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English 101
Essay #2: A Review: 100 points
Due Dates
Thu 10/22: Worksheet for Essay #2.
Mon 10/26: Seminar paper due on “Our Vanishing Night,” by Verlyn Klinkenborg, pp 240243, and “The Ugly Tourist,” by Jamaica Kincaid, pp 199-202.
Fri 10/30: Essay #2 in Workshop groups. Bring 3 copies.
Mon 11/2: Quiz on diction
Tue 11/3: Essay #2. Paper submission. Due in class at the beginning of class. Remember
that late essays earn only half credit, and even a few minutes late counts as late. Your
essay folder must include all of the following, in this order, from top to bottom:
1. The revised, finished essay.
2. The version you brought to class on 10/30. The exact copy! There should
be written notes all over it from the class discussion on that day.
3. The Worksheet which was submitted on 10/22.
Assignment #2: A Review
Length: The revised, completed essay should be approximately 750-1300 words, or
approximately 3 ½ - 5 pages.
Format: 12-point font, double-spaced. Use the Modern Language Association (MLA) format,
same as for Essay #1.
Audience: A general audience of smart and curious people, including this class and the
instructor. This audience might not be familiar with your specific topic
Topic: Write a review--a review of something not normally reviewed, something only you, with
your particular perspective, could review. That is, do not review a movie, music, a play, a show,
a restaurant, a videogame –any of the things you normally see reviews of in magazines or
newspapers. Instead, think of something that's interesting to you, that you have an opinion about,
and that perhaps no one has ever reviewed before. For example, you could review:
The autumn leaves this last fall
Your wardrobe
A relative (your mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather…)
A particular party (a 21st birthday party, a particular New Year’s party, etc.)
A custom or tradition
A household task
You must review a specific thing, not a whole category of things. For example:
 My 21st birthday party (not birthday parties in general)
 The pick-up basketball game I played last Saturday with my friends (not basketball in
general).
 The bedtime story I made up and told to my son last night.
DO NOT WRITE ABOUT A PET OR A CAR OR YOUR PHONE OR ABOUT METRO
BUS SERVICE
I have seen too many essays about these things and I do not want to read about them any more,
even if your pet or car or bus ride is the best or worst in the world.
Overall Rhetorical Strategy: This assignment uses the rhetorical strategy of Comparison and
Contrast. To review something, you have to compare the specific thing you're reviewing to the
ideal version of that thing. For example, if I'm reviewing yesterday's Mariner's game, first I have
to think of what makes for an ideal baseball game (from the point of view of a spectator). So I
make a list of criteria. The ideal baseball game to watch will have all these features. Note that
everyone's list of criteria will be different, making your review different from anyone else's
review. Other people might choose different criteria for their ideal baseball game to watch.
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The teams are well-matched.
The pitchers are especially talented.
There are some exciting plays, moments of extreme suspense.
The score ends up close, rather than one team winning by a lot.
At least one of the players is extremely good-looking.
Ideally, my favorite team wins.
As I write my review, paragraph by paragraph I compare the specific game I watched with the
criteria I've developed. So one paragraph would be about whether the teams were well-matched.
The next would be about the talent of the pitchers, and so on.
Structure of the Finished Review
Please structure your essay as follows. This structure contains the necessary points and leads
through them in a reader-friendly order. You’ll notice that the structure follows the points above.
1. Paragraph 1, the opening: Begin with a vivid illustration of your point, or of some
aspect of your point; offer a description, tell a brief story, or show a scene that
immediately introduces the reader to the subject of your review. End this opening with a
preliminary statement of your thesis, which will state your opinion of the subject
according to the criteria you are about to introduce.
2. Paragraph 2: Introduces the category of the thing you’re reviewing and the criteria by
which you’re evaluating it. Find a graceful way to list all the criteria that you’ll be
applying to your subject as you review it.
3. Paragraphs 3 and following: Relate the subject of your review to each of the criteria,
paragraph by paragraph. For example, if your subject is the cafeteria and one criterion is
“In a school cafeteria, the food should be cheap,” you’d write a paragraph in which you
examined the price of the food and decided whether it met the criterion of low cost.
These paragraphs—one for each criterion—will make up the bulk of your essay. The
topic sentence of each paragraph will make it clear what criteria you’re talking about and
how your item measures up to it. An example topic sentence: Unfortunately, my purse is
so big that small things get buried in the bottom and lost forever.
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4. After you’ve examined the subject in in relation to each of the criteria, introduce
counterarguments. Perhaps some people will disagree with you about how you’ve
evaluated your topic so far. If you have decided the food in the cafeteria is too expensive,
there may be others who would say, “No it isn’t, you’re just choosing the most expensive
selections; if one chooses more carefully, one can eat quite cheaply.” Or perhaps some
would say that yours are inappropriate criteria for evaluating the thing: “Actually price
isn’t very important when evaluating cafeteria food; nutritional value and convenience
are much more important.” Bring in these voices that will argue with you, and refute or
accommodate their arguments.
