should choose an article that takes a different view on their topic. For example, if a student is arguing that college athletes should be paid, they would want to look for an article that argues against that position. Or, the article could argue for a different solution than the one the student is presenting. For example, if a student is proposing that physical therapy could end the opioid epidemic, they may want to look for an article that proposes another solution, such as education, is the key to ending the epidemic. Ultimately, if you cannot find an article that disagrees with your point of view, it is okay to analyze an article that you primarily agree with. However, it will take a bit more critical thinking on your part to add your voice to the essay. The suggestions in They Say I Say Chapter 4 – Yes/No/Okay, but can help you develop ideas.
Student Learning Objectives
These are the student learning outcomes, which are set by the VCCS, from the syllabus that this project will help us meet.
Writing Processes: Successful writers use multiple composing processes to conceptualize, develop, and finalize projects. Composing processes are both recursive and flexible, adapted to different contexts and occasions to meet purpose and audience.
Demonstrate the ability to apply a recursive writing process to create a variety of academic texts, including at least one fully documented, original research paper, producing a total of at least 4500-6000 words (approximately 15-20 pages) of polished, graded writing.
Independently apply the writing process, including planning, drafting, revising, editing, reflecting, and sharing compositions.
Examine and analyze their experiences and readings as sources of material for writing and engage with complex ideas, which they incorporate in well-structured prose that considers the purpose, audience, and genre
Effectively apply organizational strategies to open and close their texts and to move the reader between and within ideas, paragraphs, and sentences.
Reflect on the rhetorical situation of their compositions and revise to improve.
Revise and edit to improve clarity and correctness of writing.
Critical Thinking and Argumentation: Critical thinking refers to the ability to investigate ideas and solve problems through analyzing, interpreting and evaluating information, situations, and texts. Critical reading is the practice of making connections between and among texts to develop complexity and discern implications of ideas.
Analyze and investigate ideas from multiple perspectives and to apply sound reasoning to arguments, their own and others’.
Develop and apply strategies for critical thinking, reading, and writing processes, including inductive and deductive reasoning.
Read, comprehend, summarize/paraphrase, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate college-level, cultural texts in a variety of genres.
Examine subjects from multiple perspectives and recognize their own biases to formulate and express their own perspective.
Recognize, gather, and test factual and inferential evidence and avoid logical fallacies in their own writing.
Identify different parts of an argument including concession, counter argument/refutation, and confirmation.
Steps to Successfully Complete Your Assignment
Step 1: Engage in a close, critical reading of the text
In order to be successful in this project, students need to read their text carefully. The first time through, read the article to get the general idea. The second and third times through, take careful notes about the argument the author presents and what support is used to back up their argument.
Step 2: Choose 3 – 4 points to address.
After the close reading, students should choose 3 – 4 main points to address in the essay. In their response, students will be either agreeing or disagreeing with each of the points. We will discuss this further in class and be using Chapter 4 in They Say, I Say to help guide responses.
Step 3: Compose a well organized essay with a clear thesis statement that demonstrates why the author’s arguments are problematic, or not.
The essay should have a minimum of 5 paragraphs, including an introduction and conclusion. Each body paragraph should address a different point from the article. (If one point is particularly in depth, it can be broken into multiple paragraphs). Students must quote from the text they are analyzing and should include a reference page. They may bring in other texts to support their points, but it is not required.
Structure:
1. In your introduction paragraph, you need to make it clear what article you are responding to by giving the title, author(s), and where it was published. Your thesis statement should make it clear whether your agree/disagree or have mixed feelings about the argument made in the article.
2. Your second paragraph should be a brief summary, in neutral language, about the article.
3. Paragraphs 3-5 should each address a different point that the article makes. You should present what the author says and then your response to it.
4. Finally, you should have your conclusion that wraps up your ideas and points to the larger implications.
Requirements:
1000 words (3 – 4 pages double spaced)
APA style with cover page and reference page
12 Times New Roman, double spaced
