Question to answer: Why does Hamid highlight more of the refugee and immigrant experiences and stories in their home countries, and how is that in correlation to the doors in his novel. what do the experiences and doors represent?
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Instructions:
Final Draft Checklist to Improve Your Grade: Essay 4
I used an MLA template like the one on the essay assignment page to correctly format my essay (with no extra spaces between the paragraphs or before/after the title.
I wrote the question(s) I answered at the top of page one, centered in a line before the title.
My title is not super generic like “Essay 4” or “Exit West.” Give the reader a hint of what direction you will go in. Your title should be in italics only, by the way.
My thesis statement directly answers the question I chose. It mentions something about the text in it (the author, character(s), or a scene). It is an arguable insight about the meaning of the text—something a reasonable reader could disagree with—and not a fact about the text, like a summary of the plot.
I have read my essay carefully, asking myself “what is the purpose of this summary or information I am including?” If the purpose is not clear, I deleted it or explained the purpose. I have been as concise as possible, taking out all unneeded words, sentences, and paragraphs.
I have discussed the meaning of those quotes and summaries after I gave them in-depth. In other words, I didn’t drop in quotes and then run off to another topic.
I have used at least four outside sources. I have given a bit of context about the source so the reader knows why it is credible—either the author’s credentials if they are an expert, or the name of the publication if it is by a non-expert like a journalist. For example: “In her study of refugee trauma, clinical psychologist Patti Smith found that migration leads to anxiety.”
I used transitions to join ideas between paragraphs—these go in the new paragraph’s topic sentence and show how its idea follows the idea from the end of the last paragraph.
I avoided using the second person pronoun (“you know how you expect your daughter to be.
I have proofread at least three times and fixed grammar errors. (Try Grammarly.com too!) I am absolutely sure the first sentence of my essay is free of errors.
For each publication title (novel, journal, newspaper, website) I mention, I put the title in italics. For each article, song, or poem title, I capitalized the first letter of each word and put it in “quotation marks.” I never used both together. For example: Marc Johnson, in his review for the New York Times, argues that Exit West is a more accurate picture of migration than the song “Born in the USA.”
I have at least one paragraph before the conclusion where I step back from individual quotes and scenes to look at the novel as a whole, investigating what I think Hamid’s message is about the topic I chose.
For all quotes longer than forty words, I have made them into a block quote:
I have indented them ten spaces (two tabs from the left margin, keeping the right margin the same. I have double spaced this, like the rest of my essay. I have not used quotation marks, and I put the citation outside the final period, like this. (Keast)
My Works Cited page totally meets 2016 MLA format. It is in alphabetical order and looks exactly like the sample one below.
Works Cited
Dean, Cornelia. “Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet.” The New York Times, 22 May 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/science/earth/22ander.html?_r=0. Accessed 29 May 2019.
Ebert, Roger. Review of An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Davis Guggenheim. Ebert Digital LLC, 1 June 2006, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/an-inconvenient-truth-2006. Accessed 15 June 2019.
Gowdy, John. “Avoiding Self-organized Extinction: Toward a Co-evolutionary Economics of Sustainability.” International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, vol. 14, no. 1, 2007, pp. 27-36.
Harris, Rob, and Andrew C. Revkin. “Clinton on Climate Change.” The New York Times, 17 May 2007, www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/1194817109438/clinton-on-climate-change.html. Accessed 29 July 2016.
An Inconvenient Truth. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, Paramount, 2006.
Leroux, Marcel. Global Warming: Myth or Reality?: The Erring Ways of Climatology. Springer, 2005.
Milken, Michael, et al. “On Global Warming and Financial Imbalances.” New Perspectives Quarterly, vol. 23, no. 4, 2006, p. 63.
Nordhaus, William D. “After Kyoto: Alternative Mechanisms to Control Global Warming.” American Economic Review, vol. 96, no. 2, 2006, pp. 31-34.
—. “Global Warming Economics.” Science, vol. 294, no. 5545, 9 Nov. 2001, pp. 1283-84, DOI: 10.1126/science.1065007.
