Assignment Sheet Literacy Narrative in Context

FREY, ENGL 101

3rd Essay Assignment Sheet – Literacy Narrative in Context

Why are We Here? To practice contextual analysis, and to set yourself up for the next assignment, the Revision of your Literacy Narrative.

Goal: In a clearly focused 5-6 page essay, you will make an independent argument for how you see your 1st Essay functioning in a larger “context” or conversation about some aspect of literacy, storytelling, or culture. You will cite the HO and your 2nd Essay as “lens” (secondary source) to support, counter, or complicate your discussion of literacy found in your 1st Essay (primary source). You will incorporate the secondary sources using signal phrases, summary, and paraphrase. Your analysis of the sources should demonstrate your understanding of their central claims, supporting reasoning, and uses of evidence. Like the Literacy Narrative essay, the Literacy Narrative in Context will ask you to closely consider, respond to, and explore some aspect of your literacy story. In the Literacy Narrative, you told your story about literacy. In the Textual Analysis, you discovered how someone else’s literacy narrative worked. In this context assignment, you will examine why your Literacy Narrative exists and how your Literacy Narrative works, and how your idea fits with others’ ideas about literacy, language, or rhetoric.

Like the Textual Analysis essay, you should focus this essay by framing some response to your subject that you can then work into a thesis. A difficult part of this assignment will involve juggling the different voices and keeping your ideas distinct from what you see your primary and your secondary sources saying. You will need to cite specific evidence from all 3 sources to support your claim and link that evidence to your claim through inferential thinking. You will have to keep your ideas in front of you, perhaps on three-by-five cards, so that you sustain your assertion throughout your essay. You, after all, are the voice driving your discussion and inquiry. Remember, your ideas are the central thinking in the essay, and that your sources support your ideas, not vice versa.

Focus: Using the primary text for the assignment, your Literacy Narrative essay, you will look at why it exists and how it works, either as an example of, or counter- statement to, some other views of literacy, i.e. the view provided by your chosen literacy narrative. You will look at the strategies and forms of your Literacy Narrative essay and discuss how those devices worked, or fell short of being fully effective, to achieve your purpose in the 1st assignment. Like the Literacy Narrative, your claim will be an expression of your thinking and interpretation. And like your 2nd Essay, FREY, ENGL 101

your claim will ideally be assertive, original and well- supported.

Evidence: You will need to cite numerous sources in your essay; definitely your 1st Essay as it is your primary source, and also your chosen HO’s Textual Analysis (your 2nd Essay) since this is your secondary source, and perhaps the HO itself. Your essay will use the HO and your 2nd Essay as “context” or as “lens texts” to situate your original claim in your 1st Essay. You will use MLA format for citations and for a Works Cited page.

So, re-read closely, and keep a running record of your responses and what interests, provokes and/or puzzles you.

Rough Draft Due: 11.07 Final Draft Due: 11.14

WRITING THE ROUGH DRAFT OPTIONS

Quote “Illustrations” and Explanations from 2nd Essay (#) find places/stuff in 1st Essay that you gonna relate to your 2nd Essay, and quote those matches from 1st Essay (#) then Demonstrate how your 2nd Essay contextualizes what you think might work in your 1st Essay, by actually changing your 1st Essay quote

then topic sentence

HERE’S ANOTHER OPTION:

Shrink-wrap 2nd Essay body paragraph and turn it into a paraphrased sentence or two. (#)

Then quote your 1st Essay once or twice, and explain how your 1st Essay quotes could be changed. (#)

THEN bring it home by actually changing your 1st Essay’s quotes.