Rhet 105
Paper 1
First Draft: 2/10
Final Due: Friday, 2/14, 5pm in my mailbox (2nd floor English Bldg)

In both essays, Bartholomae and Mellix make explicit and implicit arguments about what is valuable in college writing courses and what is not.  They argue that some ways of approaching writing within the university are better than others.  Mellix focuses on the perspective of a student writer, one who struggles with the new demands of “standard” English.  Bartholomae also focuses on student writers, but more from the perspective of a teacher thinking about how best to help writers. 

As a student writer, you have a stake in these arguments and a familiarity with some sort of writing instruction.  For this assignment, I’d like you to discuss some ideas or arguments from Bartholomae and/or Mellix, then formulate your own ideas and analysis of the college writing course and student writers.  In other words, how can you use what Bartholomae and/or Mellix say to make your own analysis of writing courses or student writers?

You may find it helpful to clearly lay out some of Mellix’s and Bartholomae’s positions and arguments before you begin writing.  This will help you follow some of the recommendations from Writing Analytically, such as asking “so what?” and analyzing evidence.  For this paper it will be important to analyze the ideas you work with, whether they are your own or from the readings.  You may want to look back over some of the advice given in Writing Analytically—particularly their discussions of generalizations and judgments. 

Thinking about the differences between analysis and other forms of thinking will be an important part of this paper as well.  As discussed in Writing Analytically, questions starting with “why”, “how”, and “what” will lead to better analysis than solely dictating what “should” change.  Also, an analytical paper will do more than simply agree or disagree with the readings.  Use these readings and the ideas within them as a starting point for your own analysis.

Specifically, I’ll be looking for papers to do several things:

• First, papers should clearly exhibit the arguments and ideas they are referring to.  Try to represent all of the complexity of the argument or idea when you summarize or refer to it.
• Papers should go beyond snap judgments of ideas and arguments, as R & S discuss.  Regardless of your initial feelings toward either piece, you will need to push your analysis and try to explain some of the consequences of both Mellix’s and Bartholomae’s arguments, as well as your own.  Deal with evidence that goes against your arguments rather than ignoring it. 
• Papers should go beyond personal experience.  Mellix’s essay is in some senses all about her, but in other senses it is about how basic writers might come to terms with new languages that change how they approach the world.  Mellix generalizes her experiences so that she isn’t just asking readers to be persuaded by her experiences, but by her generalizations and arguments about those experiences.
• Claims and evidence should be clearly linked.  Show why the evidence is relevant to the claim, and how the evidence moves the analysis further. 

If you’re having trouble approaching this topic, you might (but are in no way required to) consider the following questions:

• How do both writers use the word “appropriate”? 
• What might Bartholomae argue about Mellix’s writing samples?  Does her own analysis seem to fit with this?
• As a student, you may have written entrance essays similar to the ones Bartholomae discusses.  From your perspective of a student writer, discuss Bartholomae’s analysis of what the writers of the samples he uses may have been trying to do or say. 

Remember that your grade drops when papers are turned in late, consult the syllabus if you have any questions.

Finally, this paper should be 3-5 pages, double spaced, conventional margins, with a conventional (Times, Arial, etc.) 12 point font.  Please put your name, date and section number in the corner.  Also, please number the pages.