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ENG 102 /Mlady
February 4, 2010
Assignment #1.3: Locating Sources
You have spent the past week reading, glossing and discussing William Deresiewicz’s “Faux
Friendship.” Now that you have read and discussed Deresiewicz’s ideas on friendship, you will
begin looking for three additional sources that continue to build your understanding of
Deresiewicz’s ideas and that develop your own thinking on friendship. This assignment asks you
to collect and catalogue additional “data” that you will use to interact with Deresiewicz’s ideas in
your own essay.
Please locate three sources, one for each of the following topics:
(make sure you print out each source for class on Monday)
1. A source that investigates one of the friendships Deresiewicz refers to in his text (i.e.
Achilles and Patroclus, David and Jonathan, Bloomsbury Group, etc). This source should
give you information about the friendship to help you better understand the reference
Deresiewicz makes.
2. A source on another documented friendship that you would like to examine. Think about
your current definition of friendship as well as the definition of friendship that you composed
in class – which friendships come to mind when you think about your idea of friendship? The
friends you investigate may be historical or modern, celebrity friends or fictional friends
portrayed within a movie, TV show, or novel, etc.
The friendship, however, cannot be one from your own personal life – only friendships
depicted in documented sources are acceptable for this assignment.
3. Any additional source or document that you believe constructively adds to the discussion of
friendship. This may be a philosophical text, a work of literature (play, short story, novel), an
essay, a magazine article, etc. Feel free to select any source that gives you additional clarity
or a new perspective on the discussion.
Please use the resources and procedures that were discussed in today’s presentation to locate and
collect your sources. I urge you to be creative but considerate in your selections; keep in mind
issues of credibility and relevance as you work on this assignment.
Then, after you have found the sources you want to work with, prepare a response for each
source according to the following instructions:
1. For each source selection, prepare a citation list entry in MLA format, according to the
guidelines laid out in your Rules for Writers Handbook. You will find the guidelines for
building a works cited list in section 55b, beginning on page 435. Please refer to the
“Directory to MLA works cited models” on page 437 for directions for specific source
types.
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2. Then, under the citation listing for each selection, I would like you to write a short
paragraph (4-5 sentences) that explains its main idea or narrative. This is your
opportunity to summarize what the article you have selected is saying, meaning what it
is. Make sure to give sufficient, relevant detail and to summarize in your own words.
Please bring a hardcopy of this document to class on Monday, February 7th. Also, make
sure you bring your copy of Rules for Writers with you for Monday’s class; you will need it
to complete the in-class work.
This assignment is worth 9 points (3 points for the work done with each source).
Important note: This assignment begins the research phase for your essay in response to
Deresiewicz’s text. This essay will require you to use Deresiewicz and three (3) additional
external sources and be at least 4 pages in length, not including the works cited page.