Tuesday, February 3, 2004

Research proposal due.

Leads: Raven G., Kelly W., Stacy M.

Reading

• Jonathan Franzen, “Lost in the Mail,” How to Be Alone (98–139; on reserve)

Notes

We’re reading two essays by Jonathan Franzen, which I have placed on course reserve. But you will still need to come to class prepared! There are a few ways to avoid this apparent catch-22. You could buy the book, photocopy the essay, or take detailed notes. Of these options, taking detailed notes is the cheapest option (I assume you own paper and a writing tool). Here are few suggestions for doing this option successfully:

• Identify the subject sentence in each paragraph. (What is the paragraph about?)
• Note any explicit claims that the author makes.
• Transcribe any statements (i.e., “quotes”) that you think are especially important to the essay.
• After you have finished reading the essay, ask yourself these questions: What is the essay about? What is the author’s main argument? Do you agree or disagree with the author’s position? — Why?

Note that this process is beneficial even if you have a copy of whatever you read! But it is especially important when you don’t have access to the printed text.

Why is it so important? You will be able to identify the major elements of the essay. But the process can be beneficial for your own writing, as well: you’ll be able to identify effective rhetorical structures and to see how a persuasive essay can be constructed. This can be beneficial even if you disagree with the author’s position.

Here are a few questions:

• Does Franzen explicitly identify why he is writing about the postal crisis? (This is the same “so what?” question you need to ask in your own writing.)
• What conclusions does Franzen draw from his account of the postal crisis?
• Franzen frequently refers to “the postal family.” What does this term do to his essay?
• Identify any unfamiliar vocabulary or any unusual word usage that you find in this essay.

You should also come up with two questions for our “peer review” dry-run. If you were the writer, what would you want to know from your reader? As the reader, what would you want from the author? Please include these questions on the same page as your research proposal.