Textual Analysis

I graded my students' critical analysis papers this week. On the whole, they weren't as good as their memoir papers. Most of them had a good handle on the concept of "analysis." But it was the style that was really lacking.

On their memoir papers, most of my students got A's or C's. I thought the lack of B's was weird, but I understand now why. A lot of the difference between an A paper and a B paper is style. It's the way the student makes the paper compelling.

The memoir paper was an opportunity for the students to share an important experience from their own lives. They wanted to tell these stories, and they did what they could to tell them well. But they were clearly less comfortable writing a textual analysis. A couple of them were really impressive. But a significant chunk of them understood the assignment, but didn't like it. They were wordy. They would say things like, "All things considered, in my opinion Carter appears to be using his past as a former president to kind of boost his other arguments," hiding behind their words.

I am looking forward to the rest of the semester, now. I was concerned before, about all the research and stuff, but I'm not anymore. My students submitted topic proposals to me yesterday, and I read through them. Some of the topics would be hard to write a good position paper on. A couple of students wanted to talk about legalizing marijuana, another wanted to talk about video game violence, another wanted to talk about gun control. But I'm less concerned than I might otherwise be.

These are topics they want to learn about. One student said in his proposal that his "topic" was more of a question. I said, That's great. Having a question to research is a lot better than a topic. Then you're actually looking for something. But even my students who gave me "topics" probably really do have a question in mind, even if they didn't articulate it. So they might need guidance, but they're not starting their papers yet. I told a lot of them that they should just start their research with the broad topic in mind, and see if something comes up that they would want to focus on in their I-search papers.

I didn't think I was going to like the idea of an I-search paper followed by a source-supported position paper. But I do. I felt a lot more okay with my students taking on topics that have been overdone, because it forces them to take the informative approach first--to learn about the topic first. Then hopefully they'll have the background necessary to write well on a position (especially if I help them narrow it down to something manageable).