Assignment One: Responding to a Single Text
Your goal in this assignment is to develop an original and arguable claim in response to one of the texts from this semester, so far, by identifying an opportunity for conversation in the text. The best way to do this is to begin by locating an element of your text of choice that fascinates, shocks, or perplexes you. By articulating what interests you in this piece, you should have an easier time identifying a specific opportunity for conversation: a gap, tension, contradiction, ambiguity, or difficulty in the text or the subject of the text. Compose a brief (2-4 page/500-1000 word) paper in which you offer your original claim and support that claim with evidence from your close reading of your selected text. In this assignment, you will draw on part of the text to develop a new, original view of your own. Your audience for this project is your peers and professor in the class.
Tip: A strong claim is an answer to a complex question. You might find it useful to begin this assignment by formulating a question and drafting your essay by pursuing the question through close analysis of passages from the text. You can then revise your draft so it is organized to support your claim.