The task

Provide your reader a summary of and response to one of the first two chapters of un-Spun. After reading these two chapters, you are expected to provide a summary of each posted as blog entries so we may discuss the material in class. This is to help you get a handle on the material and to begin fleshing out your thoughts on what the authors have to say. This will be part of the formal "pre-writing" or "invention" stage of the assignment and writing process.

Once drafting begins, the body of the essay will be in two parts: part one is the summary of one of the chapters and part two is your response to some part of what Jackson and Jamieson write about in that chapter. The summary must, to the best of your ability and understanding, present the significant ideas put forth in the text. The summary's presentation must be fair and impartial, void of your opinion, and clarified with phrases that acknowledge that the ideas are not yours, such as "Jackson and Jamieson write that . . .". This will probably take about 500-600 words, give or take a bit. See the provided summary guidelines for more on this. We'll discuss these guidelines in class.

The second part of the essay, also expected to be about 500-600 words give or take, is your response. This is where your opinions and perspectives come into play as you develop and refine your thoughts about how the examined ideas do (or don't) matter today, to you, to me, to whomever. If you like, you can choose just a single topic to respond to, but make it clear to your reader why it matters above all the others. You may also respond to multiple topics raised by the authors, but you are expected to tie these topics together, clearly articulating their commonalities or why they are at odds with one another. Don't respond to more than three as they will end up insufficiently developed.

As you might expect, the essay will also require an introduction and conclusion. The introduction MUST include the authors' name full names on the first mention, last name only after that) and the title of the work. It's best to include this early in the introduction. The introduction must also create a context for the summary and response, part of which will be a thesis that makes a particular claim about the material, a claim that will guide the response to some degree.

The conclusion, while it may sum up the main ideas and restate the thesis, should drive home whatever point is being addressed and raised by the thesis. It's generally a good idea to come back to the authors and maybe even a quote from the text at this point, one that ties the various elements of the summary and response together. More on this later.

Audience

Your essay will be read by several of your classmates during the writing and revision process, along with me, your instructor. Should the essay be included in your portfolio, at least one other member of SFCC's English faculty will be reading your essay. Summer students can ignore the portfolio aspect here.