1. Please respond to Dr. Nelsons take; with a few sentences.
Dr. Nelson's Take; Week Two
This week you'll be writing your first essay for the class. It's an analysis. You'll read Barnet's take on how to develop questions that in turn lead to generative answers and essays. I have developed my own question for your essay this week. This is nice for you, but it is also a bit of a disservice since learning to form dynamic questions and answers is the crux of effective writing and publishing. In any case, you still have to do the legwork of developing your own answers.
As you work out your essay this week, keep in mind the basic grading criteria for the class (check out ‘grading and assessment' to see a full breakdown of grading criteria).
Your essay will be graded based on four categories: focus, development, structure, and mechanics/style.
Focus: As you develop your thesis for this essay, you'll want to develop a dynamic thesis or focus that gets carried and supported throughout the essay. The thesis should be interesting. In other words, a thesis such as, "The Spiral Jetty has to do with time because it takes time to get there" is not very interesting, enlightening or pertinent. Instead, do a little research first. If you read some of Smithson's essays, you'll find the term, "entropy." This might be a good place to start.
Development: You'll read a sample analysis essay this week. Notice how the focus of the essay gets supported throughout. If you make an argument, you'll need to give specific examples to support it.
Structure: If you're feeling a little soft around the edges with your writing skills, I highly recommend exploring the online writing lab (OWL) sponsored by Purdue. Look at your paragraphs. Are they extra long or extra short. Long paragraphs can indicate too many ideas wandering about. Short paragraphs can indicate a lack of development. Use transitions, topic sentences, and paragraph unity to form an effective structure. The lack of structure can leave your good ideas in a pile on the ground. The reader will recognize moments of genius but overall, she won't be able to see it for a house.
Grammar/style: Please use MLA formatting for all assignments in this class.
As you work on this essay, you'll find the short page limit demands you use a very important writing skill - you need to leave out fluff and concentrate your material as compactly as you can.
As you begin:
1. Do some research. Google Smithson and entropy. Consider the differences between land art and museum art. Consider the role of travel and destination. Consider entropy.
2. Draft, draft, draft. Your submitted draft should be at lease the third meaningful iteration.
3. Check out your four grading categories.
4. Read your essay out loud to find grammatical errors.
2. Craft: Read
Barnet, "Analytic Thinking" and Sanford's "Salt of the Earth.
and "The Reemergence." (I cant find this from my school web, if there are nothing about this in the files that I provided, ignore it. Thanks.)
Make a two column table. In one column, write out directions for analytical essay writing from Barnet and in the column next to each tip, offer an excerpt from Sanford illustrating the implementation of Barnet's advice. Find five corollary examples. (total 10 entries).
3. Analysis: In 3-4 pages, explore the question, how does the Smithson's Spiral Jetty relate to the concept of time? Due June 1, 100 points
Please read "Dr. Nelson's Take (Week Two)" for a breakdown of grading categories.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yxcscokihre3cry/Barnet%20analytic%20thinking.rar?dl=0