Brief Writing Assignments Overview and Standards
You will be required to submit a brief writing assignment each week during Seminars One through Five. The writing topic will be provided during that seminar.
Note that you should be taking notes as the seminar progresses so that by the end you've got a rather clear path toward the writing assignment.
Basic standards:
• APA formatting (title page, double-spaced, citations).
• Thesis statement should reflect the writing prompt.
• Organize these as basic essays-set up your point in an introduction paragraph, give three supporting points that rely on the readings for examples, and conclude with a clear summation of your larger argument/response to the question.
• Supporting details are required from the readings. Note that since these are relatively short assignments, you don't want to waste a lot of time summarizing the texts-assume your audience has read them and get to the point quickly. Quotations should be used as support, rather than content.
• The final length should be approximately 1 ½ - 2 pages (350-500 words).
• Standard English is required.
• No first person.
Directions: In this seminar, we're reading Emerson and some of the first examples of "American fiction." In your response for this seminar, consider what Emerson was calling for in "The American Scholar" and "Self Reliance" in terms of an authentic American literature. Pick either the selection by Cooper, Poe, or Irving and analyze whether that work meets the challenge presented by Emerson.