Regas, Diane. “Three Key Energy Policies That Can Help Us Turn the Corner on Climate.” Environmental Defense Fund, 1 June 2016, www.edf.org/blog/2016/06/01/3-key-energy-policies-can-help-us-turn-corner-climate. Accessed 19 July 2016.
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Instruction Cont’d:
In each prompt this semester, there was always the option to write your own question…for your last essay, you will be required to. Why? Coming up with your own research direction is an important skill for upper division, graduate, and professional work. It also allows you to be more creative!
You will send me your question for feedback before you finalize it. Please write the question or questions at the top of your essay, under the date. I will be primarily grading you on how well you answer this question, so if your focus shifts as you write the essay, you can change your question to reflect that.
Requirements:
When writing your own question, focus on one big theme (or controversy) in the book. It is tempting to go in many directions with so much freedom, but do not do this. Make sure your thesis directly answers the question you wrote, and it presents a bold statement about the meaning of the novel. Write topic sentences that relate to this controversy and explain the meaning of the book, not plot summaries. Summarize the plot as little as you possibly can to make your insights into the novel’s meaning. Some themes to consider: migration policy, refugee crisis, nationalism, nativism, xenophobia, globalization, economic inequality, gender issues, feminism, types of love, technology, sexuality, alienation, the desire to escape problems. You can use Freud, Marx, or other theorists to help you if you want.
One strategy that can help is to look at Saeed and Nadia as representative of types of people we find in the world, and see how these types react to major global changes. Saeed can be thought of as a traditionalist or parochial type who looks to the past ways for guidance on how to deal with these changes. Nadia is cosmopolitan or progressive in that she sees herself as a citizen of the world and finds comfort in new ways of doing things after being liberated from the constraints of her homeland. Investigate how each one adapts, thrives, and grows—of fails to—as a result of these outlooks.
You need to primarily focus on Exit West, explaining the meaning of the novel as you see it. This is still primarily a literary analysis, but you also need to quote or summarize from at least three other credible outside sources on any topic related to the novel you think is important (not necessarily a literary source about the novel). Use these sources to explain the real world that Hamid is commenting on with his novel. Documentaries, YouTube clips, Tweets…these count as sources, and make sure to cite them. You could also use one of the short stories, poems, or novellas as an outside source. It is good to introduce who the author of a source is if she is an expert. For instance: “Oprah Winfrey, a commentator on spirituality and questionable health theories, argues in her scholarly journal O Magazine, “
Spend a few paragraphs at the end doing big-picture analysis about Exit West—what is the author’s message on the theme you identified?
Constantly ask yourself, “why is this information important to include?” When in doubt, explain why. When really in doubt, take it out.
Your essay should be five full pages minimum, seven pages maximum.
Follow the Final Draft Checklist posted in Canvas…if you do not, I will not grade your essay until you do, and I may take off points if you miss a lot of it.
Write the question or questions you answered at the top of your final draft.
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Rubric:
Eng 1B Rubric (1) (1)
Eng 1B Rubric (1) (1)
Criteria Ratings
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAnalysis
How well does the writer go beyond describing and summarizing the text to explain the meaning? The writer should do this often, especially in the thesis statement, in topic sentences in the body paragraphs, and after quotes and summaries . How interesting is the theory the writer is applying to the texts? How often do they return to it in the body?
Excellent
Good Engough
Not passing
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeSupporting evidence
How well did the writer select quotes and summaries to prove their theory about the meaning? Is there enough proof? Are the quotes and summaries concise–only long enough to prove the theory?
Excellent
Good enough
Not passing
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeOrganization
Did the writer follow a clear and logical order of ideas? Does the writer use topic sentences to refer back to the thesis enough? Are there distraction side points that do not fit the theory?
Excellent
Good enough
Not passing
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeStyle, grammar, and citation
Were the sentences clear and easy to understand? Were there distracting grammatical issues? Was the style of writing pleasurable to read, with a good flow, variety of sentence structure, and well-chosen words? Were the quotes and summaries cited with the author’s name and a page number? Did the Works Cited page follow MLA format?
Excellent
Good enough
Not passing
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