Leadership for the 21st Century – Winter 2011
Seminar Preparation Paper #5
Due: Wednesday, February 9 (Must be keyboarded in 12 pt. standard font)
Because this is essential preparation for seminar, late assignments will not be accepted.
Read: In our Course Reader, read the essays by John Berger from Hold Everything Dear
and the essays by Eve Ensler from Insecure at Last. These are two very different authors:
take a break or a day between reading the two.
Read Actively: As you read, underline or highlight passages that strike you as important,
interesting, confusing, or those you want to share with others in the seminar. You can make
notes in the margins, or use a separate notebook for these reading notes. These will help you
write your seminar papers and participate in seminars.
Underline or circle words, terms, or names that are unfamiliar. List those you looked up, noting
page numbers. Write down what you find to share with your colleagues in seminar.
Look over the whole book. Ask yourself: What is the author saying? What does he mean? How
does this connect to what we’ve been discussing about communication, about leadership, about
the world?
For this seminar paper, we’ll continue to practice our skills in using PIE paragraphs, and consider
connections between these texts and another text we’ve read.
Write:
 Choose either the Berger or Ensler essays to be your main focus for this assignment. You
could focus on a single essay, or use the whole reading by that author as your “text.”
 Identify a major theme of this reading. A theme is not only a subject, but also states the
author’s perspective on that subject. For example:
Ensler thinks that the obsession with security makes people more afraid.
 Choose three passages from the text that relate to this theme.
 For each of these three passages, do the following:

Introducing the quotation with a phrase or clause of your own, copy the passage using
MLA-style citation. Set up a specific quote with a summary statement about the essay
it comes from. For example:
In an essay about visiting Sri Lanka after the tsunami, Ensler notes, “[The grief]
wasn’t the result of cruelty or hatred or revenge. The wave didn’t focus on
specific ethnic groups or religions or tribes. It wasn’t personal. It didn’t target
specific neighborhoods or buildings or military installations. It didn’t try to take
out the leaders…” (143).

Paraphrase the passage if you like. The quotation (and optional paraphrase), is your
ILLUSTRATION.

In a full paragraph, EXPLAIN the passage by discussing what it says, why it’s
important, and how it relates to your initial theme statement. For example:
What does it show about the author’s point of view (about security, in this
example)? What grabbed your attention? What is confusing or challenging?
What are the key words or concepts? How does this relate to other parts of the
reading? And especially, what does this passage add to your understanding of
the theme you identified to start with? This paragraph is your
EXPLANATION. It should be longer than the quotation you stated with.

Finally, write a one-sentence POINT that states directly what this passage has
to do with the theme you identified. For example:
The impersonal destruction of the tsunami shows that nobody is ever
truly “secure” – as long as we are alive we are vulnerable.

Repeat for each of your three chosen passages.

To finish, write a paragraph reflecting on how this theme might connect with
other texts we’ve read or seen this quarter. How does this fit with other ideas
we’re working with? Or, what’s the new idea here that you found most
interesting or significant?
 Follow the usual format guidelines.
Your seminar paper will include the following:
 List of words you looked up (up to 10). Note page numbers.
 Initial “Theme” statement.
 Passage #1, (paraphrase optional), Explanation, Point.
 Passage #2, (paraphrase optional), Explanation, Point.
 Passage #3, (paraphrase optional), Explanation, Point.
 Closing “connection” paragraph.
TIPS:
If you replace a word for clarity, use square brackets [like this] to show where you replaced the
word. This is good to do if the quote hinges on an unclear pronoun like “this” or “it” or “he.” In
the example above, “It” was replaced with [The grief] so the quotation would make sense.
If you cut part of a sentence, use ellipses (…) to show where.
We are practicing with Illustration, Explanation, then Point. In an essay, the order of these would
be Point, Illustration, Explanation (PIE).
Do every part of the assignment, even if you are not sure if you’re doing it right. Give it a shot.