English 130: Writing About the Literature of Queens (Essay Sequence)
Resource Type: Essay sequence
Instructor:
Kate Schnur
Title: Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department:
English
Course: English 130 (Composition II, Writing About Literature)
Description
Source Description — Attached is a draft of a new essay sequence for English 130 (Composition II, Writing About Literature). The traditional essay sequence for this class is: 1. a close reading essay, 2. an analysis of a text through a lens, and 3. a research essay. I have shaped the sequence around a group of literary texts about Queens (you will see a provisional list on the essay 1 prompt) and a small selection of secondary sources about Queens. The first essay is a close reading assignment of one of the literary texts we will read in the first third of the semester. The second is a research essay in which students will use one secondary source from the course readings and independent research to revise and expand their essay 1. The third is a combination rhetorical analysis and personal narrative.
Use of Source — This essay sequence will be the backbone of a redesign of my English 130. Rather than submitting a syllabus, I decided to focus on the essay sequence since this will demonstrate more clearly how the workshop is informing my overall structure of the course.
Goals and Learning Outcomes — The general goals of English 130 are for students to build on the writing and analytical skills from English 110 and to introduce students to the basic methodologies of analyzing literature and writing arguments based on that analysis. The goal for my revision of English 130 is to show students how analyzing poetry and fiction can still feel rooted in “real” places. In so doing, students will also hopefully see how writing about literature is always funneled through our knowledge and experience.
Engagement with Queens and Place — The writing assignments ask student to analyze accounts of Queens neighborhoods in both literature and in nonfiction sources. The essays breakdown the different kinds of relationships that help us think about we move through and occupy place and how place shapes stories.
