Short writing assignment (10%)

For this assignment, you can choose one of the follow forms of short articles. The amount of work for each should be about the same; you are free to choose which intellectual exercise and writing style best suits you as an individual.

Critical review

A critical review is an intellectual evaluation of some aspect of a given text. What I am intending this exercise to accomplish is a honing of your ability to distill from a text the central issue as you see it. Your review should reflect your reaction to the text: positive or negative. After reading your work, I should understand how you interpreted the text in some way.

What I want from you, specifically, is between 350 and 600 words not more; double-spaced; 12-point serif font; your name, date, assignment title, and word count at the top; and references for secondary sources (if there are any) at the bottom, in MLA style. Use parenthetical page numbers for the primary text, which you do not need to reference unless you include secondary sources as well. Remember the rules for authors’ names and the dates of primary texts.”

The intent of the critical review is for you to formulate your own ideas about the text, independent of class or instructor input. For this reason, under no circumstances will critical reviews be accepted after the first day the text is studied in class; choose your text in advance and submit it before class begins.

The following grading rubric will be completed and appended to your graded critical review.

• The review constitutes 10% of your term grade.
  The breakdown is shown below.
  I have used track changes, so you must turn on “Track changes while editing” to view my edits. My comments are [enclosed in square brackets].
• Turquoise highlighting indicates my questioning that your word is the right or best word to use.
• If you have any other questions, please email or come see me.

Please note the following explications:

• Is your paper formatted correctly?
• You will lose marks if your paper is not double or 1.5-spaced, not in a serif font, not within the correct word count, or does not have the correct information (properly formatted) at the top and in any notes required.
• Is your argument reasonable and correct?
• Your opinion or argument must be actually true or correct, according to the textual evidence.
• Is your opinion supported sufficiently?
• You must support all claims that are not general knowledge with evidence from the text or elsewhere.
• Is your argument logical?
• Avoid logical fallacies such as over simplification, non sequitors, generalizations, faulty cause and effect, etc.
• A list of logical fallacies is posted under “Writing tools” on WebCT.
• Does your argument make sense, in terms of the text and the real world?
• Are the mechanics of your writing sufficiently correct?
• You will lose marks for not listing the text’s first date of each primary texts’ publication, not specifying the author and text discussed, not using authors’ first names in the first instance only, not using Canadian spelling, not using serial commas, or having other excessive punctuation or mechanical errors.
• Is your writing effective, in terms of word choice, grammar, and sentence structure?
• You will lose points for producing dangling or misplaced modifiers, pronoun and noun disagreement, or an excessive number of any other grammatical errors. See “Karyn’s pet peeves and how to avoid them” (under “Writing tools: Karyn’s tips on writing your essay” on WebCT).
• Is your argument well developed, with an effective overall structure?
• You should introduce your point, develop a cohesive argument with supporting evidence, and conclude with stylistic flair… all in one page, of course.
• Plot summary will lose you between 0.5 and 1.0 points.
• Does your writing reveal a superior facility with language?
• This bonus is for those reviews that shine, that reveal a cohesiveness of argument and stylistic flair surpassing expectations. Needless to say, this is hard to get. If part of the review glows, but overall there are some problems, I will assign 0.25.

Please see the critical review example posted on this website.

Theoretical rebuttal

This assignment resembles a critical review, except in focus. Rather than delivering your own generated opinion on a text, this assignment asks you to challenge the opinion of another critic on a given text or author. Thus, you may submit this assignment after class discussion; it is expected that your ideas may fall out of critical opinions raised in class. Make sure, however, that you do not just reiterate class or instructor opinion in your rebuttal; be sure to include sufficient theoretical and critical support for your position.

This assignment will be graded similarly to the critical review.

Annotated bibliography

This assignment is intended to reveal a thoroughness in considering secondary sources for your term paper project, and it is expected that you use the Works Consulted submitted for the term paper proposal as the basis for your annotated bibliography. You will need to have at least 10 entries for your annotated bibliography.

The annotated bibliography should include a properly formatted MLA entry followed by about 100 words of description regarding each text. Each description should point to the strengths and weaknesses of the text under consideration, vis-à-vis your topic, but not referencing your specific needs. That is, entries should not say “This text is not useful to me because it doesn’t deal with Conrad’s imperialism…”; but rather, “This text does not address Conrad’s position on the imperialist agenda so much as being a historical account of his life…”

The following grading rubric will be completed and appended to your graded bibliography.

Please see the annotated bibliography example posted on this website.

Literature review

A literature review incorporates the same information as an annotated bibliography, but is written as an article rather than a list. The parameters of the assignment (length, formatting, etc.) are thus the same as for the critical review and theoretical rebuttal.

What your literature review should accomplish is to familiarize your reader with the critical and theoretical texts extant in your field. This is usually a preliminary part of a thesis, rather than being included in a shorter article, but the exercise is useful for any academic author before embarking on a lengthy project.

The literature review will be graded similarly to the critical review and theoretical rebuttal. I will try to locate an example soon.