ENGL1090 Final Formal Essay 1500 words 30%
You need to develop the topic and then the intention of your final essay. So for example you might want to think, then write, then construct an idea/argument, around
*Voice and the poem’s structure, so how the form and structure of a passage, page or poem can contribute to the creation of the voices you see/hear embedded in it.
*developing your poetry pedagogy and how you would use
Anatomy of Voice
to do this
* voice – the human, nonhuman, more-than-human and posthuman in
Anatomy of Voice
* voice as oral/aural and visual
* voice and power as heard in
Anatomy of Voice
* poetry as ceremony and healing using
Anatomy of Voice
* language of, or representation of trauma based on your reading of
Anatomy of Voice
* Intention, creation and agency
*possible diverse interpretations of the same line, stanza, page, partition, poem.
* different discourses of voice in
Anatomy of Voice
* notions of time, temporality, moving through stages as conveyed in
Anatomy of Voice
It really is up to you what you want to write about. Think about what stands out most for you in your reading of the text, or what you struggled with most, and try to develop this into an idea. Once you have an idea, think about what elements of the text relate to this. Then you need to consider what research you need to do to develop this.
Your formal final essay will have a clear purpose/argument/intention. What this means is that you want to state an idea very firmly to your reader. This will ultimately be your thesis statement – a sentence in your introduction that is the result of all your supporting points added together. For example a thesis statement might state “[This essay will argue that] In David Musgrave’s
Anatomy of Voice,
movement through temporal time is conveyed through stages of grieving.” I have chopped the “this essay will argue that” part off because you only need it to prove that your sentence is a clear thesis. So say it in your head and see if it works with your thesis statement. You need to have two-three main ideas that add up to prove your thesis. These ideas will probably come from your reading of the text, or they might be a concept from one of your scholarly readings (references) that you want to show how is at work in the text. For example, in Harrison’s reading “The act of writing and the act of attention” he talks about the “spaces of indeterminacy in the text” (2) so you might want to explore this in
AofV
and show what it creates/reveals. OR you can flip this approach and privilege the spaces and gaps in the text and use Harrison’s ideas to back your analysis up.
You will be marked on your
Thesis statement – this will reveal to your marker, your developed idea into a clear statement
Your analysis and use of the text
Anatomy of Voice
Your integration and use of referential material – your scholarly resources. This means how you think about scholarly ideas and integrate them into developing your analysis of, and writing about, the text to support your thesis statement.
Your construction of a formal essay structure with a proper introduction, your supporting points developed as the body of your essay and a strong conclusion.
Your MLA intext referencing and Works Cited list.
Your writing style, grammar, punctuation sentence structure.
Essay rubric
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Fail
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Pass
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Credit
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Distinction
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High Distinction
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Thesis statement
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No thesis statement
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Vague thesis statement
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Clear thesis statement
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Strong thesis statement
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Sophisticated thesis statement
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Analysis and use of the text
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Insufficient use of the text. Does not address or support the main thesis
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Refers to the text but lacks sufficient analysis (too much textual summary)
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Sufficient use and analysis of the text with some good supporting points
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Good analysis of the text and use of supporting points
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Sophisticated analysis of the chosen text that supports the main argument with supporting details
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Organisation
Intro
Body
Conclusion
Paragraph structure
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There is no clear introduction; paragraphs are not distinct or developed; structure is disorganised; there is no conclusion
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The introduction only provides background; unstructured format; paragraphs deal with too many ideas
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The intro did not include all of the main points or stated a point that was not developed in the body; some ideas in some paragraphs need to be developed more
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Well-structured essay, with distinct paragraphs that develop good points and offer a strong conclusion
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Sophisticated essay structure that develops the argument, with well-developed ideas and support
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Presentation
Writing style
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Frequent errors
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Errors appear more than occasionally
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Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors appear
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Almost no grammatical errors
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No grammatical errors
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References
Work cited list
Use of MLA
Appropriate integration
Minimum of 3
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In-text references not in the works cited list; sources are random and not correctly included; lack of appropriate use of references
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Not enough references; incorrectly formatted
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Not all of the references were correctly cited or effectively integrated
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All referencing is correct and good use of references
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Sophisticated integration of scholarly references and correct formatting throughout
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