1. Adolescent and Young Adult Literature First paper-writing session

2. Course Wiki http://njchyalit.wikispaces.com/

3. My Expectations: Paper Basics Guide your paper with an argument (=controlling idea, major claim, thesis) that you articulate at the top of your paper Provide compelling reasons and credible evidence to support your claims Organize your paper in topic-focused, idea- driven paragraphs that work progressively to develop the main argument Work to free your paper from errors in formatting, grammar, syntax, and spelling

4. Things this paper should do Argue a cogent, specific thesis that reasonable people could disagree with; Support that thesis with well-articulated reasons and carefully chosen evidence; Anticipate counterarguments to your thesis and refute them thoughtfully (i.e., read opposing perspectives generously before disagreeing with them); Make meaningful connections between/among texts or pieces of evidence; Show the reader something new.

5. Things to avoid in your paper Relating personal anecdotes: keep subjective observations to a minimum; make their purpose clear in re your claims Editorializing (overtly endorsing any political, religious, or social position) Proposing policy, classroom plans, or curriculum changes Discussing your own teaching methods/outcomes. Providing a “review of literature” Dropping in quotations arbitrarily

6. So, this paper is NOT: A policy statement—you’re not focusing on solutions (you may, however, suggest them as part of your paper’s conclusion) A memoir (but strategically deploying personal experiences may be effective if done with care) An ethnographic survey or longitudinal study A cirriculum A biography (unless the life you trace CLEARLY exemplifies a larger trend, idea, or event) An editorial, screed, or manifesto

7. Ray’s Rubric for evaluating papers; criteria listed in order of importance: 1)Project (aka Thesis, Main Idea, Argument) 2) Working with Texts/Evidence 3) Organization 4) Presentation

8. Ray’s Rubric: Project Your project is what you want to achieve in the paper. One of the signs that a paper has a project is the creation of new or independent ideas related to the course topic, but generated from your unique attempt to answer that question. Ideally, I should be able to identify your paper's project in the introductory paragraph

9. Ray’s Rubric: Working with Texts A key part of working with texts involves textual responsibility. Being responsible to the text involves referencing, paraphrasing, and quoting texts appropriately and accurately as they pertain to your project. Textual responsibility also means taking into account an author’s meaning that may be independent of your point. In addition, secondary texts must be drawn from reputable sources, ideally peer-reviewed scholarly journals or books.

10. Ray’s Rubric: Organization Strong papers use the organization of individual paragraphs to develop their project. This organization comes at several levels: within a paragraph, between paragraphs, and within the paper as a whole. You should explore a single claim or idea in each paragraph. The paper's paragraphs should connect smoothly and logically to each other, and develop and support the paper's larger project.

11. Ray’s Rubric: Presentation Your paper needs to employ correct grammar, clear and effective diction and syntax, proper mechanics (like punctuation), and correct spelling. Be attentive especially to any patterns of error (such as overusing the passive voice) in your work. Finally, use a standard system of formatting and documentation (MLA, Chicago, APA) and stick with it. If you have no preference, please use MLA formatting, with parenthetical citations.

12. Types of Texts Primary Texts –Texts you analyze (“read”) in your paper: novels, plays, poems, diaries, newspaper reports, letters, political or philosophical treatises, religious texts, films, personal testimonials, musical compositions, artworks, etc. Secondary Texts –Texts that analyze texts, movements, and events, and offer concepts you can use to analyze primary texts. Tertiary Texts –Texts that “digest” other primary and secondary material: museum/exhibition guides, general encyclopedias/dictionaries, Wikipedia, etc. Use these with care in graduate-level work.

13. Process Very few of us come to the writing process w/a full-fledged thesis. How do you begin to generate a thesis? What do you tell your students?

14. Big secret Theses emerge from questions and the process of questioning; the most interesting theses can be seen as attempts to articulate an answer to a burning question that you strive to justify throughout your paper with reasons and evidence.

15. Getting Started: Terms Differences between: –Topics (“Censorship and YAA Lit”) –Questions (“What criteria guide decisions to censor YAA material?”) –Claims (“Age appropriateness is cited by school officials as the main reason YAA materials are censored, but religious objections more often drive censorship decisions”). A thesis is a claim.

16. Building a thesis: Suggestions & Exercises Begin by noting the QUESTIONS that emerge from your reading, talking, and thinking

17. Building a thesis: evaluate your questions 1)Look at the questions you’ve raised about your topic and evaluate them: 2) Put aside questions that ask only who, what, where, and when. 3) Focus on questions that ask how and why. 4) Try to combine smaller questions into larger, more significant ones

18. Building a thesis: Working with questions Try transforming questions into CLAIMS (= hypotheses) Determine which claims have legs; and which one claim can serve as your CONTROLLING IDEA (aka your THESIS or ARGUMENT).

19. Building a thesis: Generate claims from topics Start by articulating a broad topic: a)“The prevalence of censorship…” b)“The influence of YAA Lit on Teens” BUT If your topic can be stated in 4 or 5 words, it’s probably too broad, because the claim you could make from it wouldn’t say anything different: a)“Censorship is prevalent…” b)“YAA Lit influences teens”

20. Building a thesis: Narrow your topic to deepen it Narrow and deepen your topic by adding details, including nouns derived from verbs expressing actions or relationships. EXAMPLE: Censorship and YAA Literature NARROWED TOPIC: The influence of Christian fundamentalist discourse on school boards in the 1990s on current-day decisions school librarians make to censor materials.

21. Use “templates” to expand and deepen your claim into a thesis Example: Censorship is often necessary Use “They say” / “I say: –Author X shows that the true motives of censorship are often religious in nature hidden behind “age appropriateness,” but I argue that censorship should not be discarded because of these abuses, no matter how widespread.

22. Transforming a Burning Question into a Compelling Thesis Question: Do violent YAA texts produce negative behaviors in young readers, or reflect bad actions/events so that readers can analyze and learn from them? Brief Thesis: While particular students may be negatively influenced by violence in YAA texts, the majority of young readers, with guidance, can critically read the texts, and distance themselves from bad acts characters commit. Elaborated Thesis: According to X, violent YAA texts directly influence the behavior of young readers. This reading, however, fails to distinguish among young readers, imagining them as a monolithic block instead of varied individuals. Using the studies of Y and Z, I will demonstrate that young readers, with guidance, can read YAA texts critically and reflectively, and use them in a variety of positive ways to guide their life decisions.

23. Building a thesis: Other ways to generate questions INTERROGATE YOUR TOPIC: Identify the parts of the topic and how they interrelate –What are the parts of your topic and how do they relate to one another? –How is your topic part of a larger conversation? Trace your topic’s history and its role in a larger history –How has your topic changed through time? –How and why is your topic an episode in a larger history? Identify its characteristics and the categories that include it –What kind of thing is your topic? –To what larger categories does your topic belong? How does that help us understand it? Determine its value –What values does the topic reflect? What values does it support? Contradict? –How good or bad is your topic? Is it useful and, if so, for what?

24. A note re building literary theses 1)Analyze a text, and articulate what you find to be its prevailing direction. 2)Look for countervailing tendencies to this prevailing direction. 3)Does #2 challenge #1? How, that is, do the countervailing tendencies resist, pull against, subvert, or complicate—or confirm—the text’s prevailing direction? This interpretation can be the basis for a thesis about a literary text.