Assignment:
Exploratory Essay
Essay #1 - An Exploratory essay investigating an issue, question, or problem related to your field of study or popular culture
Your goal is to identify an issue or question that truly perplexes you and to write an account of your thinking process as you investigate your question through library research, talking with others, and reflective thinking. As Ramage and Bean explain, "Your goal is to examine your question, problem, or issue from a variety of perspectives, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different positions and points of view. . . You will be rewarded for the quality of your exploration, [research,] and thinking. In other words, “your goal is not to answer your question, but to report on the process of wrestling with it" (151).
Important NOTE: The issue you investigate for Essay # 1 may also be the topic for your major research essay #3, a researched classical argument.
Requirements:
-use MLA or APA documentation style
-include a minimum of 5 or 6 quality, scholarly sources in your works cited list
-Works Cited/References Page
Please note: I will return essays with documentation problems ungraded and will ask you to correct these problems and return it to me ASAP.
Key Features of an Effective Exploratory Essay
1) Opening move: Describes the problem, why it is worth pursuing, why it is problematic, why you, as the investigator, are interested in it; hooks the reader!
2) Considers alternative views and plays them off against each other. As the authors of A&B point out, "the essential move of an exploratory essay is to consider multiple solutions to a problem" (1150). They suggest using phrases such as "I used to think. . . , but now I think" or "Part of me thinks this. . ., but another part thinks that" (150). These phrases signal that you are playing Elbow's believing and doubting game.
3) Offers new, relevant input and responds to it thoughtfully. For readers, you will need to summarize and explain the new input (from a book, article, interview) and then analyze and evaluate it, playing the believing and doubting game and exploring how this new input affects your thinking. Repeat this process several times!
4) Draws from a minimum of 5-6 relevant sources. Try to find current journal articles on your issue first; interview experts in your area for insights about the issue, problem; choose books written for more academic audiences, if possible (with works cited lists); choose internet sources with care, evaluating their authors' credentials closely. Remember what Joseph Harris says in Rewriting about the idea of a “text” and “artifacts” as well.
5) Closing move: By the end of your exploratory process, you may not have reached a satisfactory solution to your problem, but you will need to explain where you stand at this point and how much your thinking has changed. Remember, don't rush to closure!
6) Structure: Exploratory writing generally has a more open-form structure and is focused around a question. The essay narrates chronologically the process of the author's thinking [and researching] about the problem.
Title: ________________________________
Reviewers: __________________________________
Peer Review for exploratory essay:
The following list of criteria is based on the key features for writing an effective Exploratory Essay described on your assignment sheet and on the strategies for producing effective academic writing discussed in class.
Title: Does your title forecast the issue or problem your essay examines and make readers want to read on?
Exceptional_______ Proficient________ Needs Work______
Opening move: Describes the problem, why it is worth pursuing, why it is problematic, why the writer, as the investigator, is interested in it; in other words, it hooks the reader. Is this a stylized intro?
Exceptional_______ Proficient_______ Needs Work______
Considers alternative views and plays them off against each other. As Ramage and Bean point out, "the essential move of an exploratory essay is to consider multiple solutions to a problem" (165). [Moves through sources, both embracing and discarding arguments and information.]
Exceptional______ Proficient______ Needs Work______
Organization: The essay should include logical organization. The reader should be able to understand each section of your essay, as well as how each section relates
Exceptional_______ Proficient________ Needs Work______
Offers new, relevant input and responds to it thoughtfully. In other words, the writer summarizes and explains the new input (from a book, article, interview) and then analyzes and evaluates it, playing the believing and doubting game and exploring how this new input affects her or his thinking. The author repeats this process several times.
Exceptional_______ Proficient________ Needs Work______
Integrates source material into essay correctly and effectively so that all borrowed facts, ideas, and words are documented and quotes are not left hanging. (Draws from a minimum of 5-6 relevant sources) Be sure citations are correct!
Exceptional_______ Proficient________ Needs Work______
Style: The author's writing demonstrates careful editing with attention to stylistic choices such as use of strong verbs, use of attributive tags, strategic use of punctuation and unified paragraphs. Writer uses logos, pathos, and ethos to give their writing depth.
Exceptional_______ Proficient_______ Needs Work_____
Proofreading: The essay demonstrates careful proofreading and does not contain serious errors in spelling or punctuation (in particular, comma splice errors, sentence fragments, misused semicolons or colons). Awkward phrasing also falls into this category.
Exceptional_______ Proficient_____ Needs Work_____
Closing is satisfying to reader, explaining how the process of exploration has affected the writer's thinking on the issue under investigation. This conclusion must, above all, NOT summarize the essay. It must show movement towards, and possibly include, the thesis.
Exceptional_______ Proficient_______ Needs Work_______
Works cited list is complete and correct (double-spaced and in alphabetical order). Again, make sure these are correct!
Proficient________ Needs Work______
MLA/APA format? (Hanging text, correct punctuation, includes all correct information?)
Proficient________ Needs Work_____
Choose two of the strongest things about this essay and list them here:
Choose two of the weakest things about this essay and list them here:
