Labor Required: 6 hours
Over the course of the next week, spend six hours working on your research paper. Rather than asking each of you to produce a rough draft, I want to give you the opportunity to carefully consider what work you need to do at this point in your writing process. Many of you prematurely jumped to writing in your last paper when you should have spent more time close reading. As a result, your close readings lacked depth and often felt manipulated to “prove” a point. This week, spend time doing what you need to do to set you up for writing. Possible activities can include:
WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT DO IS START TO WRITE A FULL DRAFT WITHOUT ANY FURTHER PREPARATORY WORK. NONE OF YOU ARE READY for this and it will most definitely lead to weak analyses in your paper. You can start writing a draft when you have done at least 3-4 hours of work.
MAKE SURE YOU DOCUMENT EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR LABOR. In the last thirty minutes, organize your labor log and print it. And, write a brief reflection on what specific tasks you've spent your six hours on and why.
On Tuesday November 14, 2017, you will hand in the following:
Over the course of the next week, spend six hours working on your research paper. Rather than asking each of you to produce a rough draft, I want to give you the opportunity to carefully consider what work you need to do at this point in your writing process. Many of you prematurely jumped to writing in your last paper when you should have spent more time close reading. As a result, your close readings lacked depth and often felt manipulated to “prove” a point. This week, spend time doing what you need to do to set you up for writing. Possible activities can include:
- Finding other passages, or images or specific places you want to write about and spending 40 minutes close reading them WHILE IN UNCERTAINTY.
- Reading more of the sources you’ve collected in your sources assignment.
- Write bits and pieces of a draft— a close reading analysis here, integrating your sources there.
- Free write a conclusion that thinks about “What are the stakes of my piece?"
WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT DO IS START TO WRITE A FULL DRAFT WITHOUT ANY FURTHER PREPARATORY WORK. NONE OF YOU ARE READY for this and it will most definitely lead to weak analyses in your paper. You can start writing a draft when you have done at least 3-4 hours of work.
MAKE SURE YOU DOCUMENT EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR LABOR. In the last thirty minutes, organize your labor log and print it. And, write a brief reflection on what specific tasks you've spent your six hours on and why.
On Tuesday November 14, 2017, you will hand in the following:
- Whatever work you’ve produced for your paper (close reading of passages, free writes on sources, a rough draft).
- Your labor log for the past three assignments (three weeks), and a brief report on how you’ve chosen to spend your six hours this week and why. Be specific. (For example, "I spent one hour looking at x passage. Half of that time I spent reading and annotating. The other half of the time, I spent writing some thoughts on close reading analysis).
- Finally, attach paragraph or two asking a classmate what you’d like to receive feedback on. You will each be assigned a partner whose work you will read and respond to by Thursday.