Assignment:
Essay and research: literary analysis
Topic: Compare and Contrast the two essays, "Don't Make English Official: Ban It Instead" and "Training the Next Teachers for America." Your goal is to discuss which of these essays is a more persuasive argument and why. Refer to the principles of effective argumentation that we discussed in class.
Essay and Research - Literary Analysis Paper Response Sheet
Read the paper through once. Afterward, ask the author any questions you might have. Then respond to the following items in specific detail. Write your name (as responder) and the author's name on your response. When you are finished, hand your response to the author and discuss the paper. When you are finished, move on to the next paper and repeat the process.
1. What did you like best about the summary? What worked especially well?
2. Did the introduction effectively set up the analysis? If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
2. Did the student give credit to both the authors and the title of the essays analyzed? If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
3. Did the student present a clear thesis stating a judgment of the two essays? If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
4. If the student summarized the two essays, is that summary brief? (The paper should be mostly analysis with little summary.) If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
5. Is the draft effectively organized? If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
6. Were effective examples from the essays used to back up the analysis? If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
7. Is the comparison/contrast between the two essays clear and effective? If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
8. Does the conclusion reinforce the overall judgment of the two essays? If not, give specific suggestions for improvement.
9. Comment on any grammar/sentence structure issues in the draft.
Literary Analysis: Principles of Effective Arguments
• A thesis which makes your specific position clear to readers.
• An awareness that you're writing to a skeptical and possibly hostile audience.
• Sufficient, appropriate, persuasive support drawn primarily from sources.
• A clear, effective overall structure that develops your argument point by point.
• Support is effectively integrated into essay in the form of quotations, paraphrases, or summaries.
• Readers' questions and/or objections are anticipated and dealt with: they can be refuted or accommodated.
• Opposing points of view are dealt with as they come up - anywhere in paragraphs or at end of paragraphs.
• Opposing points of view are saved for last body paragraph.
• Opposing points of view are dealt with right away in first body paragraph.
• Opposing points of view are used as the basis for topic sentences.
• An effective and appropriate balance of logic vs. emotion is maintained throughout the essay.
Length: 350 to 1000 words
Use standard MLA format.