Assignment
1. Re-read your selected article and take careful notes, using analysis techniques described in Module Two as guidance. For a review of these techniques, please click here. Then, revisit your original interpretation of the author's goal and re-state the claim to be addressed in your analysis essay. Has the author's goal changed with this analytical reading of the text? If so, how? If not, why not?
"Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan (2006)
2. Have you identified new key points that the author uses to try to achieve his or her goal in the selected article? If so, include them here. If not, explain why the key points from your Writing Notes have remained the same, even after conducting an active reading of the article.
3. Re-state the audience who will be reading your essay. What potential challenges will you have supporting your argument with this demographic?
4. Your goal is the end result that you wish to achieve in writing the critical analysis essay. What goal do you hope to accomplish with this essay? For example, you may disagree with the author and demonstrate why they are incorrect, or you may agree but want to further substantiate their claim.
5. Evidence is the material that supports your argument. Based on your claim, determine potential places where evidence would be most effective. Defend your choices. For example, if you disagree with an author's point, you would want to use evidence to support your view.
6. You will be receiving feedback on this draft. Feedback is helpful information or criticism that explains what can be done to improve your essay. How can your own writing improve from receiving feedback from an outside party? How can that feedback be integrated in the final project?
7. During the revision process, a writer rereads the essay and makes significant changes in content, organization, etc. to build the argument in a stronger, more logical manner. You will learn more about revision strategies in Module 7, but some of the most common revision techniques are peer evaluation (where you have a classmate review your essay and provide you with feedback), read aloud (where you print out a hard copy of your essay and read it aloud slowly), and read backwards (where you read the essay backwards word by word or paragraph by paragraph). Identify a revision strategy that would be most effective in informing you while writing this essay. Why would this strategy be effective?