principia_essay4

Principia
Steinwand
Essay IV
Due December 13, 2002

Select and limit a topic, dealing with an issue raised by our study of Winona LaDuke. Then write a unified and well-developed thesis-driven 3-4 page/750-word (minimum) essay. Your essay must fully engage some aspect of LaDuke's novel and include at least one other source. Your essay must be formatted and your sources documented in MLA style.

Evaluation Criteria:
Primary Criteria

Does your essay provide insight into the issues it treats? Does the thesis statement challenge the reader to think about the topic and issues treated in the paper?
Does the paper introduce specific supporting evidence and precise detail to make the case asserted in the thesis statement more convincing and effective?

Secondary Criteria

How unified is the essay? Does it stick to one topic or does it jump from topic to topic, skipping across the surface and obstructing deep insight?
Does the essay carry out an effective and appropriate pattern of organization? Is the essay organized into well-developed paragraphs?
How creative or original is the approach? How much personality (or "voice") is apparent in the writing?
Is the evidence cited and documented effectively in MLA style

Suggestions:
• Study your Notebook for possible topics. You may wish to rewrite a study question response in a more formal, polished, and developed manner. You may wish to pursue class discussion topics that did not reach a satisfactory conclusion. You may wish to make thinking-section-type connections. If you use your informal writing, however, the key is that your formal paper be unified, so always keep your thesis statement in focus.
• Spend about half of your time focusing your thesis statement. Writing a good thesis statement is hard work. But writing a good thesis statement is the surest route to writing a successful paper. A strong thesis must make a significant (often controversial) point and must be precise. Statements that are more analytical and/or persuasive in their purpose are usually more interesting and effective than those that are strictly informative or descriptive. Keep in mind that I want to know what you think about what the text says and not just what the text itself says.
• I will comment and make suggestions on any thesis submitted to me on email or in writing at any time before midnight on Wednesday, December 11th. I very strongly recommend this to you.
• Use specific evidence from the works studied to support your generalizations about the issues you present. Specific examples make your general points more effective, vivid, and concrete. Consider also using other supporting materials in your paper so long as they enhance your presentation.
• When you summarize or pick up on an idea or concept from your reading, be sure to consider how that idea or concept fits into the original author's main argument. In other words, try not to misrepresent what the author is saying by taking words or ideas out of context.

Topic Examples:

you might deal with an issue like the Land Recovery movement and use some resources like websites or LaDuke's chapter in All our Relations.
discuss the theme of community in LaDuke's novel and Toni Morrison's Sula.
Discuss racism in LaDuke's novel in relation to Malcolm X, Morrison, and/or White Privilege reading.
Discuss friendship in LaDuke and Morrison and/or Augustine.
Discuss religion in LaDuke and Malcolm X.