wp home > junior year writing > sourcebook for instructors > WOST 391W assignments

A Sequence of Assignments from WOST 391W: Writing for Women's Studies Majors

Kirsten Isgro, Fall 2006

1. Writing (Autobiographic) Prose (10 points)

This essay is an opportunity for you to explore how you identify yourself as a feminist.  The goal of this assignment is to produce concise, informative, and colorful first-person prose that explores how you came to feminism. What significant memories and/or experiences have shaped who you are today?  This 5-6 page paper will focus on memorable details of your life experiences, allowing the reader to visualize and understand the ways that feminism shapes how you move through the world.

2. Summarizing Arguments (5 points)

Write a summary of one of Katha Pollitt’s Subject to Debate articles: “No Presents, Please” OR “Invisible Women.”  Begin with a summary of each paragraph (paraphrasing), and then revise these summary sentences into a concise 250 word summary.

Preface your summary with a lead-in statement such as, “In her commentary, ‘No Presents, Please,’ Katha Pollitt offers a controversial proposal to abolish social security benefits for certain individuals. To summarize, Pollitt argues…”

Provide a summary only of what Pollitt argues. Note the assumptions she makes, but do not include your evaluation of them in your summary.

3. Evaluating Arguments (10 points)

In an essay of approximately 500 words, write an evaluation of the argument by Keely Savoie in "Unnatural Selection: Questioning Science's Gender Bias" in Bitch magazine, Spring 2004. Drawing from the material covered in Barnet and Bedau's readings ("Critical Thinking," "Critical Reading," and "Writing an Argument"), as well as the strategies employed in class, evaluate Savoie's thesis, purpose, methods, and persona. Since this is an evaluation, you will want to state your claims and your support for your position. This paper will be graded based on the following criterion: 1. Have you fairly stated the writer's thesis and summarized her supporting reasons? 2. Have you indicated where you will be taking your reader in your critique? 3. Have you commented not only on the logos (logic, reasoning) but also the ethos (character of the writer, as presented in the essay)? 4. If there is an appeal to the pathos (appeals to emotion), is it acceptable? 5. Is your analysis effectively organized? 6. Does your essay clearly indicate your agreement/disagreement with the writer? 7. Is your tone appropriate?

4. Letters to the Editor or Political Representative (15 points)

This writing exercise provides you with an opportunity to apply your skills in critical thinking, reading, and argument evaluation.

You are to write a formal letter to the Editor of a major newspaper (regional, national, or international), to your hometown politicians, or to the governor. Choose an issue, debate, or current topic about which you are familiar. Be prepared to undertake whatever research may be required in order to substantiate your argument. The length of your letter will be contingent on the issue you have chosen. However, you should strive for clarity and cogency in crafting it.

If you are having trouble determining a topic, you may wish to read selections from a periodical of a different political persuasion from your own (The Nation if you lean toward the right, or The National Review for students on the left).

This will be a formal, “high-stakes” writing assignment since you are encouraged to mail the letter.

5. Cultural Analysis Project (40 points)

Your final project will be broken into three writing assignments:  an abstract, an annotated bibliography, and a final essay.  The project involves the analysis of a popular culture text (e.g. literature, music, television show, sports event, film), of your own choosing, from a feminist point of view.  A “text” can be defined as any medium of communication that you believe has contemporary cultural significance and can be examined in light of economic, political, and historical conditions.

You now have all the skills necessary to undertake scholarly research (choosing and narrowing your topic by using resources available through the library including databases, journal and book holdings), data collecting (reviewing source material with a view to its relevance to your project), critical reading and argument evaluation (to determine which sources will work to help substantiate your claims and the overall argument you will construct), and proper documentation.  Designed to bring together your skills in research, summation, critical analysis, and interpretation, you will write a final cultural analysis of your own, focusing on the content, meanings, and significance of a cultural practice or artifact.

The abstract should a) formulate critical questions pertinent to the research project;  b) outline the thesis and major ideas of your research paper; c) specify methodological and theoretical approaches that you are using in the paper; and d) summarize relevant scholarship on which you are building your argument.  For more information and examples of abstracts, look at:

A.  1 page typed progress report which includes a:
one paragraph summary of the research project thus far
description of the data you are analyzing (e.g. a specific movie, television show, record label/industry, etc…)
one sentence thesis statement

You are required to draw on and properly integrate a minimum of three (3) scholarly sources. These may be found in edited anthologies or book-length monographs, and in academic peer-reviewed journals. You may draw on newspaper and magazine sources as well (that is, in addition to the minimum required three sources). Your essay will go through three rounds of review before it is submitted in final draft.

Use the introduction of your essay to engage your reader’s interest in a problem or question that you would like to address in your essay.  Show your reader what makes the question both significant and problematic.  The body of your essay should be your own response to this question made as persuasive as possible through appropriate analysis and argumentation, including effective use of evidence.  Your paper should demonstrate the context in which the popular culture form exists, with a particular focus on an intersectional feminist analysis.

The final draft of your essay (10-12 pages) is to be typed, double-spaced, in 12 point font, with one inch margins, and page numbers. Papers are to be stapled. Use APA or MLA style documentation for this assignment.

6.  Journal Entries

Five times over the course of the semester, you will be expected to submit an online journal entry (minimum 250 words each) via WebCT by 9 a.m. on dates marked on your syllabus.  These journal entries provide you with a chance to get your ideas on paper and force you to actively engage with the reading material as an academic/feminist and as a reader. Think of these journal entries as gentle reminders to keep up with class readings as well as a space to explore how feminism and writing intersect. It also is a time for you to share with your classmates your personal reactions in written form.  Check your syllabus for dates that you may choose to submit a Friday journal entry; there is a total of eight possible dates, so choose your entries wisely. 

Updated September 3, 2008

 

UMail / UDrive / Spark / Spire