This is the page for: Essay Writing 2, Fall 2008
(Course-related content will appear here in reverse chronological order: the newest things at the top of the page, and older posts toward the bottom.)
Disagreeing
As I noted, the technique of disagreement is fundamental to the process of essay-writing. Here’s the template I promised for you to be able to do your homework assignment. (The template is by Cathy Birkenstein-Graff and it’s from Gerald Graff’s Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind, pg. 169 of the Yale paperback edition.)
TITLE: ________________________
The general argument made by AUTHOR X in his or her work, ____________________________, is that _____________________________________. More specifically, X argues that ________________________________________________________________________. She/He writes, “__________________.” In this passage, X is suggesting that ____________________________. In conclusion, X’s belief is that ______________________.
In my view, X is wrong/right, because___________________. More specifically, I believe that ___________________________________. For example, ____________________________. Although X might object that ___________________________, I maintain that ___________________________________. Therefore, I conclude that __________________________________________.
Use this template to do today’s homework.
Homework for Thursday Morning
Your homework for Thursday morning is as follows:
- Draft a paragraph on one of the three topics we chose this morning. Your paragraph should include a strong argument about some aspect of the topic. Type it, proofread it, and bring two copies to class.
- Download Sook Jung’s essay (which will be added to this post when I receive it), print it, and read it several times, taking notes. We will have an in-class critique workshop on Thursday morning, and everyone will be expected to talk about four things:
- What the essay is about, or what the essay is “doing.”
- What’s working well in the essay, and other strengths.
- What could be improved, what isn’t working well, and other weaknesses.
- Your one suggestion for improving the essay — what you would do if this essay were yours and you wanted to make it better.
See you Thursday! And remember: Sook Jung’s essay will be online by Wednesday morning. Also — remember that you will need to DISCUSS her essay in Thursday’s class. That means you need to have read it and prepared some comments before class. If I catch you reading the essay for the first time in class, it will have a detrimental effect on your final mark.
UPDATE: Here is Sook Jung’s essay, which you need to read and be ready to discuss for Thursday’s Morning Crit Circle:
See you then!
Essay Topics
Here is the best essay topic pitched by each student. Some of them I can only accept if you come talk to me. Some of you will be able to choose out of two that I thought were equally good. I will markboth cases clearly. If you have this marking, make sure you come and talk to me during my office hours. Otherwise, you are free to visit my office if you like, but are not required.
- Soyoung Choi — Management of Cultural Treasures and Globalization (BUT PLEASE COME AND TALK TO ME)
- Byoung Lee — Police Power
- Yoon Jung Kim — Twixter OR Candlelight Vigil (YOU CHOOSE — BUT PLEASE COME AND TALK TO ME)
- Sook Jung Lee — On the coinage of words related to fashion consumption (BUT PLEASE COME AND TALK TO ME)
- Soonjae Lee — Loneliness among the elderly during holidays (BUT PLEASE COME AND TALK TO ME)
- Ji Hye Park — Same Sex Parents
- Myong Han-goo — President Lee and the Anti-Buddhist Bias OR Suffering from Private Education (YOU CHOOSE — BUT PLEASE COME AND TALK TO ME)
- Changho Song — The Benefits of Video Games
- Yu Minjoo –The Man With His Legs Wide Apart
- Jinyoung Kim — The High Rate of Adolescent Venereal Disease
- Eonjoo Kim — Human Trafficking in South Korea
- Yehyun Kim — Why Japanese Novels are so Popular in South Korea
- Sunjun Choi — Issues with the Appointment of the New KBS President
If I’ve missed you, please email me and I’ll make sure to post your topic soon!
Responding to Nora Ephron
Your homework for the week is a 500-word response to Nora Ephron. Well, not a “response” but an essay in the style she used, writing about a similar theme: the awkwardness of adolescence or puberty.
Your essay may be read by classmates, so consider this carefully when you choose your specific topic. Try to think about your audience, and consider both your sympathetic and unsympathetic audience.
The three formatting issues I mentioned as most important are these:
- 12 point font
- use the font Courier New
- double-space using the format function (usually under Format->Paragraph in a wordprocessor)
The other formatting issues you should consider are discussed here.
Finally, I mentioned two free wordprocessors with spell check and modern formatting capability: Abiword and OpenOffice.
This essay is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, Sept. 25th. We will not be meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 23rd. Have a nice weekend!
The Pitch
Alright, everyone, I promised an example of a pitch. Some people emailed with questions so I’ll try make it clear what you need to do:
Pitch three (3) essay topics to me in writing next Thursday (Sept. 18).
A pitch is really a proposal, specifically containing:
- the basic topic.
- the concept for the essay.
- the unique approach you plan on using (your “angle”).
- what you want readers to learn from reading the essay.
- any other basic information you think will convince me this is a good idea for an essay.
Here’s an example pitch for one essay:
Topic: Soybean Paste Girls
This essay will deal with a (somewhat) new idea in Korean society, the “Soybean Paste Girl.” The essay will not focus on women who are called this term, but instead will discuss this stereotype in comparison to other female (and male) stereotypes in Korean popular culture, past and present alike. I want readers to learn about how pop culture is affected by politics and consumer culture, and to teach readers to think carefully about why we use the insults we do. I think by exploring this idea — which I consider sexist and a response to changes in Korean consumer culture today — my readers can be more aware of the sexism that underlies the term. My angle will be to analyze the images (especially webcomics) used online to describe “Soybean Paste Girls” and explain why the insult is related to anxieties about new-styled younger female consumer culture.
That’s a bit heavy… well, it’s an essay I’m working on myself, in fact! But it should give you some idea of the kind of thing I’m looking for. You should have a pretty good idea about what kind of essay you want to write, once you’ve written your pitch.
Remember, you need to pitch three (3) articles to me this Thursday! Get cracking!
The Essay Writing Course Blog is Up
It’s here. Make sure you go and apply for membership. I’ll approve you within a day or two.
Syllabus!
We’ll discuss our syllabus in class on Thursday. You can download it here:
Essay Writing 2 Syllabus (PDF)
Also, for week 2 (ie. September 9th) please read the following essay:
“A Few Words About Breasts” by Nora Ephron
Student Info Sheet
I will be bringing copies to class for all my classes, but in case you missed it, or lose your copy, you can download the Student Info Sheet here:
You must fill this out with a partner. If you wish to write comments on the back, fold the paper on the black line in the middle, and be sure to write your name at the top of the side you use, so I can know who wrote on which side.
Welcome to the Fall 2008 Semester!
Welcome back!
Syllabi are coming soon. Please check back for more information in a few days!