Essay Assignment #2: Argument and Critique Essay

FYS Winter 2016

Introduction: Imagine that one of your goals as a student at Transy is to read widely and to think
critically about the arguments you encounter in books and online. You have read essays, plays,
poems, stories, letters, and other genres before, but now you want to take the next step toward
a college-level experience with critical approaches to ideas and issues in writing.
You are going to critically read and annotate a textan essaythat takes an unpopular stance
on assimilation and acculturation in the United States. Focus on your job as a student writer and
reader: to explore, summarize, analyze, explain, assess, and respond critically to the text you
chose to read.
Consider yourself a reader in a long line of readers who have similarly approached this text, and
imagine you will find yourself in a room with many of those readers who have their own
responses to the text. Some will disagree with the texts argument; others will agree with it. Still
others will both agree and disagreeor agree, but with a difference. All eyes will be on you. It
will be your turn to convey what you think. What do you say? How do you say it? Why does
this text matter, and more importantly, what do you think it says about assimilation and
acculturationand you?
Assignment: This assignment builds on the skills of critical reading, thinking, summary, and
analysis you developed in Essay #1. It asks you to engage in a critical reading of one of the
essays below and then to critique and respond to the authors argument with an argument of
your own:
Youngs Should Writers Use They Own English?
Mukherjees Two Ways to Belong in America
Songs What Does It Mean to Be American?
Audience: Think of the audience for the paper as a community of thinkers (like our class), some
of whom will agree with your essays position and some of whom will not. (That community of
thinkers, by the way, would include the author of the original article, all those who have read the
text, and those who havent read the text but consider the issue important.)
Where to Begin: 1) Write out a working thesis statement. Your claim supporting or opposing
or something in betweenan idea proposed by the author may serve as the working thesis
statement, but the overall argument must be built on logic, analysis, and evidenceopinions are
neither logic nor evidence in themselves.
2) Write an introduction that provides a brief but fair overview of the essays main points on
which the paper plans to focus; this explanation provides the groundwork and context for the
argument and critique. Dont forget to return to your thesis in the conclusion with fuller insight to
the essay, leaving your readers with comments about how you situate the authors views in the
lager world of the issues surrounding issues of assimilation and acculturation.
3) Compose sectionseach of which summarizes the authors argumentative point and
analyzes the points primary claims, grounds, warrants, and kinds of evidence in several
paragraphs. Then offer your own carefully, reasonably crafted response to the point. This part of
your section can focus on authors use of certain evidence, choice of evidence, specific claims,
grounds (reasons), or warrants (assumptions). Keep in mind that you are not responding to
everything the author says.

Remember, too, that your essay should respond both to what author says (their ideas) and to
how they say it (their reasoning). Is authors logic flawed? Are examples less than relevant? If
so, does that lead to insupportable conclusions? Also keep in mind as well that your essay may
largely agree (or agree with a difference) with the position of a writer, in which case you will try
to defend some the writers argumentative points. If you largely disagree with the writers
position, you want to refute the authors argumentative points. You can also use a combination
of refutation and defense. You might largely disagree with the authors claims, for instance, but
agree with certain key parts of their argument.
4) Strike a tone that is fair and reasonable; respond to opposing views respectfully. Remember
that writing this kind of essay is not a quest for glorious, crushing victory over an argument with
which you may disagree, but a way of demonstrating to your readers that you can summarize
accurately and thoughtfully; analyze deeply and thoroughly; and respond to or critique
completely and respectfully.
Writing Process: SWAs are crucial to your drafting process for this assignment. Make sure to
complete all of them fully and on time.
Attend your small writing group session. Without completing this session, you cannot earn full
credit for the assignment. The SWG session is a chance for you to read and learn from your
classmates work and to get essential feedback for your revision of the essay.
Im always available for optional conferences. Talk to me about meeting in my office to discuss
your work!
When you revise after the SWG session and meetings with me, make sure to revise your work
substantially based on the feedback you receive. Your second draft in the process must clearly
and fully reflect this feedback. Drafts that do not reflect feedback usually earn a zero for the
entire project grade.
Visit the Writing Center as part of your entire drafting process. The consultants can help you
with your SWAs, brainstorming ideas, revision, and grammar/mechanics. See the FYS course
syllabus for details about how to make an appointment.
Format: Consult the Critique handout for help with strategies for writing the essay. Be sure to
introduce all direct quotations, to make sure they are absolutely true to the original, and to
punctuate them correctly. (See pages the handout Integrating Quotations on our blog for help).
Use correct MLA formatting and style for citationsboth in-text and Works Cited. Well discuss
this in class, but please review the MLA Style handout for further help.
The font must be 12-point, Times New Roman. All page margins must be one inch. Include
your last name and the page number at top and right of every page. At the top and left of the
first page, include all required information, including your name, the class title, the term, the
name of the assignment, and the date. The length must be at least 5-6 pages. Drafts that
contain fewer pages will earn no credit.
Deadlines: Your first draft is due on Monday, February 22 at 4pm in your groups Google Drive
folder. The final draftsubstantially revisedis due in the Google Drive final drafts folder on
March 2 at 5pm.