FOR KIM WOODS: 6 pages Reckoning Essay: Revise, Edit and Create a Better argument

KINDLY REVISE THE ARGUMENT AND THE PARAGRAPHS OF 6 PAGE RECKINING PAPER.

Professors Comments:

I see your mind at work here—and I’m delighted by that!—but I also find this draft hard to follow. I suggest that your next step be to identify the paragraphs in this draft that seem most important (maybe two or three) and then to work on revising and editing them so that all of the ideas and connections in your head are clearly and logically articulated on the page. After that, take a step back from editing the draft and ask yourself “what am I trying to figure out about Shields and his approach/philosophy here?” Remember that your essay has to ultimately make an original argument—it has to teach me something about Shields that I couldn’t learn just from reading “I Can’t Stop Thinking Through What Other People Are Thinking” alone. As you think through Shields and this great set of ancillary texts, what new line of thinking emerges for you? You should then structure your essay so that it takes me, your reader, through that thinking.

I just took a quick look at the earlier draft of the reckoning essay that you submitted. You make the point very clearly that "David Shields' concept of I can think through what you think is the best motivation behind why contemporary composition will never be superior to different centerpieces." But I want to push you to take that thinking further. Agreeing with Shields's argument isn't enough of an argument of your own. Is there something that--after your careful reading and research--you think Shields missed or explained the wrong way? Or is there a further implication to Shield's essay that he didn't directly address?

Some advice:

• Remember the work that we did earlier in the term with representing texts and finding and defining key terms. That work is also essential here.
•  You should consider: "You use quotations best when you integrate them so fully that they seem made for you text. Don't just copy and paste."
• But remember that you are quoting: use quotation marks any time you borrow three or more words from a text. This is a conventional academic paper, the conventional rules about citing your sources apply, and I don't expect to be especially lenient about that.
• Remember that arguments have to come from somewhere. What question, puzzle, or problem, motivated to look at the text in this way? You should be clear about this, and you may find it helpful to make it clear to your reader as well.
• A good argument is one that you can develop--please don't just state your claim and move on, or wait until the end of your essay to do that important work.
• The way in which you analyze your primary text will be determined both by your own motivating problem and argument and by the specific ancillary sources that you select. These things will also play a part in structuring your essay. There is no universal template for a reckoning essay.