Paper Topics for English 110 short course– Spring 2022

Theme: Challenge & Adversity

All the writing you will be doing in this course is reading-based. This means that every essay you write will be a response to and analysis of the reading arguing a point of view about the reading. If you write an essay that does not mention the reading or directly examine the reading, it will be considered off topic and will receive little to no credit. You will not be writing plot summaries. You will summarize parts of the reading to support your argument, but summary should not take over your paper. Each paragraph should serve to prove a clear and specific point and all paragraphs should work together to prove one unifying, thesis (opinion on the reading). For all papers, except the midterm and final exam, you will be creating your own argument about the assigned
reading so that you are writing from a place of interest rather than duty. You cannot pass this course if you fail to turn in one of the assigned papers.

Follow standard paper guidelines and know expectations as described in Chapter 3: Paper Topics: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/3Papertopics.htm

Paper topics come in all shapes and sizes, but in general for an English class, you can expect to find the following requirements:

· Meet stated page length requirements. Turning in papers that are under the required page length sends a message that the assignment was not taken seriously and that a lack of time, effort, and consideration was put into the project.

· Adhere to due dates. Plan ahead and break down the project into manageable stages, so you don’t cause yourself undue stress by doing things “last minute” or by hurting your grade through missing due dates and not being able to turn in assignments.

· Use the stated paper formatting standards. In an English class, the most common paper formatting approach is MLA. See Chapter 5 on MLA Conventions.

· Follow the assignment. It is essential that you follow the guidelines of the assignment or else you risk receiving little to no credit for your work. English classes are also teaching students how to successfully complete college-level tasks, so take some time in the beginning to ensure you are doing what was asked.

· Apply writing standards in your paper. This Rhetoric walks you through the fundamental essay components, so apply these concepts to your writing. There is also an Essay Checklist in Chapter 4 that you can use to ensure you have covered all the bases your instructor will be expecting in an academic paper:

· Seek opportunities for additional help. Writing can be an isolating experience but it does not have to be. Use campus resources to help you formulate your writing plan and to get outside perspective and feedback on your writing. You can visit your instructor during office hours at any stage in the writing process. You can also use the tutoring services offered in the Learning Center: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/learningcenter/index.php. Getting feedback is one of the most effective ways to focus and improve your writing.

Use the Essay Checklist to make sure you have all the necessary essay elements but here is also a quick guide of things not to forget:

· MLA formatting: on the first page, include your own title centered at the top, the course info (your name, the class, the instructor, the date) in the top left corner and in the top right corner of each page, your last name next to the page number. Typed, double spaced throughout, font 12, one-inch margins and be sure to meet the page minimum (Please note: 10 pts are removed for each page the paper is under the required minimum length and 5 pts for half a page under. Don’t go solely by word count but by actual length).
MLA Conventions (Rhetoric 170-183): http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/5MLA.htm

· Creative title: Creating a strong, clear, appealing title is an important part of any writing task. The title is the reader’s first introduction to your piece of writing, and first impressions matter. Therefore, you want to create a title which pulls in your reader’s interest and makes him or her want to keep reading. Make your essay stand out from the others and draw in your reader. Creating Effective Titles (Rhetoric 153-154): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=153

· Integrating Sources: When writing about texts, you will want to include quotes and paraphrases and you want to make sure to smoothly integrate and properly document all your sources. Connect all quote to phrases that introduce them (don’t drop quotes) and follow quotes with the source information in parenthesis (usually the author’s last name and the page number). Also, follow quotes with your own analysis explaining their significance.
Sources (Rhetoric 262-282): http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/10IntegratingSources.htm

· Works Cited: when you are writing about a text, you will always include a Works Cited even if you are only citing the text you wrote about. If you did research, include all your outside sources on the Works Cited page as well. List the sources alphabetically by author last name or by title if there is no author. Creating Works Cited pages (Rhetoric 177-182): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=177

· Revising and Editing: the best writing is rewriting so before turning in an essay for a grade, use the advice on revising (making larger global changes) and editing (making sentence level corrections) to ensure that you have submitted your best work.
Revising (Rhetoric 143-152): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=143 & Editing (Rhetoric 155-161): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=155

· Grading standards: every student should be striving for the ‘A’ paper so know what criteria make an excellent paper by reviewing the English department grading standards that your instructor will be using when assessing your essay. Use the criteria as the standard you are
using as you revise your essay. Grading Standards (Rhetoric 197-198): http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/bellr/GradingMenu.htm

Five major papers will be written for this class:

Paper #1 (worth 10% of grade): 2-4 pages, 500-1000 words
Selecting ONE of the assigned poems to analyze from The Best 100 African American Poems edited by Nikki Giovanni (poetry reading will be provided by instructor)
Draft due 4/4, Revision due 4/8
MLA Title page and Works Cited required

Select ONE of the assigned poems and write a paper that critically analyzes and offers your interpretation of the deeper significance of this poem. Your essay will only use summary to support your main argument (thesis) you want to make about this poem. In writing about poetry, you will often be quoting from the poem itself as the language itself should be a central part of your analysis.

