Week 12: October 21-25

• M 10/21 - F 10/25: Work on writing skills in class, but students are expected to write most of the paper at home, with class time devoted to individualized/small-group support, skills emphasis, etc.
• M 10/21 notes:
• HW due T 10/22: Complete page 8 of the packet (the preliminary organization chart)
• Process to greatness:
• freewrite to generate ideas (money in the bank)
• reread texts multiple times - with each reading, look for subtle details that help you develop deeper points
• keep rethinking and rewriting your main point and section points until you reach a deep and complex point that you can argue, discuss, and support
• plan out each section of your paper
• Cautionary Tales -- Look at the difference when you deepen your point to a more specific and complex idea!
• 1st try: Economic inequality impacts children.
• 2nd try: Economic inequality impacts children's sense of hope for the future.
• 3rd try: Growing up poor, but surrounded by wealth, leaves children with a deep scar. 
• 4th try: Growing up poor, but surrounded by wealth, leaves children with a  deep sense of mistrust. 
• Click here for outline 
• Tue 10/22 notes
• HW due on W 10/23: Write body paragraphs for the ones that deal with each work individually (not the synthesis body paragraph); for partnerships, each person should write one of the two body paragraphs; for people working solo, write one of the two body paragraphs
• You have already figured out most of the parts of the body paragraph; you just need to fully explain and elaborate on the points.
• Refer to the organizational model for body paragraphs
• Try to avoid my cautionary tales for body paragraphs
• Starting the body paragraphs with a topic sentence that is too focused on plot or fact -- you need to start with a strong opinion/claim/point/insight about the text
• Commentary does not add any new insights or thoughts -- it just restates or repeats the quote
• Wed 10/23 notes
• HW: complete all three body paragraphs (one for text A, one for text B, and the synthesis/combined paragraph)
• Tonight, as you work, remember that the most important thing is to realize what new understanding about the social problem comes when you read the two texts together.  I know you are sick of my metaphor, but I am going to give it to you one more time. If you think about chemistry, you have two chemicals -- A and B.  You would study and understand the properties of each chemical on its own (that's your theme and individual paragraphs).  Then you combine the chemicals, not in order to compare them, but to understand how they become a new chemical because they are combined.  The central theme/central purpose is what you realize anew about this social problem because you ahve combined the two texts.
• After you figure out the common theme/purpose, you can follow the body organization chart that is posted under Wednesday, here are the only differences:
• TS -- common theme, common purpose
• Elaborate as needed to fully express your big idea
• Context of Text A
• Concrete Detail/Quote from Text A
• Commentary for Concrete Detail from Text A
• Transition -- this is a transition of comparison that links Text A to Text B via the common theme and purpose.  
• Basic template: Not only does text A show the common theme but so also does text B (do not use this wording!  fill in the blanks like the next one!)
• Example: Not only does Cullen's "Saturday's Child" show the deep divide between the rich and poor but so also does Langston Hughes's "Mother to Son"
• You need to name the title for text A and B, and the author if they are different!
• Context of Text B
• Concrete Detail/Quote from Text B
• Commentary for Concrete Detail from Text B
• Closing Sentence -- restate your common theme and purpose with a better sense of understanding because of the ideas you have explored in this paragraph

• Th 10/24: Lit analysis rough draft due -- three body paragraphs! (text A, B, and synthesis)
• We worked on lead-ins and quote blending today; click here for handout
•  F 20/25:  We talked about introductions and conclusions, looking at the introduction on page 2 of the planning packet.    Here is the graphic organizer for introductions and conclusions

