Overview
For this assignment, you will need to engage critically with a recent article from the list of options provided in connection with insights and ideas from your personal experience. Work with one of the articles provided in the Week 1 readings for this assignment. You may use writing from your initial 5% task in this assignment, but make sure to consider your tutor’s feedback, and your own reflections since then, as you revise material from the task for inclusion in A1.
There is no pre-set Word template for this assignment, but organise your writing as indicated below.
Instructions
Overall length of this assignment is 800-850 words (not 10% plus or minus, but between 800-850 words).
In your opening paragraph (approximately 150-200 words), make use of the question at issue you developed from the first week’s Conversation in Writing task (which may be revised for this assignment) and explore how that question is important to the entire article and its argument or discussion. In this paragraph you may want to consider how that question is relevant to current or ongoing public concerns or debates, and/or how addressing that question can help contribute to new approaches, perspectives, or responses.
Next, in 2-3 paragraphs (approximately 650-690 words) develop a fuller conversation in writing involving the article and this question at issue. In your response, you may choose to extend, complicate, and/or challenge some of the ideas in your chosen article. This broader conversation in writing must make use of your relevant personal experiences or background. For example, you may find it helpful to examine how specific aspects of your background, or your education, or your experiences have influenced your perspective on the article’s argument and ideas. To support this discussion, you need to use both textual evidence from the chosen article – in the form of concise paraphrasings or quotations – together with details from your experience. Keep in mind that your discussion is central here, so limit the use of quotations to under 50 words (in total).
Integration of Personal Experience
Your discussion needs to make use of relevant personal experiences as you consider and examine the ideas and arguments in the article and develop your conversation in writing. You may reflect on how your own background, education, or life experiences have shaped your perspective on the article’s ideas or themes.
Your response may involve:
- Extending a conversation in writing by building on the ideas presented in the article with your own thoughts, suggesting further areas of exploration, or additional contexts that could enrich the discussion.
- Complicating this conversation by examining contexts or nuances that the article may not fully address. This could involve questioning assumptions in the article, identifying overlooked perspectives, or exploring contradictions.
- Challenging the article’s argument in your conversation by offering a (respectful) critique or counterarguments to the article’s central claims or conclusions. You may decide to highlight aspects of the discussion you believe are problematic, inadequately supported, or could benefit from alternative interpretations.
Make use of textual evidence to support your discussion
You need to make use of textual evidence from the article in your discussion. This should include a blend of concise paraphrases and direct quotations. When using quotations, keep them brief and ensure they are effectively integrated into your sentences to illustrate or emphasize your points.
Ensure that you clearly indicate your source for every paraphrase or direct quotation from your selected article. For purposes of this assignment, either:
- in your sentences with a paraphrase or quotation, note the author’s last name beforehand – for example,
Smith claims that academic writers must ‘always cite their sources’. [brief quotation]
- or through the use of parentheses/brackets in your sentence with a paraphrase or quotation – for example,
Citing sources is always essential to academic writing (Smith). [concise paraphrase]
Neither additional research nor the use of other sources is encouraged for this assignment. Focus your discussion on engaging with the article you have chosen in connection with your experience and background.