| FrC 14I Spring 2014 |
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Write an essay (of roughly 2-3 pp. or 600-900 words) in which you explore an answer to a question about some work we have discussed. Think of this as an opportunity to do in writing the sort of thing you have been doing in discussion.
The question and answer are your choice, but there are certain elements your essay must include.
• A presentation of the question. In addition to stating the question, you should provide some context for it (i.e., information about the work it concerns that is needed to understand the question), and you should explain how it arises, why someone might be led to ask it.
• A presentation of the answer. You must, of course, state the answer, but you should also develop some reasons for thinking it is a good answer.
• A discussion of an objection. Finally, you should note one sort of doubt someone might have about the answer, and you should suggest a way of responding to this doubt.
There is more than one way of combining these elements, but a natural way is to make the presentation of the question your introduction, to present the answer in the body of the paper, and to discuss the possible objection as a sort of conclusion. Although the answer is likely to get most of your attention, you should not ignore the first and third elements: they deserve at least a substantial paragraph each.
The question that you address can take many forms, and the nature of the other elements of the essay will depend on the sort of question (yes or no?, why?, what?, which?) you are considering. For example, the question might be a why-question asking for an explanation of something a character does. In that sort of case, part of the presentation of the question will be a description of the action to be explained. And someone might object to the explanation you present as an answer by offering an alternative competing explanation. But the objection you consider in this case could instead simply cast doubt on the answer rather than offering a different one; that is, it might be directed less to the content of the answer than the reason you give for thinking it is a good one.
You will of course need to refer to some work in writing this, and I will expect you to give a full reference to it. That is, you will not be allowed to assume that your reader knows what you are speaking of. In the case of a written work, a full reference typically includes information about the title, author (or editor), publisher, and date of publication. In other cases, the needed information is less obvious, but in all cases you aim should be to provide enough information that someone who had no connection with this class could find the specific work you are referring to while using only the information you include in the paper. If you forget to include this information, you can expect me to send back your paper asking for it to be added.
Although I’ll be willing to accept your essay on paper, I’d prefer that you send a copy by e-mail (either as an attachment or in the body of a message). My address is helmang@wabash.edu.