For Monday, bring in TWO PAPER COPIES of the first 500 words of your “portrait of a word”essay. If you lost the essay assignment, HERE is another copy. JUST DOING THIS ROUGH DRAFT AND BRINGING IT IN IS 20% OF YOUR PAPER GRADE. That’s it! That’s all you have to do! Bring in the full 500 words printed out on paper (two copies) ON TIME to class on Monday!
So, what am I looking for?
Content: I want to know why the word is important to you and your community and why the reader should care! (Coates wanted readers to know that “for all their guns and their gold” some words do not belong to white folks. Diaz wanted readers to know that whether or not you believe in the fuku, it believes in you.)
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO QUOTE DIAZ OR COATES. You do have to bring in outside research– either by way of quotation or summary. But this paper cannot be only about your own experience. This is about YOU and YOUR COMMUNITY in the world. You need at least three outside sources. We will review proper citation on Monday. Just put the summary or quotations in there (and make a note of where you got them from). IF YOU DID NOT WRITE A SENTENCE OR PHRASE OR PARAGRAPH, MAKE SURE YOU PUT IT IN QUOTES AND MAKE A NOTE OF WHO DID WRITE IT!!
note: you can choose what kind of language to use, as it says in the essay assignment. You do not need to use both informal and formal language. Choose which one works best!
Structure: In class, I drew some CRAZY diagrams on the board. Here’s the deal: Diaz wrote in a storytelling structure; he built and built and built up to his point (the fuku believes in you!) Coates wrote in more of a traditional essay structure. I don’t care which one you write in– it’s up to you to decide which you think works best (or even if another works best.) I will tell you what I DON’T want, though: “You can use Hella to mean _____. You can also use hella to mean ________ or you can use it to mean ____.” In other words, I don’t want a structure that just stands still and doesn’t get to any point ever.
Remember the most important question– WHY SHOULD THE READER CARE? You might not directly come out and say “This is why this should matter to you” but the reader should not be left wondering, “so what?”
