ACC summer 2024 first paper-2

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Length: At least 1250 words (about 4 pages of Times New Roman double-spaced).

Format: Microsoft Word (preferable) or PDF. No Pages.

Possible sources: Genji, chap 1; Sarashina Nikki; Layli and Majnun; Malory, book 19; Dante.

Objective. Explain a key aspect of the text by connecting one main passage with several subordinate passages in the same text.

Main Passage. Decide which text you want to write about. Find a passage in that text that struck you, and that contains one or more terms that you think are crucial for the understanding of the text. This passage (we will refer to it as the “main passage”) should not exceed approximately 100 words, but fifty is better. You may cut some text from inside the passage if you find it irrelevant [use ellipsis… in square brackets]. Make sure the passage is consistent grammatically, and that words that refer to words outside the passage (like pronouns) are explained in your paper or even in square brackets. If you don’t know what passage to pick, I would advise you to pick a passage you already commented on in Perusall, since you already have some interest in it and some opinion about it.

Subordinate passages. Pick approximately three other passages in the text where the same concepts and techniques appear, and use them to support your analysis of the main passage.

Now that you have your main passages and connecting passages, formulate a thesis sentence. A thesis sentence should be specific, referring to the key concepts in your main passage and subordinate passages. A thesis sentence is what your paper is going to argue. It should not make general statements which your paper is unable to confirm with evidence.

When you have a thesis sentence and several pages of notes, make an outline. Students generally compose their outlines as a list of themes: theme X, then theme Y: for example, “reason,” “ecstasy,” etc. This is the wrong way to do it. The right way to make an outline is “I will say a about X”, or “I will say that X and Y are related in a, b, and c.” In the same way that your thesis should be about a relation between elements, so each step of your outline should be about relations. Do not start writing your outline until you have a lot of notes and until you have made, in writing, a lot of connections between passages.

Now write your essay. Start with one or two sentences (no more!) situating your text historically. Then present your main passage and explain it very thoroughly, focusing on your concepts. Then use your thesis sentence to connect your main passage to your subordinate passages. Think of what you are to say in your paper as providing evidence and reasons for the argument that is in your thesis sentence. Your basic job is to show the meaning and interconnection of the concepts you picked in your passages and in the text as a whole.

Introductions to passages. Every passage should be introduced by a minimum of one sentence that situates the passage in the work. In case the passage comes from the speech of a character, the introduction must explain who is talking, to whom, and, usually, where and on what occasion. In case the passage is part of narration, you must still explain at what point of the plot / argument the passage appears, who is involved, etc, so that the reader of the passage in your paper approaches it with the same knowledge as the reader of the passage in the original text. All in-passage pronouns, and other references to events and objects that the passage alludes to, must be explained. (For example, if the passage says “they,” the intro should briefly explain what the antecedent of the pronoun is—who “they” are.)

Interpretations of passages. The passage should be followed by a closely argued explanation of what it means on the verbal level and also on the level of its significance to that particular work. The absolutely first thing you need to establish is the meanings of the phrases and the grammatical and logical relationships between them. (The most common mistake students make is assume that the meaning of the passage is self-evident, contained in the passage, and need not be explained outside of it.) Then—if the passage has a speaker—consider what they are speaking in reaction to (why) and in expectation or fear or hope of (what for or wherefore). Then you ask about the significance of this passage to plot / character / theme development in that work. Why did you pick the passage? What is its salience? What are its main words and concepts (keywords)? What do its key terms mean in the context of the work as a whole? For example, many of you wrote on Perusall about Lancelot as an example of honor or loyalty, as if honor and loyalty are something that exists objectively and does not warrant explanation. But the entire weirdness of the Lancelot-Guinevere story is that they spend the night together and then, if that weren’t bad enough, Lancelot equivocates about it (“none of the ten wounded nights slept with the Queen”). So what sort of loyalty is that to Arthur on Lancelot’s part? Or on Guinevere’s? And what sort of honor? Look for tensions and paradoxes in your key terms.

How to quote poetry. Poetry breaks utterances into units (lines) on top of breaking them up into sentences, whereas prose breaks utterances into sentences only. Therefore, when you quote poetry, observe the line breaks, either like this:

Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,

Kissed the girls and made them cry.

When the boys came out to play,

Georgie Porgie ran away.

Or like this: “Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, / Kissed the girls and made them cry. / When the boys came out to play, / Georgie Porgie ran away.” In this English counting rhyme, “Porgie, pudding and pie” are nonsense words whose existence is sanctioned by meter, i.e. by line breaks (each line has four stresses). You wouldn’t have them in prose.

Editing. Very important. You must give yourself time to edit. Print out your paper if you can, and re-read it with a pencil in hand. Try to let some time pass between writing it and editing it, or at least do something that takes your mind off it between the two processes: for example, go running. To edit a paper, you need to read it as if you are not the person who wrote it. You need to see it with the eyes of somebody who does not already know what you mean—or even what you’re talking about. Reading it out loud often helps, especially if you are reading it out loud to somebody else.

Research. Absolutely not required.

Plagiarism. If you do research, cite and document your sources (not just URL!!!! Author, title, publisher, year, etc). Make sure, in your notes, to distinguish between your words and the words of your source—between paraphrase and direct quotation. If your paper reads like a freshman paper and then there is a paragraph or even a sentence that does not read like a freshman paper but like a book or even a Wikipedia entry, you are asking me to check your paper on the internet, databases, or Turnitin.

AI. I am grading you for the sharpness of your thinking and the depth of your analysis. AI can’t think. All AI can do is arrange and rearrange clichés. I generally don’t give points for clichés, and I find AI vocabulary (“timeless,” “delve into” “human condition,” “universal,” blah blah) to be evidence that you don’t know what you are talking about. As soon as I see this vocabulary, or the constant listing of things in threes, etc., that is a signal for me to start taking off points in a major way. In other words, if your paper starts by telling me Dante is a great poet who writes about universal values or the human condition or suchlike, that will cost you points.

Translation. In the past year or so, I periodically get students writing their papers in Mandarin and then translating them into English with software. In theory, I have nothing against the process, but students generally don’t understand that the results of translation software need to be proofread and edited. I’ve had quotations of Shakespeare translated back from Mandarin, etc. If you use any kind of English-language editing or translation software, please be aware that it works only if you check everything meticulously afterwards.

Extra Office Hours. Please feel free to discuss your paper with me asap but you should have some of your paper written in order for the meeting to be effective. I’ll have sign-ups for extra office hours that week, if you want to show me your paper before handing it in. Please note that since I have 76 students this semester, and that since students are only seen again after all the students who wish to meet the first time have been seen, the likelihood of your having two meetings for one paper is very small.