Assignment Sheet for English 377: Peer Tutoring
Instructor: Karen D. Austin kaustin@shepherd.edu
Analysis Paper - 50 points total
Assignment in Brief: Write a one-page essay (single spaced). The essay must analyze one of the essays assigned from The Landmark Essays on Writing Centers.
Assignment in More Detail: Be careful not to summarize the reading. You must analyze it instead. Do not behave like a sponge; ask challenging questions instead. Most of you are more comfortable analyzing literature rather than nonfiction essays; however, you need to examine the assumptions, implications/applications, methodology and biases within academic essays. This assignment asks you to apply critical thinking skills to one of the theoretical essays you will read.
You need to choose your own topic by focusing on a key element from the reading. You don't need to necessarily focus on the author's thesis; you could take up an issue that takes up less space in the author's argument, but you must demonstrate the weightiness of that assumption, subargument, issue you choose to engage. Generate an idea whose scope is brief enough for a 250-ish word essay, but meaty enough to warrant the reader's attention.
Be sure to present a clear, focused thesis statement in the first paragraph (or present the thesis later in a way that works despite breaking with convention). Do not write a "book report" that is 1/2 summary and 1/2 response. Instead, imagine that you are in dialogue (or a friendly debate / discussion) with the author and with other informed readers. You must avoid summarizing the reading, yet you must select short, apt quotes from the reading to demonstrate that you understand it well and that you have analyzed it enough to respond to specific elements from the reading. You can take one of the following approaches: