ESSAY IV: CRITIQUE OF PUBLISHED ESSAY ON GENDER
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Ever read something you just couldn't stand--or loved to pieces? In an essay review, you get to go head-to-head with a published author and tell him/her exactly what you think about their notions about feminism or anorexia or male superiority or frats. And do it in style. |
| In college I threw up occasionally.... Anorexia is a prison camp.... It is, after all, only manly to embrace the power to frighten and intimidate.... to [the guys] it is not men who rule, but work and women that govern men.... Hunt, pursuit, and capture are biologically programmed into male sexuality.... Sixteen-year-old boy: "Thank God I'm not a girl...." | |
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| Essay IV Assignment Sequence | ||
| Day | Homework Due | In-Class Work |
| Day 10 7/31 |
Read Douglas essay, "Where the Girls Are" (75). First draft of Essay IV due, with metatext. You may choose among the following essays: Douglas, Greenstein, Lyman, Hong Kingston. Do some research via the internet, bookstore, or library to increase your knowledge base for the essay review. | Editing work on final draft of Essay III. Workshop first draft of Essay IV. |
| Day 11 8/1 |
Second draft of Essay IV due, with metatext. Read one book review and analyze it as a writer preparing to revise your own essay. That is, what do you notice that the author does in the review? Is there a main idea that connects all the pieces in some way? How does the writer support his/her views? | Workshop second draft of Essay IV. Review criteria for effective essay. "Quiz" on Paglia essay. |
| Day 12 8/3 |
Final draft of Essay IV due, with new metatext. For Thursday, read Sweet and Paglia essays for differing perspectives on date rape. Take organized notes (possibly in a two-column format) that show at least three ways that Sweet and Paglia have different perspectives on date rape. Be prepared to cite your sources. Then do a freewrite in which you articulate your own thoughts on date rape. | Discuss Sweet and Paglia essays. Begin Essay V. |
New concepts: essay (movie/book/record) review, multiple perspectives, making judgments, argument, close reading as evidence for idea, citing textual sources.
Here's an example of a book review, in this case of Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth, as it appeared in The New York Times.
Requirements for Essay IV:
+ Reviews an essay selected from Speculations about a
gender issue (Lyman, Greenstein, Wolf, Douglas)
+ Uses as evidence the text from the essay, a close reading of the
text, knowledge of the essay form, personal
knowledge, and some knowledge of the author or other
textual knowledge about gender
+ Cites sources using MLA format
+ about 3 pages, double-spaced, with metatext for each draft