| Instructor: Dr. Jeff Webb |
The Cave Revisited
Read the following texts:
Plato, Republic, Book VII, 514a-521b (again)
Harvey, Gordon. Writing With Sources. "Integrating Sources into
a Paper: 1.1 Three Basic Principles." 3-8.
Booth, Wayne. The Craft of Research. "Connecting with your Reader."
12-27.
Preparation: Developing an Analytical Question.
In order to write a good paper you must first ask a good question, one that
will guide your investigation and help you form a workable thesis. As you reread
the selection from the the Republic (and in light of the discussion from
last class) work on developing a question that addresses a genuine dilemma in
the selection and that can be answered with the textual resources at hand.
1) Follow these steps as you work on your question (you'll be handing in your
responses):
- Why does this question interest you?
- Why would your reader find the question worthwhile?
- Which passages from the selection are key for asking your question?
- Once you've identified these passages, spend some time reading them closely,
making notes on the language and the meaning. Be sure you understand what's
going on in them (there's nothing worse than discovering that your brilliantly
formulated question is based on a misunderstanding).
- Which passages will be key for answering your question?
- What do you think your answer will be? Are there other possible answers?
2) Develop your question in a paragraph--think of it as the introductory paragraph
of an essay--and bring it to class. What sorts of things do you need to include
in your paragraph to make the question relevant and comprehensible to your reader?
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