Review the section on poetry in Chapter 12 paying attention to the terms and approaches used in analyzing poetry (305-315): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/12Poetry.htm. Also, to begin a focused literary analysis of your poem, I highly recommend you first complete a “Poetry Chart” breaking down the poem (309): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/12PoetryChart.htm. Your paper should be your own explication of and analysis of your selected poem. You are not summarizing the poem but rather arguing your point of view about its significance. See also the sample student paper modeling how to write literary analysis of poem (pages 312-315): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=312

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Research Paper #2 (worth 10% of grade): 3-5 pages, 750-1250 words
Analyzing ONE the assigned short stories from The Decameron Project: 29 New Stories from the Pandemic by The New York Times
Draft due 4/21, Revision due 4/25
MLA Title page and Works Cited required with a minimum of ONE outside source

Select ONE of the assigned short stories and write a paper that critically analyzes and offers your interpretation of the deeper significance of this short story. Your essay will only use summary to support your main argument (thesis) that you want to make about this short story.

Review the section of Chapter 12 regarding fiction and drama (296-304) to see the different terms and approaches used when analyzing this type of literature: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/12Fiction-Drama.htm. Your paper should be your own analysis of your selected short story. You are not summarizing the story but rather arguing your point of view about its significance. See also the sample student paper modeling how to write literary analysis of a short story (pages 302-304): http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=302.

A note on choosing and incorporating outside research:

The idea of research is NOT to find information and ideas from “experts” to replace your own ideas. In your writing, your point of view should the focus of the paper. Use outside sources only to further support, clarify, or in some cases provide alternative viewpoints to show the weaknesses of a different position in order to reaffirm/strengthen your own argument. Never let research “take over” your paper. Make your outside sources work for you to further prove the argument that you want to make about the reading.

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Paper #3 (worth 10% of grade): Midterm 90-minute essay exam
Analyzing the play Sweat by Lynn Nottage
On exam day Weds, May 4th between 6am and midnight (the latest you can begin the exam and get the full time is 10:30pm)

Open book, timed essay exam on the play Sweat. In 90 minutes, you will compose an essay to a prompt about the reading that will be given to you on the day of the exam. You will not need to include a Works Cited or outside research. There is no required page length but you will want to fully answer all parts of the exam question in a focused, organized and well-developed essay using the texts as the
basis of your response.

Preparing for the midterm exam:
Before taking the exam, review the section of Chapter 12 regarding fiction and drama (296-304) to see the different terms and approaches used when analyzing fiction: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/12Fiction-Drama.htm.

Also, it is important to review the advice in the Rhetoric, Chapter 11: Timed Writing (pages 283-294), http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/11TimedWriting.htm). The best way to prepare is to annotate
your text and take a practice 75-minute exam before the midterm. There is a non-graded practice exam you can take in Canvas. Click on the link that says: “PRACTICE MIDTERM (90 min): non-graded writing practice.”

Take the 90-Minute Midterm Exam: Weds May 4th

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Research Paper #4 (worth 20% of grade): 4-6 pages, 1000-1500 words
Analyzing Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Draft due 5/19, Revision due 5/24
MLA Title page and Works Cited required with a minimum of TWO outside sources

Choose an issue or aspect in the novel Interior Chinatown, and write a research essay that asserts your own analysis of the significance of this text or an aspect of the text. Review the section of Chapter 12 regarding fiction and drama (296-304) to see the different terms and approaches used when analyzing this type of literature: http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/12Fiction-Drama.htm. You are not summarizing the story but rather arguing your point of view about its significance.

A note on choosing and incorporating outside research:

Preparing for the final exam:
Before taking the exam, review the advice in the Rhetoric, Chapter 11: Timed Writing (pages 283-294), http://www.skylinecollege.edu/skyenglish/11TimedWriting.htm). The best way to prepare is to annotate the texts and take a practice 150 minute exam before the midterm. You can create possible final exam questions for yourself which connect the works we have read through the course theme. Take at least one practice essay exam before the actual final exam. There is a non-graded practice exam you can take in WebAccess. Click on the link that says: “PRACTICE FINAL EXAM (2.5 hours): non-graded writing practice.”

Taking the 2 ½ hours Final Exam: Thurs May 26th