As your final writing assignment for this class, you will write a paper that analyzes a topic relevant to the relations between the medical and the social. Analyzing a complex topic means breaking it into smaller parts to understand it better.
At this stage, I expect you to be able to:
• Present your position and research question on your chosen topic;
• Connect your argument to the relevant literature by claims and examples supporting and contradicting your point; in other words situate yourself as a writer in a larger intellectual discussion of the issue;
• Support your claims with adequate evidence, and the analysis of an example image (or images; and
• Conclude by your original argument, which contributes to the ongoing discussions in literature and preferably furthers them. While expanding on your Textual Analysis paper for this final version, you will realize that the work you have done for them needs to be enhanced. For example, your research might seem inadequate after you made your analysis. You may think that you need to look into more resources, perhaps into a different literature to explain the images at hand. Or at this point of the semester you may think that your analysis could have been deeper. This is the natural "life" of an ongoing research, and the proof of your progress. So, do not despair, just include what is needed to make your paper better, but don't overextend yourself either. One of the keys of writing a research article is to find the balance between increasing the quality of your work and meeting the deadlines.
Your paper should include an introduction where you present your research question and summarize the paper; the body of the paper where you demonstrate your findings, giving relevant examples by paraphrasing and quoting your secondary and/or primary sources (including the analysis of your images) when necessary; and a conclusion where you explain what you have found as a result of your research. I expect you to go beyond merely summarizing the secondary sources, and bring your original synthesis and contribution to the subject in discussion.
You should also have a "References" section following your paper, formatted according to APA system. For a short paper like this, I am not expecting you to do an extensive literature review. However, it is necessary that you find and make use of at least eight scholarly resources, like academic books or peer reviewed journal articles. You can use popular sources such as newspaper or magazine articles, or blog posts in addition to these eight scholarly sources. Needless to say, you will have to read, come to terms with, and annotate these sources before you can use them in your paper. Books and articles we read together as a class do not count towards that limit.
I expect your analytical paper to be 8-12 pages long, double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, and typed preferably in 12-point Times New Roman. Before you submit the final draft of your paper, there will be an outline, an annotated bibliography on the sources you are planning to use, a first draft that will only be graded for lateness and format, and a revision process. I will give you more information on these intermediary assignments that are designed to help you move toward your first draft and revise it for your final draft.
Your first draft will be due 8pm on Friday, April 6, to be posted on the Resources folder of your group on Sakai, saved with the format: surname_analyticalpaper_draft1.doc. A hard copy of the paper is also due in class the same day. Posting your paper to Sakai is especially important for this assignment, since failure to do so will affect your group members as well as your grade for the
draft.
Like you did with the Textual Analysis assignment, you will write a revision paper on each other's papers. Please refer to the revision paper handout for details. Print a marked copy of the papers you revised to class in addition to your notes to the writers so that we can work on them during the workshop session on Wednesday, April 11. Both sections are due in class, and your note to the writer section should also be posted to your Sakai group folder with the format surname_revisionpaper2.doc by 8pm. Additionally, you will need to give me a printed copy of the note to writers section in class that day.
You will use your peers' feedback, together with my comments to write a revised and extended final version of your analytical paper. The deadline for submitting your revised final copy to the Assignments folder on Sakai is 8pm on Wednesday 25, saved with the format surname_analyticalpaper_final.doc. A hard copy of the paper will also be due to my mailbox by 5pm the same day. We are not going to have class that day.