5. Explore the thesis again. Now you’re ready for the next iteration of your thesis. This
version of it will not simply restate the earlier version, because the topic has become
complex since the beginning of the paper. Thus, this version of the thesis will be more
complex also. It might introduce some qualifications, using words like “but,” “however,”
“although,” and “in some cases.” That is, your preliminary thesis might say “The NSCC
cafeteria is a dull, boring place, with dull, boring food,” while your later, more developed
thesis might say, “Yes, the cafeteria is a dull, boring place, with dull, boring food, but by
carefully selecting their food and occupying themselves with their work or friends instead
of the atmosphere, customers can make the cafeteria an inoffensive place to spend time.”
6. Ending: As always, can you take this idea a little further? What does this exploration
teach you about other objects of this kind? For example, now that you’ve explored this
cafeteria, do you have an opinion about what all school cafeterias should be like? What
would you recommend to future cafeteria-designers or cafeteria-goers? What have you
learned from this exploration?
Developing the Review
We will do this development in the worksheet, but it is described in detail here. The following
steps will help you develop the material for your review, and will help you work toward the
structure of your final review. In the worksheet, you’ll be writing out all these steps.
1. First, think of the category that the thing you’re reviewing belongs in. For example, my
21st birthday party would go in the category of all 21st birthday parties, or perhaps the
category of all birthday parties that mark a significant age. Last Saturday’s pick-up
basketball game would go in the category of all pick-up basketball games. The bedtime
story I told last night would go in the category of all bedtime stories, or perhaps in the
category of all bedtime stories made up and told by parents to their children.
2. Now list the ideal qualities of anything in this category. For example, let’s say I’m
reviewing my purse. What are the ideal qualities of a purse? What would I look for in a
purse?
 Big enough to carry what one needs to carry.
 Has pockets that are convenient for the specific things one carries around.
 Not so big that the items inside sink to the bottom and are hard to reach.
 Goes with one’s clothing.
 Sturdy, takes a lot of wear and tear.
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
Waterproof
3. Now, make a lot of notes in which you relate the subject of your review to the criteria
you’ve listed. For example, if you’re reviewing your mother, and one of the criteria for
being a good mother is that she sings you to sleep at night when you’re a baby, you’d
consider the question of whether your mother fulfilled that requirement, and if so, how
well. Maybe she did sing you to sleep, but she chose annoying songs. Maybe she didn’t
sing you to sleep, but she did put on soothing music for you to listen to. Maybe she did
sing you to sleep, but her voice was so out of tune that you couldn’t sleep. Write as much
detail as you possibly can!
4. Write your thesis: Now that you’ve looked at whether your subject of review meets your
review criteria, you’re ready to write your thesis. Your thesis will be a statement about
whether the subject of your review meets, does not meet, or partially meets the criteria by
which you are evaluating it. A thesis would be something like “Except that she’s not a
great cook, my mother is the very best mother a person could have because she is kind,
loving, supportive, and tough when necessary.
5. Think of counterarguments: who might disagree with you and why?
6. Think of ways to accommodate or refute those arguments. Consider whether, in the light
of these arguments, your thesis needs revising.
7. Extend your idea by considering the following questions:
 What is this thing good for?
 Why is it important?
 Does it benefit individuals?
 Does it benefit society?
 What do you learn in the process of evaluating this thing?
 What do you want to tell others about this subject?
Grade of the Finished Essay: 100 points
1. Basic MLA format; portfolio complete and in order (5 points): The essay follows the
required MLA format for header, title, spacing, paragraphing, etc. The portfolio contains
the final revision, the version you brought to the writing group, and the worksheet, as well as any
other notes and drafts.
2. Opening and ending (10 points): The opening (including the title) is vivid and
engaging, and helps a reader focus on the topic and idea. The ending helps a reader know
what to make of the idea and provides a satisfying sense of closure, a feeling that the
significance of the idea has been explored.
3. Main idea (15 points): The essay has a clear, meaningful, and explicitly stated thesis at
the end of your first paragraph. This thesis is developed as the essay proceeds, and is
clearly connected to all parts of the essay.
4. Example and evidence (20 points): Your thesis is supported with vivid and plentiful
details about the item under review, showing how it differs from or meets the standards
for an item of this kind. These supporting details include elements of ethos, pathos, and
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logos: shows why you are a credible reviewer, provides reasoning and evidence, and
engages reader emotion with description, short anecdotes, memories, and sensory
imagery.
5. Organization (20 points): The essay follows the required structure: The thesis is stated
at the end of the first paragraph. The second paragraph introduces, in meaningful order,
the criteria for evaluation, and the following paragraphs explore, in order, whether the
reviewed item meets that criterion. The paragraphs begin with topic sentences that
contain key words connecting to the thesis and include transitions if needed; the
sentences within the paragraphs are organized to support the paragraph’s main point; the
paragraphs within the essay all relate to the whole, and follow logically from one to
another; and all the parts as a whole fit together and are easy for an attentive reader to
follow.
6. Style and voice (10 points): The writing is efficient, so that every word counts. Verbs
are vivid and active, clichés are avoided, the thinking is original, and the writing conveys
the sense that there’s a writer behind the work, an actual person with unique and
worthwhile perspectives.
7. Grammar and proofreading (20 points): The essay is free of distracting errors in
grammar, and it has been carefully proofread.
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