Required Early Steps: Topic memo, Reading Notes 10 pp., Bibliography, Outline
1st draft due Tuesday, May 12 (for peer review, mandatory conference with teacher)
2nd draft due Tuesday May 19
Write a nine page (8 for text, 1 for Works Cited, 1800 to 2000 words in text) source-based essay on a Bay Area gentrification-related topic of your own choosing. The essay should focus on a controlling idea (thesis), supported by explanation, quotation and paraphrasing of several sources. The paper should define its topic clearly and logically, and be both informative and discussion-oriented (meaning it needs to critically review a range of differing approaches or opinions in the field, but it doesn’t have to be organized as an explicit argument). It should be grounded in some field of knowledge, as well as on Walker’s Pictures of a Gone City. It must use the MLA system of documenting sources in text, and an MLA-style “Works Cited page at the end of the text, and cannot be passed unless these linked parts work smoothly.
Focused reading and note-taking must precede essay writing. These notes need to be careful, and thoughtful, a foundation for the essay. Up to 16 pages of on-time notes can be submitted to receive special double credit. A student must submit a minimum of 7 pages of notes before May 12 as a pre-condition for submitting a first draft essay. Students must submit these same notes dated by me (both those submitted on time, and those written later) in a folder when submitting the final paper. No 7 pp. notes = no research.
Essays, despite all their references to sources and readings, need to be focused on your own strong ideas, questions and points, concentrated into a clear thesis statement on the first page. The challenge is to keep the many details you write about in strict relation to major supporting points, and not get lost in the details and sources. Including three relevant references to Walker is a requirement, and should relate to the paper’s main idea. The integration of sources, paraphrased or quoted, in relation to your own original ideas, is the key, so that you are using the sources, not the sources using you.
MLA citation is required. Quotations (minimum of 4) and paraphrases (minimum 4) should be cited in-text by parenthetical citation. Quoted sources should be listed in a “Works Cited page (on a separate page). At minimum, cite at least 3 popular internet sites, 5 data base sources (check with me if you are not sure), 1 book, and 2 times from Walker’s text. Only sources discussed in your text and relevant to your topic can be included in your Works Cited page. Copying without quotations, patch-writing, or “forgetting to insert in-text citations when paraphrasing / quoting is plagiarism and can lead to the paper being failed. This fate is easily avoidable: bring any questionable paraphrasing/ quoting to me before submitting it for a grade, and we will make sure it is appropriate.
A late first draft essay must be uploaded for peer review and instructor review by by Friday May 15 (with late penalty), or the final draft will not be accepted Tuesday May 19. On the final draft, no late slips, or excuses can be used, and a penalty will be imposed if the essay is submitted late. Papers will be accepted until Tuesday May 19th at 5 p.m. on Canvas.
