Toward the end of the semester, you will be writing a research paper of between 1500 and 2000 words. Please think seriously about a topic you’d be interested in researching. You MUST be able to sustain interest in and commitment to this topic for most of the 8-week semester. I want you to submit to me three such topics you’d be willing to do research on. This paper is not just a "report." So – no "Babe Ruth," or "The Blue Whale," or "Cleaning and Oiling Your ATV." Instead, think of some topics that are somewhat, if not largely controversial. Here’s how to turn those three topics into good ones for this paper:

1. Why Babe Ruth Was Not the Best Home Run Hitter Ever
2. Japanese Disregard for Endangered Species of the Deep
3. Using ATVs on Public Land: Nuisance or Necessity?

See what I mean? Now, not only are these topics going to require more critical thinking and deeper research, but the papers that emerge are going to be much more interesting to the reader.

Send me ASAP three topics you’d be interested in working on later in the course as soon as you can, but no later than the end of the 2^nd week. I will remind you again in a week.

As a way of stimulating you to think about these topics, write a 200-word paragraph about one of them. DO NOT DO ANY RESEARCH YET. This paragraph must be your own words and your own thoughts and ideas. Include some of your history with the topic, why you thought of it, how long you have been interested in it, what problems you might encounter in doing some deeper research on it, and whether or not you’re still actively involved with it in some way right now. Before you rush to send this off to me, please PLEASE PLEASE proofread it and make any corrections you see right off the bat. YOU WILL BE GRADED ON THIS PARAGRAPH. This will be good practice for something I’ll be urging you to do more and more of as the course progresses. (If you’ve already found a classmate to exchange peer editing with, there’s no reason why you couldn’t do that with this paragraph before sending it off to me.)

The reading this week deals primarily with narration. Call it "storytelling" if you want to. There are some other chapters to read, however, besides just the one on narration. Pay attention to the ways in which the chapters are inter-related. One really good way of learning more about writing is reading other people’s writing, so keep your eye out for model essays both in the book and also on the CD. You need to pair up with a peer editor this week, so start making inquiries, reading your classmates’ postings, and putting yourself out there. Finally, I will be asking you to select a topic for the research paper from the topics you submitted last week. Let me know if you’re having "second thoughts" about any of them. You may NOT write on the same topic as your peer editor, so keep that in mind.

Read Ch. 13 and Ch. 14

You’re reading Ch. 13 because of all the important things to remember about writing, the most important (in addition to having something to say!) is the fact that you write to establish some sort of relationship between you and your reader. So—it stands to reason that "cueing" the reader - or maybe a better expression might even be "clueing" the reader, clueing him/her in—is a very effective way of capturing and keeping the reader’s attention. ** Highlight as much as you can in the section on p. 613 about topic sentences.** That’s really a key part of any essay writing project. Pay attention to the other "tools" you have at your fingertips when writing that will help the reader understand, appreciate, and "get" what it is you’re saying.

Then, read Ch. 14 – "Narrating." Again, look at how many different – and very specific – strategies, techniques, "tools" are available to you in the process of storytelling. You will be expected to use at least some of these – the more the better – in your narrative essay this week, so make sure you highlight the ones that seem to you to be most logical, familiar, useful, easy to understand.

Finally, I’d like you to speed read Chapters 3 and 4 and try to find places to "plug in to" that deal with how to write about people – because that’s what you’re going to have to do this week (see "Write" below). You will want to recall someone who is charismatic. That means that it will be someone who is memorable, unique, the sort of person about whom some people will say, "they broke the mold!" Charisma is usually considered a positive quality, but that’s not a hard and fast rule. Read Annie Dillard’s piece on pp. 22-24. Study and think about the techniques the writer uses for getting into the real heart of the story she is telling and of the people she is describing. This is not just a superficial treatment. But remember that this week is about narration more than description, so pay attention to how the writer treats her subject as part of a story, a narrative.

I would also like you to read the follow-up discussion of the selection on pp. 25-26.

You need to start your reading early in the week, so you will be free and clear to spend the latter portion of the week doing the writing. This book is very well constructed, edited, and formatted. You will notice, however, that the type is small, the pages are thin, and the ideas are occasionally complex.

That’s why I want you to read with a highlighter so you can keep track of key ideas, and use them for review and assistance when writing.

Read pp. 110-116, too. These will help you in your planning for the writing activity that follows..

Think of a person who has either played a significant role in your life and remember a key incident that defines that person best for you. Spend some time thinking about who this person will be; you will be trying your best to make it so we can know this person as well and/or as vividly as you do.

You will not – and you MUST not – just dash this essay off just because it’s about someone whom you know. That you know this person – or that you have a clear memory of him or her – that is all the more reason to honor him or her by being organized, thorough, and industrious when it comes to making him or her the centerpiece of your essay.

Write the essay as a narrative. That’s why it’s important to focus on a single event or moment so you can take us through it with as much detail as possible. This essay will not work if you stay on the surface of the individual you are writing about, or if you skim lightly over the sequence of moments that happened once upon a time leaving you with an indelible impression of the person.

Don’t ask if you can write about a pet. This is about a human being; we are complicated creatures in the BEST of circumstances, and I want you to grapple with the best way in which to use words to capture the essence of a unique character. Pay attention to whether or not Jan Gray ("Father" writer) gets really emotional in her narration. Does the emotion (or lack of it) work for you? Think about how you will approach this subject. Are you going to be really emotionally tied up in this narration? Generally speaking, it’s not a god idea in essays to be excessively emotional or subjective. The problem with subjectivity is that the more wrapped up in the subject you become, the harder it is for us to think of the writing as anything more than a sales job or a promotional piece.

So write with as much objectivity as you can manage, and check with your peer editor or me or the person whom you are writing about, if that is possible. Show him/her your rough draft; see what he/she has to say about it. Ask your "editor" whether or not you have remained objective, whether there’s enough detail, if it reads smoothly, if he/she felt as though his/her familiarity with the person you wrote about has increased at all.

Unless otherwise indicated, these essays are all to be five-paragraph essays following the usual format of introduction, three main body paragraphs, and a conclusion.