English essay

Eng 101

e3 The “Summary + Response” ESSAY: Writing based on reading about language, culture & identity

The summary+response essay requires you to use and engage with other written materials - that is, ideas and quotations from other writers - in an essay.

Articles: Tan, "Mother Tongue" (127-132)

In your essay, you will (A) present the writer's ideas accurately and fairly, using your skills in summarizing, paraphrasing, and using quotations. And you will (B) present a thoughtful response, in which you take a stand on the major issue of the original.

You don't need additional information from the internet and you don't need to look for any more sources. If you do want to use another source, you need to clear it with your instructor.

Preliminary Steps

1. Read, re-read, annotate the article you chose.

2. Complete the "Responding to Writing" worksheet to help clarify and organize your thoughts on the issues.

3. Be able to summarize and paraphrase the material accurately.

A Possible Outline for Your Essay

Your essay might be organized something like this, in which each of the first-level bullets would be one or more ¶s:

• Open: Introduce the issues in a general way, possibly without mentioning the article/author yet.

• Introduce & briefly summarize the main article:

· Summarize the main, relevant ideas of the article and include important details. (Include the author's full name and title of the article.)

· Note that you will also refer to and summarize and quote from the article in the response section of the essay, so you don't need to provide a complete, detailed summary here.

• Respond:

· You will probably use some of the ideas you generated in the "Responding to Writing" worksheet.

· Discuss and offer some analysis of the issues raised in the article, and possibly comment on how the author has presented them, how convincing her/his evidence is, and so on.

· Present your own perspectives, thoughts, and perhaps feelings on the issues. You might describe your own life experiences or experiences of friends, as they relate to the issues in question.

· In this response section you need to be sure to explain your ideas clearly and support them (with logic, with illustrative examples, maybe with more quotes from the article).

· If you wish, you can bring in a couple of ideas/quotes from one or two of the additional articles to supplement or support your points.

· This section should be presented in logically organized, focused paragraphs.

• Close: Wrap up the essay in a meaningful and satisfying way.

Think it through!

Don't just grab onto the first thought that comes to you, an initial and superficial reaction. Consider your thoughts and feelings, think hard about the topic and what you have read about it, and form a coherent and thoughtful response.

In a thoughtful response, you don't need to solve or resolve the problem or the issue. You don't have to try to have the "last word" on the topic. Saying that it's troubling (or not) or an important issue (or not), and then explaining why may be a perfectly adequate response. Describing the process of your own reactions may be part of a thoughtful response.

Remember that a major emphasis in this project is to demonstrate that you are able to use the ideas and words of another writer within your own essay, and to do it responsibly. This means you will need to summarize, paraphrase, and use (and correctly punctuate!) direct quotations. Whenever you do these things, you need to be very very careful that it is i00% clear whose ideas or words you are using, if they are not your own.

A Note on Citing Sources

For this essay you do NOT need to use parenthetical citations or include a Works Cited list. The purpose of those things is to provide a reader with necessary information for checking sources; since I am your reader and I know all of your sources; the citation and references list are unnecessary. You will learn about these things in ENG 102.

A Note on Plagiarism

Using the ideas and words of other people is an essential skill for college writing. If you mess this up - if you use another writer's words and ideas without giving that person credit - it is called plagiarism. This is considered one of the most serious crimes that a student or scholar can commit. In many cases, if a professor catches you plagiarizing, you will receive a failing grade in the class and often a notation is entered into your academic record. In some colleges/universities, plagiarism can result in being expelled. But plagiarism is a gift that keeps giving: Many people have had their professional lives disrupted or ruined because it was discovered, sometimes many years later, that they had plagiarized in college.

Length & Format

The draft (and final essay) should be a minimum of 900-1000 words, typed, using standard margins (1" all around), standard font (Cambria, Constantia, or Times New Roman,12pt), double-spaced.

Timeline

Friday, April 7 ROUGH DRAFT due. Bring to class on paper for peer review.

Monday, April 10 FINAL due. Bring to class on paper for proofreading.