12.1 Writing about literary research

We are NOT going to be writing an essay on Mango Street.  I looked at the number of weeks left in the course and decided we simply do not have time to do in-depth work on revising without ditching an assignment - so that's that.  Below I have posted the revised schedule.

Revisions to the schedule
Dec 1: Discussion of deValdes essay

Dec 4:
workshop on revision of either the Short Story essay, or the poetry essay

Dec 8: Drama essays returned
Discussion of revision for Othello essay
Presentation on Reflective essay assignment

Dec 11
workshop = in-class conferences on essay of your choice

Dec 15  
Peer review of reflective essay + revised essays

Dec 18: Complete portfolio due at end of class


Connecting to the researh - writing about scholarly essays.
Reviewing the focus, theory, and main points for the essay. Just as when writing about literature, when writing about research essays connected to a particular work of literature, it is important to spend some time with the research essay before deciding on a focus or "taking a stand."  In general, when reading a critical essay, you will need to have a strong hand on the following.

• A clear idea of the thesis
• Background to set up the argument.
• (theory, terms defined, overivew of - how to interprt plot/character/scene)
• the list the points the author makes to develop the thesis (notice the order)
• The essay's conclusion

In our discussion of deValdes we decided the thesis centered on:
-  the creation of identity;
-  the role of an "impulse toward the world (a voice) and the persona or character or role assumed as - -  that voice is projected into/finds its place within social culture
-  presentation of a critical model of reading
-  discussion of an aesthetic process where things become metaphors of (becoming) a self

In terms of background materials, we noted that deValdes made connections to social feminism, distinctions between semantic and semiotic (voice + character/ the literal and the metaphoric)

We also noted that in her discussion she set up each discussion by referring back to the theoretical/features of her "model" that she would work with in the "reading" she used to illustrate the point.

General ideas/approaches work for writing about literary essays
- explorations of structure=> theoretical readings of how the critical essay works
- discussions of the historical context for the essay,  how it fits in with other essays about the same work, or how it connects to the larger body of theory it draws from
- agree or disagree (or agree with some parts and not others) with the essay's thesis/main points about how the literary work "works", connets to theory, or etc
-discuss how the critical essay might be extended, applied to other sections, improved, etc.

You did a great job reading this essay.  Thanks for your good work.

What to do for next class
Write:  post reflective writing on which essay you will revise, and what you plan to work on for your revisions. Consider focus, organization, development, language choices, and correctness.  Be as specific as you can about what you want to revise.

We will use the class in the computer lab both to identify WHAT to work on, and HOW to work on the most important writing issues for your essays.