Eh 200: Spring 2011 Week Two Day Two

Cell Phones Off and On the Desks

Approximately 50+ Min Class Plan

Homework Review: (Suggested: 5 minutes)

Homework:

• Re-read “The Untold Lie” by Sherwood Anderson

• 2 -page assignment:

• Part One:  Identify and comment on specific character details in the story that do not directly relate to our definition for play.

• Part Two: Once you have identified important character details that do not directly relate to our concept of play, I want you to do the following:  Describe how these details may be considered against those details that do relate to play. Explain to me how an understanding of both “sets” of details can broaden your understanding of individual “characters” in this story. [The wording was challenging -- this was intentional]

Let’s get out our work and look over it. Underline the most important things you said.

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Group Discussion: (Suggested: 10 Minutes)

What did you notice the second time you read this story that you did not notice the first time you read it?

Also, I want you to answer this question: Why do you think it is that we are noticing different details when we re-read the story?

Group Presentations:

Requirement: No Leaning on the Podium

Mini-Lecture: (Suggested: 5 Minutes)

Topic: The Importance of Specific Details in Arguments about Stories: We need to be focusing on what’s actually in the text before us. We can’t be making things up, or assuming realities that are not actually addressed in the story.

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Your first major paper in this class is going to be a précis over The Untold Lie. It is going to follow a format that is very similar to the précis you wrote in Eh 124, with a slight change…

Eh 200 Argumentative Précis

Your first paper in Approaches to Literature will be an argumentative précis. This document will follow the basic structure for the rhetorical précis you mastered in Eh 124, with a slight modification:

• Stories, unlike essays, rarely have a clear thesis statement, and good stories often speak to a range of concerns.

More often than not, good stories marshal a host of details, concerns, and events into a particular shape that has an intellectual or emotional effect on the reader.

• Consequently, when we assess a story, we are always arguing – it is unavoidable.

The argumentative précis can be differentiated from the rhetorical précis as follows:

• In the thesis section of an argumentative précis, you will not be responsible for identifying the work’s summarizing statement.

Rather, you will be responsible for arguing to a guided point, one that will be detailed in the assignment (see below).

The Argumentative Précis (Pray-SEE): General Notes

• As you learned in Eh 124, the point of a précis is to detail a work for an audience that needs to know about a text without reading the entire document. The goal is to inform the audience without “dumbing down” or oversimplifying the material.

• To complete this assignment, you will need to incorporate direct quotations from the story. You will do this to express points that are better articulated by the author than you yourself could articulate them.

• Do not use “I” anywhere in this piece.

The Argumentative Précis (Pray-SEE) Structure

• There are three simple parts to a Précis: Situation, Issue, and Thesis

• Each section should be titled as such. This is okay in a précis.

Part 1: The Situation

In your first section, you will be analyzing the situation of the writing. This may require some limited research (confined to the book).

You will answer all of the following questions to the extent you are able.

• What is the rhetorical situation for this piece of writing?

1. When (be specific) was the piece written, by whom, and for whom?

2. Who is the intended audience?

3. What would this audience’s educational background, age, nationality, likely be?

4. Where was the piece published? What kind of readership does (did) this publication have?

5. What do you know about the author?

• Sometimes you will be able to answer all of these questions. Other times, you will  not.

The key is to think about how these things impacted the piece of writing. Give examples when possible from the text.

Other questions to address if possible:

1. What situation does the author address?

2. What is the specific event that prompted the writing?

3. What is the general purpose of this piece – is it to persuade, argue, suggest, evaluate, theorize, discuss, debate, or contribute to a discussion?

Think of your writing in this section as a kind of long introduction to your précis, as you are providing both context and purpose for the piece. It will be about 3/4 of a FULL page long.

Part II: The Issue:

In this section, you will be identifying issues (questions) the author answers in the piece that relate to income and play.

Identify the major questions the author raises about the relationship between play and income as these concepts impact the life of a specific character (in this case, either Hal or Ray, one or another — not both)

You will also need to define terms in this section. Any term that would be either archaic or unfamiliar for a general reader should be defined here. You can do this with bullet points, but must write in complete sentences.

This will be about 1/2 to 2/3rds of a full page.

Part III: The Thesis

In this section, you will be thoroughly addressing the answers the author appears to be offering for the questions he raises about how income and play impact the life of a specific character (Stick with the same character you considered in the Issue section).

Your goal here is to describe how the author explores these realities with specific details, and what it is he appears to say about them. This requires you to make an argument, which will begin with a THESIS and follow the TOULMIN STYLE argumentation format you learned in Eh 123/124

Additional Notes:

1. The document is a full three or four pages. This will be a detailed analysis and is not an abstract, book report, or anything of the kind.

2. This piece will challenge you both as a reader and writer, and will also force you to engage with the story in a way that many of you have never done before.

3. The production of knowledge happens in relation to other knowledge. That is why it is important to understand context and to work to develop a deeper understanding of the texts we read. An exercise such as this will provide you with the tools to both analyze and then later produce knowledge, important skills regardless of your field.

Homework:

Complete Précis Draft and bring it with you to class next time.