Farewell Argument Paper Weeds & Roses

Why this weeds and roses is extremely important:  You are likely to have concerns, comments, questions, gripes about your paper once you get it back (Think summer assignment) Most of your questions about grading will be answered here!  You will do this assignment again--but with higher stakes. Precise notes here ensure great grades there!

Weeds you’ve since Weed- Whacked!  Examples are not sub-claims  Remember, Mr. Marino tells us: “Sub-claims are abstract ideas, not concrete details.”  You must take a strong stance!  Qualify, add evaluative verbage (better, best, only, always, etc.) add causality

New, festering, weeds! #1--CITE OR DIE!!  Not sure how to get much more descriptive than this.  Seriously--the consequences of not citing…?  How to properly cite:  “We will all die in the rain” (Hemingway 315).  Fix this one:  “If you don’t cite, you will die in the rain. (Kitchens, p. 316).  “If you don’t cite, you will die in the rain, (Kitchens, 347) and we all know she doesn’t lie.  “If you don’t cite, you will die in the rain,” [page 388, Kitchens.]

Weed #2--Quotes in Context  Many of you left your poor, lonely quotes floating out in the ether. It’s cold! It’s depressing out there all alone. Support your quotes. HOLD THEM. Give them context and friends and a home!!  In a few words, you can:  Identify speaker  Give a snippet of background info

For example…  Turn this… “Hemingway argues that over time, these experiences create a mental block in a soldier’s head that only lets them believe that there is no other life other than dying a gruesome death in a war. “I had no feeling for him He did not seem to have anything to do with me (325). When F. expresses this, it illustrates that the dehumanization caused by war escalated so much that F. felt no emotion even towards his own son.  Into this… “Hemingway argues that over time, these experiences create a mental block in a soldier’s head that only lets them believe that there is no other life other than dying a gruesome death in a war, as F. makes clear upon seeing his dead son: “I had no feeling for him He did not seem to have anything to do with me (325). When F. expresses this, it illustrates that the dehumanization caused by war escalated so much that F. felt no emotion even towards his own son.

Now You Try!  “Hemingway says, ‘One had so many friends in a war’ to illustrate the soldier of the Lost Generation had to stick together because they were the only people…”  Embed the speaker/context of the quote (Hint: F, before his leg is injured)

Weed #3--Commentary!!  We’ll talk and talk and talk about this until you are blue in the face. It will be in every weeds and roses.  That’s just how much you need to work on it.  That’s just how difficult it is to write.  SO…keep trying!

Writing CM  What questions should you ask yourself?  So what?  What’s the significance?  How does this prove my claim?  What are the consequences of this?  We’ll work on this later this week!

Last Weed: #4: COMMAS!  Sadly, my Freshman know their comma rules better than I saw evidenced in your papers.  Which leads me to believe, we need an ENTIRE comma unit.  That’s right…a UNIT.  Unless…

When do you use a comma?

Okay, I lied…one more weed #5: Formal Writing!  In an academic paper, contractions shouldn’t--oh, I mean should not--be used  Isn’t, can’t shouldn’t, wasn’t, etc.  Formalize your writing…type it all out  This idea holds true for abbreviations, also  WWI should be World War I

My editing marks…  Answered the prompt (or not)  Huh? Vs. huh--  Does not, isn’t, etc. (some negation)  Word Choice=WC  Say it better=SIB