21 September 2017

TO: Students in Writing 1120, Section 42

FROM: John Schwetman, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Linguistics and Writing Studies

RE: Assignment Two

Below, please find guidelines for Assignment Two, "They Say". This assignment will require students to analyze two different articles in the "Readings" section of They Say / I Say with attention to the techniques these articles use to persuade their readers.

The first requirement, due on September 28th, 2017, will be a proposal in memo-form 300-500 words long, which means you can use this first page to model its structure (please note that this memo is 373 words long, so you can also use it to estimate the length as you write your own). Memos are in a standard format for simple business communication between employees of the same company or division. Memos are less formal than the business letters that people might write to recipients in other companies or organizations.

This proposal involves imagining a hypothetical discussion forum at UMD and requesting institutional support for it—in this case, support from the UMD Student Association. Consider an event that will most effectively inform UMD students about the chosen topic. If you wish, imagine inviting the authors of the two articles to the event to participate in a panel discussion for a larger audience. You will need funding to rent a room, provide refreshments, and maybe even pay the guest panelists, and this memo will argue for such monetary support by explaining the significance of your chosen topic and its importance to UMD students.

For the second deadline, you will then discard the memo-structure and adapt the content into an essay with more information and a clear argument that compares the two different articles more carefully and with more detailed support. This will be an opportunity to develop organizational and documentation strategies as you write and revise this 3-4 page essay. Students will peer-review this draft, due on October 5th, 2017, in accordance with guidelines that I will hand out in class.

The third deadline—October 12th, 2017—will be the date when students turn in their polished final drafts of the 3-4 page essays.

For more details, please see below, and let me know if you have any questions about this assignment.

Guidelines for Assignment Two: "They Say"

Due Dates:	Requirements:
Proposal Memo—September 28th, 2017 Working Draft—October 5th, 2017 Final Draft—October 12th, 2017	Analysis of two essays 3-4 pages MLA format

Objective

Write a persuasive piece that examines arguments in two different essays in They Say I Say in one of the book's five topic areas—university education, technology, food, economic advancement, or gender.

Procedure

Choose one of the five topic areas in They Say / I Say and then two essays within that topic area that are of particular interest to you.
Take notes identifying elements in those two essays that make them especially appealing or thought-provoking.
Write a proposal memo, and bring this to class on September 28th, 2017. vWrite a working draft of at least 3 pages, and bring it to class on October 5th, 2017, for peer-review in accordance with peer-review guidelines.
Revise this draft with the help of peer-review feedback, and upload the final draft to Moodle as directed on October 12th, 2017. Turn in your peer-reviewed draft with your final draft.

Proposal Memo (300-500 words)

Pretend you are planning a one-hour discussion session on the topic area that you have chosen. Hypothetically, gather UMD students, faculty and staff together to go over this topic and produce a set of related recommendations to the UMD administration. Structure in a manner that brings in people of various perspectives, ranks, and stances in an effort to provide the administration with guidance about how UMD and the larger community can best address this issue.

Write a memo to the UMD Student Association seeking funding for this discussion session according to the following format:

Memo heading including sender, recipient and memo topic.
Brief topic overview.
Identification of two essays in They Say / I Say with brief summaries of each and analyses of how their arguments challenge readers to re-examine their preconceptions and advance the discussion.
A final overview of the topic and appeal to the reader regarding the importance of more thorough consideration of it.
300-500 words in length.
Print up a hard copy and turn it in in class on September 28th, 2017.

Working Draft (3-4 pages)

Re-work the memo into an essay that elaborates on the memo's claims about the articles and their means of arguing their points. Refer to specific examples in each essay to answer the following questions:

Which unique perspective does each essay contribute to the topic?
Which techniques does each essay use to persuade its audience?
What is the ideal audience for each essay?
How do the two essays work together to facilitate discussion of the topic?

Print up a hard copy of this draft and bring it to class on October 5th, 2017 to share with peer-reviewers so they can provide you with feedback in accordance with peer-review guidelines that I will hand out in class.

Sign up for a one-on-one conference with me on October 9th or October 10th to discuss paper revisions. Bring a draft of this paper with you to this conference.

Final Draft (3-4 pages)

Revise your working draft in response to feedback you receive from peer-reviewers and from me at the one-on-one conference. Print up a hard copy of this final draft and bring it to class October 12th, 2017 to turn in with your peer-reviewed working draft.

Complete a process post for this paper on Moodle by the end of the day on October 12th.

Grading standards

This paper is worth 15% of your final grade, and I will base your grade on the following criteria:

A clear explanation of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the two articles under consideration along with a central argument for the importance of giving this topic consideration.
Appropriate support of your essay's claims with a careful selection of paraphrases and direct quotations from the chosen two articles.
An understanding of the expectations of the essay's audience and acknowledgment of possible counterarguments that might emerge from this audience.
Effective organization of the argument, sign-posted with clear topic sentences, transitional expressions and keywords.
Adequate documentation of the two essays in accordance with the MLA format governing in-text and end-of-paper references.
A command of Edited Standard Written English demonstrating that the writer has carefully revised and proofread to remove grammatical and spelling errors.
Page design and layout in accordance with the conventions of the memo for the first draft and of standard manuscript format for the second and third drafts.