diagnostic paper

DIAGNOSTIC PAPER ASSIGNMENT DETAILS           

[1] Read Chapter One of Hilton Als’s memoir The Women (1996); [2] Read the first four Chapters of Misty Copeland’s Life in Motion (2014); [3] After your readings write a short paper that follows the directives below:

FIRST TWO PARAGRAPHS of the Paper should summarize Als and Copeland respectively.  Respectively* means (apologies if you know this already) that those paragraphs should follow the order of the names mentioned in my preceding first sentence.  Since I mentioned Als’s name first, the first paragraph will be a summary of Als; since I mentioned Copeland’s name second, the second paragraph will be a summary of Copeland’s first four chapters.  Note since you are only devoting one paragraph each for summary of the two works please adhere to the rules for summarizing detailed in September section of ASSIGNMENTS FA’21.

For balance of the Paper decide on a thesis statement (focus) that you will use as the opening sentence of the third paragraph. The thesis statement should relate to both memoirs. You will use exemplified text from the Als and Copeland memoir excerpts to support your thesis. You can then develop your Paper by answering questions that relate to your thesis statement.  See question suggestions below.

Ques suggestion no. 1:  If you want to use a thesis statement like “the [positive or negative] importance of family in shaping the lives of two artists” then you want to write an answer to the question of HOW is that importance evidenced in the memoirs?  You can do this by a compare/contrast of one event or incident in the lives of the two artists that is an example of the impact of family dynamics on them.

Ques suggestion no. 2:  If you want to use a thesis statement like “A moment in time of two momentous lives” then you want to write an answer to the question of WHAT was that moment for each and HOW do those moments compare to each other?

Ques suggestion no. 3:  If you want to use a thesis statement like “the use of foreshadowing in the beginning of the two memoirs gives a hint of who each author will become” then you want to write an answer to the question of WHAT was that foreshadowing in each memoir (using quotes or paraphrasing) for WHO the authors would become?  Here you would describe the journey of each author up to the point of the text read for this assignment.

YOU CAN CERTAINLY GET THESIS STATEMENT IDEAS FROM THE QUESTIONS PRESENTED IN THE LAST THREE ASSIGNMENTS

YOU CAN ALSO USE YOUR OWN LANGUAGE AND/OR A CLASSMATE’S FROM PREVIOUS ALS AND COPELAND DB assignments (but cite name of assignment and date of post and/or name of classmate)

NOTE that you are only using ONE thesis statement for your paper; note also that detailed summary of a story is no substitute for critical analysis of that story – it’s just padding; finally note that your Paper can be 2-4 pages.

This Paper will serve as a writing diagnostic which means the grade points received for this assignment will only relate to content not writing.  However, if there are noticeable writing inconsistencies – aside from mechanical errors like spelling and grammar that can be caught with diligent proofreading and which will affect your grade — I will communicate with you directly so we can work together to rectify the problem.  Everyone’s writing must show evidence of college-level Standard English for this Writing Intensive course since it is assumed that everyone has completed the mandatory composition courses in his/her accumulation of the 60 credits required for entry to this course. 

Note that if I comment on your Diagnostic Paper in grade center regarding, errors, edits, revisions, sentence structure and the general mechanics of writing you will be held to that standard for future assignments. If you receive a copy of your Paper with my edits contact me by email so we can set up a virtual meeting at a time convenient for you.