English Composition II
RLWA = Reading Literature and Writing Argument
“work of literature” = poetry, short fiction, narrative essays, drama, film, images/graphic representations
and all those other things that aren’t like the essays students read in English Comp 1.
Please keep the following in mind:
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We don’t have students write about two essays in EC2 because that was the main task of English
Composition 1 and EC2 needs to be more challenging.
Take your assigned readings from Reading Literature and Writing Argument. It contains readings
that students are unlikely to have encountered in high school or EC1. Those readings are also
generally at a reading level that is appropriate for the second half of a first year composition
sequence.
Writing assignments for EC2 are all text-based rather than based on personal experience.
As you have class discussion of readings from RLWA, keep the essay assignment students are
working on in mind and look for ways to have them practice the “moves that matter” (to steal from
They Say/ I Say) in that essay assignment.
DRAFT OF A FRAMEWORK FOR A SEQUENCE OF OUT-OF-CLASS WRITING ASSIGNMENTS FOR
ENGLISH COMPOSITION II, WITH GOALS FOR OUT-OF-CLASS ESSAY ASSIGNMENTS
Essay 1: Creating an argument from two texts from RLWA, one essay and one work of literature
As a bridge between English Comp I and II, consider reading assignments that pair essays with works of
literature. Students are asked to make an argument that connects two different kinds of readings: a work of
non-fiction with a poem, short story, play, etc. (Why not connect two essays? Because that was the main
task of English Comp 1.)
This assignment is purposely worded to avoid the term “comparison/contrast” because students told to
use that rhetorical model too frequently produce papers that are essentially lists of ways in which works
are alike and different—and they stop there. This assignment wording spEC1fically requires the
construction of an argument. (You may have noticed that English Comp 1 assignments avoid the
compare/contrast terminology too.)
It is important to establish connections between English Composition 1 and 2 early in the term. Students
should be clear that this is not a literature course, but that they are required to make arguments based on
and supported by literary texts. Most of your students won’t have done this before. Class discussions and
group activities should focus on arguments being made in the texts rather than on the conventions of
literary analysis.
Review from English Comp 1
 Formulating a thesis
 Using templates
 Summarizing appropriately
 Using the 5-paragraph essay as an organizational template
 Using quotations to support a thesis
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Using MLA citation
Reading/interpreting the entries on a Works Cited page (Librarians report that, even after English
Comp 1, many students still don’t really understand what the information in a citation means.)
In Essay 1 a student should demonstrate the ability to
 Create an argument that connects two works from RLWA, one an essay and one a work of literature.
 Create an argument that employs explicit references to the text(s) as support.
 Demonstrate an understanding of how a work of literature can be seen as making an argument.
 Summarize appropriately (rather than constantly).
 Use MLA citation conventions, including constructing a Works Cited page.
 Use a basic organizational model (either the 5-paragraph model or a more sophisticated one)
 Write 3-4 pages.
Examples of specific assignments that fulfill the requirements of Essay 1
From Susan Arvay: Students create their own argument about a common issue raised by the texts,
using the texts as evidence. For example, one semester my class read some short stories about
young people faced with experiences that disillusioned them in some way; all of the protagonists
also faced difficulties related to poverty and/or race. I asked my students to use any two of those
stories to answer one of the following questions: 1.) What kinds of experiences help us make the
leap from childhood to maturity? 2.) To what extent are we shaped by forces beyond our control,
like our race or our class? To what extent can we resist these forces and shape ourselves into who
we want to become?
From Lynne DeCicco an assignment that uses “A Modest Proposal” and “Fish Cheeks”: Jonathan
Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is a political satire that uses food--eating babies--as a controlling
image. The English have been figuratively devouring the Irish parents, so Swift proposes that
children be used in a similar fashion. Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks," as the title suggests, also employs
food to underscore cultural issues and Tan's personal conflicts as a second-generation ChineseAmerican. Show how Swift and Tan use food imagery to underscore deeper issues.
(This is what I would start with, and then let them work with how the metaphors highlight key
themes. Interestingly, both these pieces deal with forms of culture and acceptance, but the writers
are coming at them in different ways--satirical essay vs. autobiographical story. I have actually
never used this as a formal written assignment, although I think I will this year, but instead have
used it as a group exercise in class. This has produced great discussions, but it is key that they really
understand the Swift piece first. )
From Barbara Bretcko: Make an argument about a topic as it is handled in two of the works you’ve
read so far in this course, one an essay and one a short story. Use material from both works to
support your argument. (Sometimes I offer 2 or 3 topic choices and sometimes I have students
come up with their own pairings, running their topics past me before they start to write.)
Essay 2: Examining one literary text in RLWA through the lens of another
While the first essay asks students to make connections between an essay and a work of literature, this
assignment requires that the student create a more complex relationship between two works of literature.
It also builds on a similar assignment from Comp I, where students were asked to use one essay as a lens to
examine a second essay.
Review
 The lens metaphor: How does Text A give meaning to Text B? Before students can write using this
approach, they need to practice it in class discussions.
 The difference between this approach and a comparison/contrast approach.
In Essay 2 a student should demonstrate the ability to
 Create an argument about how one literary text affects the reader’s understanding of the other
literary text.
 Support that argument using direct quotations and appropriate references to the texts.
 Demonstrate an understanding of the different ways works of literature make arguments.
 Use an organizational model that is more sophisticated than the 5-paragraph essay.
 Write a minimum of 4 pages.
Note: English Comp II requires at least 2 out-of-class essays that use research. Either of the following 2 assignments
may be used to fulfill the requirement that students attend information literacy instruction at the RV Library.
Essay 3: Finding and using one or two scholarly sources to support an argument
about a literary text from RLWA.
This assignment is another version of Essay 2, with the primary difference being that the student locates
the scholarly sources that will serve as the lens through which to view a work of literature. Again, students
will need to practice this in class before attempting to do it on their own.
Review:
 Basic research skills with a focus on Google, Google Scholar, Wikipedia, RVOneSearch.
 Scholarly vs. other college-level sources.
 Unacceptable sources for college-level work.
 How to use one text to analyze another.
In Essay 3 students should demonstrate the ability to
 Locate more sources than they need to satisfy the assignment's requirements (so that they have a
pool to choose from rather than “selecting” the first ones they find.)
 Articulate why they chose the source(s) they did.
 Construct a successful keyword search in one of the databases.
 Use the source(s) as a lens through which the literary work is analyzed/interpreted.
 Make clear connections between the work of literature and the scholarly sources.
 Create an argument about the literature that is supported by their research.
 Write 4-5 pages.
Essay 4: Analysis of a single work of literature from RLWA that uses at least 6 sources
(at least 3 of which are scholarly)
Since some of our colleagues in other disciplines routinely assign 10-12-page papers requiring 10-12
sources, it is important that we guide our students through at least one relatively lengthy research project
in EC2.
Here the student is using multiple non-literary sources to make an argument about a work of literature.
The research should expand the student’s reading of the literary work to show how research in other
disciplines can open up that work.
As we do in the English Comp I research project, here we require students to use a work from the textbook,
(in this case, a work of literature), as an anchor for the essay. This helps to avoid topics that can be easily
"adapted" from materials on the Internet. So a student who wants to write about, for example, abortion,
would have to approach that topic through a discussion of a literary text: “Hills Like White Elephants,” for
example.
In Essay 4 students should demonstrate the ability to
 Develop a pool of resources with a focus on scholarly works.
 Evaluate sources to determine that they are both scholarly/college level and suitable to the topic.
 Manage problems associated with using multiple sources.
 Manage problems associated with building a longer, more developed argument