INTRODUCTIONS

• Remember that the introduction serves three purposes:
• To set the stage for the points you will prove in your paper
• To establish ethos or a connection with your reader
• To give the background information necessary for understanding your thesis.
• For your introduction, I recommend that you revisit your free writing and the notes that you took after the discussion on your social problem.  In most cases, you will want to start your introduction by discussing the social problem on the universal level, considering the way our society continues to deal with the problem or the way we have made some progress in dealing with the impacts of the problem but perhaps still have some way to go in dealing with it.
• The second part of your introduction, you will want to begin transitioning to your author(s) and connect their writing to this social problem -- why they were interested in it, what they experienced firsthand, what they wanted to change in society.
• The third part of your introduction is to give a very short background (one or two sentences at the very most) for each of your texts -- be sure to include the titles and remember that all short works (poetry and short stories) are punctuated with quotation marks.  Here you will to describe the basic situation of the text
• The last part of your introduction is the thesis.
• My cautionary tales for what to avoid in writing introductions --
• Avoid captain obvious starters that only say what everyone already knows.  If everyone already knows what you are saying, then why would you need to say it.  Be surprising and complex.  If you say what your reader already knows, aren't they going to think, why should I bother reading this paper. On Friday, I mentioned that many of you start with these very obvious first sentences and then your second sentence is typically much better -- more surprising, interesting and specific.  So I recommend either combining the two sentences or delete the first one and start with the second one. Examples of captain obvious starters:
• Racism is a big problem in our society
• Society judges women and treats them as inferior
• Native American culture was destroyed with the founding of America
• Racism leaves people feeling excluded.
• Avoid writing about writing -- try to eliminate any parts of sentences that are empty or fillers. Often you can just delete that first part of the sentence and leave the good stuff! See how much better these sentences are without the weak lead-ups...
• I will prove/show that women suffer the judgement of society, and they often become their own harshest critics by internalizing the standards set by society.
• The theme for this work is that children in poverty become convinced that they can never reach the comfort and stability that comes with wealth.
• The most important idea shown in this work is that racism spreads informally from person to person, which makes it nearly impossible for a society to eliminate racism.

CONCLUSIONS

• In conclusions you want to do just the opposite as what you did with the intro -- moving from specific to universal. 
• First, you will want to start with bringing back together your major thesis.  The most complicated part of this is to restate the thesis with finality, but you absolutely want to avoid empty phrases like "As I have shown/proven" or "In conclusion"  rather you want to reword your thesis in a way that takes into account the importance of the ideas you have discussed throughout your paper and 
• Original thesis from introduction: Racism spreads informally from person to person, which makes it nearly impossible for a society to eliminate racism.
• Boring and weak restated thesis for conclusion: As I have shown, racism spreads throughout a society, from person to person. So society
• Better restated thesis for conclusion: The most daunting obstacle to a racism that any society faces is the spread of racism along family lines and relationships; until parents convince their children that everyone, no matter of skin color, is the same, our society will never be able control the outgrowth of inequality.  (here the thesis takes into account the points that have been raised throughout the paper and also begins to deal with the "so what, which asserts why this matter and these texts are so important)
• Second, you will want to return the reader to our society today and link the readings to how they can help us understand what is happening in our society today
• Third, end with a "so what" or call to action -- what do you want your reader to realize in order to begin to take action.
  

• M 10/28: Five complete paragraphs due for completion grade at the beginning of class so you will be ready to start revising.  Monday is the last day that we will work on the paper in class, so if you need additional help you will need to make an appointment for before or after school, AO, or your lunch period
• W 10/30:  on MondayLit Analysis paper due to turnitin.com -- be sure to allow 20-30 minutes to download a Word document from Google drive, adjust the formatting in Microsoft Word, and to upload the Word document to Turnitin.com.  
• At 5:01 pm on Wednesday, the on-time assignment closes automatically and the late assignment (10% off) assignment opens. 
• The 10% off assignment is open until Friday at 5:01 pm and then the only credit you will receive is 50% off.
• T 10/31: Planning materials due on Thursday in class

Info on second extra credit assignment (for more info, click "Extra Credit Opportunity at the top):

• W 10/30: Extra credit letter is due
• M 11/4: Journals are due to turnitin.com by midnight
• W 11/6: Extra credit assessment offered during X-block