ENGL 1102
Janssen
Essay #1: They Say / I Say
The cornerstone of Graff and Birkenstein’s book is spelled out right there in the title:
someone says something, and you respond to it. It’s so simple that it seems like it
doesn’t need to be taught. It is a natural and fundamental aspect of our lives in
communication, probably since Day One. It’s not always as transparent when it comes to
communicating in an academic environment, but the whole point of this class is to
emphasize the basic fact that written communication in a collegial context absolutely
plays by that same basic rule. Everything you will write in your academic life, and
beyond, is a response to another person, and the purpose of this first assignment is to
make that fact explicit and clear.
For this essay, you need to form a response to either Eric Hoover’s “The Millennial
Muddle” or Joel Stein’s “The New Greatest Generation.” In order to make your response
clear and obvious, I want you to frame your essay as a letter. Therefore, I want you to
begin your essay with “Dear Mr. Hoover/Stein.” Literally, I want you to join the
conversation. Regardless of which author you choose, I want you to include the other
author in the conversation as well. Your essay should contain a minimum of specific
reference points from either of the articles. Those reference points should be composed
as either quotations or summaries. You may want to include more than 3 references, and
that’s okay too. What matters most is that you have something to contribute, to add to
this conversation. You may completely agree with everything the authors said. Fine,
explain and demonstrate how and why you agree, or you may take issue with all or some
of what he said and disagree. Your response might be a mixed bag of agreement and
disagreement. One way or another, though, you should have a perspective to contribute.
Your essay should be 3-4 pages long, typed, double-spaced, using 12 pt. letter size. It
doesn’t necessarily matter how many paragraphs long your essay is, but keep this
definition in mind: a paragraph is one idea fully developed. Quotations and summaries
need to be accurate and clear. Since this is a letter, I am not going to ask you to use MLA
citation (we will cover the ground rules for formal citation later in the semester). The
only sources you should use for this essay are the two articles. The rest should come
from you. For this assignment, the narrative mode is encouraged, which means that you
are invited to write it in the first-person.
For Tuesday, August 25, you will need to bring a draft of your letter to class, and be
ready to share your draft with your peers. We will begin with a peer review session, and I
will ask each group to discuss the experience of reading one another’s work with the rest
of the class. By definition, a rough draft is not complete, but if you do not have a draft at
least 2 pages long, you will be considered absent for that day. The final draft of the letter
will be due on Thursday, August 27.