Assignments: Close Reading Essay

Deliverable

A 750-word essay saved as a text file (file extension .txt) and submitted in Canvas.

Due Date

Friday, February 18 at 11:59 p.m.

The purpose of this assignment is

• To practice close reading, that is, carefully reading a selection of text, interpreting what it means, and arguing why your interpretation is significant and correct. This is a fundamental skill of the English discipline.
• To practice arguing a claim and supporting it with evidence. This is a fundamental skill of the humanities, more broadly.
• To experiment with and reflect on composing with an alternative software application, i.e. one that primarily saves files in plain text format.
• To contribute to the class’s collective understanding of the texts that we’ve read. After all essays have been submitted, I will compile them into a single PDF and circulate it to the class.
• To provide you and your classmates with a resource for your later projects in this class (you can cite your classmates’ essays from compilation among your sources).

Assessment Notification Timing and Criteria

Within two weeks of the due date, I will record the grade it has earned according to the rubric linked here, based on the following criteria:

• Completion, Length: what percentage of 750 words have been completed
• Completion, Demonstration of Functional Literacy: whether or not the essay includes a title, the author’s name, and a descriptive filename as described above
• Argument: how well the essay makes a specific and clear argument, and articulates why it is important.
• Quality of Analysis: how convincing the essay’s arguments are
• Relationality: how well the essay advances the class’s discussions thus far.
• Use of Evidence: how well the essay uses appropriate and specific evidence from the work to support its argument.
• Organization: how well the essay’s structure directs and focuses the reader’s attention, according to a logical sequence of argument
• Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation: how “correct” the essay is in these respects
• Style: quality of sentences and paragraphs used to articulate the writer’s ideas. Language specificity, word choice, clarity, and appropriate complexity.

Special Notes

High school composition instruction frequently encourages a five-paragraph structure including an introductory paragraph, three paragraphs of supporting argument, and a concluding paragraph that repeats the topic sentences of the three preceding paragraphs. While some amount of introduction and conclusion material is necessary, try as you can to avoid falling into this very programmatic pattern. 750 words isn’t all that much, and if you stretch that across a long introduction and a word-for-word repetition of topic sentences in your closing paragraph, the body of your essay will likely end up underdeveloped.

Instructions

These instructions work like bumpers in a bowling alley: they do not guarantee success, but they limit the chances of things going wrong. Particularly if you are very comfortable with this type of project, you can follow your own path towards meeting the assignment’s criteria. But do skim these in any case, as they may include important technical formatting information.

1. Select a small part of a scene from Bond Girl, The Big Short, or Severance.
   • For The Big Short, this selection should be under two minutes.
   • For the novels, this selection should be one to three pages.
2. Prewriting: gather your thoughts by considering the following:
   • Why did you pick this selection?
   • What in it is most important, most captivating, or most confusing?
   • What might our conversations have missed about this scene?
   • What do you believe the scene means?
   • What specific evidence will support your interpretation?
3. Outline your essay.
   • Identify your main argument and phrase it as a single sentence. This is your thesis, and it will typically be the final sentence of your first paragraph.
   • Identify the arguments that will support your thesis. These will typically form the topic sentences for your paragraphs.
   • Identify the evidence you will use to support those topic sentences. These will be brief quotations or descriptions of shots used within each paragraph.
4. Draft your essay.
   • Create a new text file using the plain-text editor of your choice .
   • Save a plain-text file using a descriptive filename that includes at least your last name and the title of the essay.
     • The file extension should read “.txt”.
   • Type a title for your essay across the top of the document.
   • Below the title, type your name.
   • Type your essay, referring to your outline as a guide.
   • Cite your source as you write.
     • For novels, reference specific pages in your source text with page numbers in parentheses before the end of a sentence.
     • For films, enter the hour and minute in parentheses before the end of a sentence once towards the beginning of your essay (you need not do this for each quotation).
5. Revise your essay.
   • Reread your essay
   • Identify significant issues of argument and evidence.
   • Fix them in order of their importance.
6. Proofread your essay.
   • Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
7. Submit your essay in Canvas.