Form II Short Story Paper

Form II English

Ms. Cohen

Short Story Essay

War-- What the hell is it good for?

Now that we've read five short stories about various war experiences, it's time to do some synthesis. Looking across the stories, what is being said about war?

To answer this question, you'll have a chance to do some group work, draft a thesis statement, gather evidence, etc. Along the way we'll do peer editing, writing conferences, and workshops. Essentially, we'll go through the process of writing this paper together. The goal is for you to get feedback at every step of the way. I think you're going to learn as much (if not more) about the writing process as you are about the authors' ideas about war.

A few quick thoughts:

This is NOT a compare/contrast paper. It is a synthesis paper. The questions you're asking are, "What unifies these stories? What ideas about war do they all share?" The stories were chosen with this purpose in mind, so saying, "they don't have anything in common," is not an option.

There will be a series of due dates along the way towards the completion of this essay. Here's how the grading is going to work: on the day of one of those intermediate due dates (say, for your thesis statement), you MUST post the required portion of the essay on our class blog. In my grade book, meeting that deadline is worth 1 point. If you have the assignment uploaded to the blog by the deadline, you get the point. If you don't, you get a zero. It's going to be that simple, that clear, and that rigid. Just this once.

It's been a while since we've done analytical writing, but you've worked on a significant amount of expository prose. The lessons you learned about clarity, organization, and word choice will be very useful to you in writing this paper.

Step One: Gaaaaaahhhh, analytical writing....

Write a few paragraphs on everything you remember about writing an analytical essay. Obviously, there are two goals here: one is to review analytical writing, but the other more important goal is to think about how you're going to organize your paragraphs so that there is a logical progression of ideas.

Step Two: I have no idea how to start this paper...

So, how do you start a paper? Well, the first step absolutely must be making sure that you've read and understood the material. And then thought about it all in relation to the paper topic. For example, you might know a million things about narrative structure, but that's not really going to help you for this paper. For all you B.S.ers out there, I promise you that it is much easier to write a good paper about material you've read. Emphasis there is on good paper. It's probably pretty easy to write a crummy paper about a book you haven't read...

We'll do some group work to accomplish this step.

Step Three: I'm still a little lost...

That's okay. We're about to bring some direction to your paper-writing efforts. It's time to craft a thesis statement. You know me-- I like a nice, broad, umbrella idea to give the paper a thematic thread. If you can pull that off, great! If not, then continuing to work on a three part thesis statement is all right.

Here are some things to think about that might help you make your way to BIG IDEAS about war:

The soldiers in these stories are…

The battles in these stories are…

Could the stories be describing any war? Why or why not?

Here is a model thesis statement:

In the short stories by Stephen Crane and Ambrose Bierce, war is…

Step Four: The Road Map to Paper Paradise

An outline can be a critical component of writing a successful paper. The outline is your opportunity to see if your ideas hold up under the pressure of finding textual analysis. If you can’t find a quotation to support your idea, then you can’t write about that idea. The outline is also where you figure out how your ideas fit together logically.

Putting together a thorough outline is 60% of the effort of writing a solid paper. Don’t fool around with this—it can be the make or break component of your writing process.

Here’s the outline form that I find most useful. Yes, it’s a personal preference, but try it my way at least once to see if it can also work for you.

I. Thesis Statement

a. Topic Sentence #1

i. Quotation (with bolded words)

1. Analysis of one bolded word in relation to your t.s.

2. Analysis of a second bolded word in relation to your t.s.

3. Analysis, etc.

a. An answer to this question: How does the analysis presented in this paragraph support your thesis?

Step Five: Words, words, words…

By now all of the work you’ve done should have helped alleviate much of the blank-page anxiety that’s part of writing a first draft. The cold, hard truth is that you still have to sit down at the computer and put together an essay that is clear, coherent, and carefully written. BUT you’ve already done all of the brain work—the thinking part is basically over. What happens now is the artistic part of writing—sharing your ideas in a way that makes them resonate with other people.

Rough Draft Writing Pointers:

1. Turn off your cell phone.

2. Quit AIM, Facebook, and MySpace.

3. Get a snack, go to the bathroom, whatever whatever whatever BEFORE you sit down at your computer.

4. Gather your materials—copies of the short story, notes from group work, outline—before you sit down at your computer. Have the HARD COPIES of these things in front of you—they are the ones on which I’ll have written feedback.

5. Set a timer (on your watch, on the microwave) for 20 minutes. During those 20 minutes, write. Put words on paper. If you get stuck, either skip ahead or simply rephrase the last sentence you just wrote. Don’t delete anything.

6. Give yourself a 10 minute break.

7. Repeat as necessary.

Step Six: Git ‘er Done

As always, you will have feedback from me on your rough draft. BUT I don’t mark every single error and I don’t give you every single correction. You need to take final responsibility for the quality of your work, and part of learning to write is learning to recognize your own mistakes.

At the same time, if my feedback does not make sense to you, please ASK ME about it. If you are struggling to implement that feedback, please ASK ME about it.

A few tips:

1. The same rules about “toys” apply during revision, not just during the rough draft.

2. Give yourself plenty of time to revise. For many, many of you this stage might more accurately be called “rewriting,” and will take a few days of work.

3. Read your paper out loud. Every place you pause or stumble is a place that needs some revision.

4. Have someone read your paper out loud to you. Every place he or she pauses or stumbles is a place that needs some revision.

Good luck, Brainiacs.

adc