Canvas assignments.

Related Canvas assignments and discussion board due during weeks three and four. ?
Please write a summary and rhetorical analysis of ONE of the following essays that we have read in class: “At Risk”, “How Long Has It Been Since You Smelled a Flower” or “Raptorous”. All are available on Canvas, under Pages and/or under Assignments.

In this essay please include:

1. A brief summary of the writer’s main points
Summarize what the writer wants to leave the reader believing or thinking. Remember this may be stated implicitly, explicitly or as combination of both.
Come to terms with the writer’s ideas fairly and accurately.
Use direct quotes as needed to support your summary, but be sure to include your own reasoning and explanation of the content. When you use words from the original essay, be sure to put them in quotation marks and include the page number using MLA format (see the sample on the other side of this sheet).

2. Your analysis of the way the writers uses binaries, strands, repetition, anomaly or specific word choice (here you will use paraphrase to explore word choice) to help construct the essay, make a point, support an idea, or be persuasive.
Please work with at least two/three of the elements above (binaries, etc.) to analyze the way the essay is written—feel free to work with more elements. I encourage you to also provide more than one example of the elements you analyze.
Please use evidence (specific examples and quotations from the essay) to support your claims (your thoughts/analysis of the essay). (Again see the sample on the other side of this sheet for MLA format and ways to use quotations.)

Please write for audience:
Avoid grammatical errors
Use paragraphing, linking techniques and transitions for organization
Proofread carefully and turn in a polished final paper
Include a title
Include an introduction that clearly identifies the essay and the essay’s author
Include a conclusion that makes clear what you find most significant about your analysis—for example, of everything you analyzed, what was most important or persuasive in terms of the writer’s technique? (Be sure to explain why it is most important or persuasive.)
Please follow MLA conventions when including quotations or paraphrases (see the samples on the back). Include a Works Cited, citing any sources, including the essay.

Basic Requirements:
Submit via Canvas.
Follow MLA formatting (double space, 12 pt academic font such as Times New Roman)
Do required process work on Canvas (double entry notes, etc.)
750-1000 words. Include word count.
Focus on your own ideas about the essay, both in your summary and analysis, and the way you can back up your thoughts with evidence from the essay itself. I discourage you from doing research online about the essay or the author. You may choose to look up unfamiliar words or references, but please cite sources for these notes if the information is not common knowledge.
Using Direct Quotations and MLA formatting in your essays?
1. Use MLA formatting for direct quotes:

Put quotation marks around the words from the original text.
Quote accurately (including spelling).
Include a page number in parentheses after the quotation.

Example: Barack Obama believes that we owe our future generations the chance at a good life, and that we “are borrowing this planet from our children and our grandchildren” (30). By using the word “borrowing”, he shows how strongly he believes that we don’t own the planet. “Borrowing” shows that we are only temporarily in control. He could have chosen to say that we are “leaving” the planet to our children, but that would suggest it was ours to give away. Instead, he suggests that it truly belongs to future generations.

2. Connect quotations to your own essay:
Lead into the quote with identifying information followed by a comma or colon (:). Don’t let quotes stand alone.
Yes: Obama claims that we already have problems due to global warming, “The polar ice caps are now melting faster than science had ever predicted” (31).
No: Obama believes we have problems. “The polar ice caps are now melting faster than science had ever predicted” (31).

Lead out of the quote by explaining what it means or connecting it to your essay.
Example: Obama states, “The polar ice caps are now melting faster than science had ever predicted” (31). Telling us that melting exceeds predictions gives his arguments a sense of urgency.

3. Use direct quotes and paraphrases to support your analysis:

Example: Barack Obama uses examples to support his claim that we become independent of oil use. He refers to “homegrown, alternative fuels like ethanol”, “more fuel-efficient cars” and “capping greenhouse gases” (31). This strand of phrases emphasizes our energy options and allows the reader to see what his intentions are for the future.

Example: Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson begin their essay with an apparent binary: the scene of a quiet, contemporary neighborhood, including a mother “watching her daughter” at play in contrast to a prehistoric view of a “herd of dinosaurs”, with a mother who “bends her long neck to nudge the eggs nestled under her flank” (xvi). The neighborhood scene seems peaceful, but the dinosaurs, the authors tell us are “oblivious to the shadow of the asteroid that will strike earth” (xvi). Yet, we quickly see that Moore and Nelson are emphasizing the similarities, not just the differences, in this binary.

Example (Paraphrase): Barack Obama shows the urgency of climate change by stating that our weather has been setting extreme records (31).

4. Refer to authors by their full name the first time they are mentioned and by their last names after that (“Moore”, not “Kathleen”).