Essay Prompt:

This assignment has multiple purposes. It introduces students to research and citation practices and asks them to interpret and summarize texts. This essay is less concerned with critical analysis, though in practice (and in the examples that the NFG provides) the separation between analysis/interpretation (a neutral summary) and critical analysis (an interpretation with an informed opinion attached) is hard to find. Critical analysis is mainly located in the next assignment, but it’s almost inevitable (and may be desirable) for it to be a part of this essay. The difference here is, while students may use critical thinking to develop their understanding of their topics and/or issues, students are not required to develop an opinion on or recommendation for their topics/issues, as they will for Formal Assignment #3, the Researched Critical Analysis/Argument essay. Finally, another purpose of this assignment is to develop students’ understanding of and practice in working in multiple phases to produce academic essays: Research; analysis and/or interpretation; drafting; finalizing.

Reflection Prompt:

• What your thought process was like going into this assignment: How did you prioritize the different tasks relating to this assignment? What was your logic behind that prioritization? How/what did you think about your topic before you were asked to write this assignment? What did you learn that goes beyond what was covered in Prof. Adams’ class? Were you successful in finding sources that provide evidence for your report? What was your source selection process like? How did the library visit help? 
• What your process for writing the expository essay was: Did you rely on past approaches (i.e., high school), or try new approaches (i.e. your own, or ones Professor Adams and/or I may have suggested)? If so, how successful were you in employing those approaches? Did you write A-to-Z or Produce-then-Assemble? Did you relate all evidence towards answering your thesis question in each paragraph? Did you recap in your conclusion? Can you describe your current understanding of and/or your process for developing skills for writing within the MLA “code”? How did you do with quote integration, and full source intro/identification? How did you adapt to in-text citation? Finally, how much time do you calculate you spent on this assignment? 
• What your review process was like: How did you respond to my or your peer’s suggestions on your first draft? Did you seek outside help from a tutor or the Writing Center? How did they help you? What suggestions did you try to adopt? Can you detail your proofreading process? Do you proofread for different elements all at once, or try to proofread different elements at different times (i.e., thesis strength and sentence clarity vs. spelling and punctuation)?