English 0950 Project
Drafting: from a Collage to an Essay

---

Goals:

Main Assignment

Step 1. Drafting: The Essay as an Academic and Literary Form

Go to drafting and learn about essays as an academic form.
In the New Century Handbook, read section 4, p. 53-70.

Step 2. Planning : PLACE

Analyze the writing situation (PLACE) for this project: What is your purpose? Who is your audience? What is your context--what are the specific requirements of your writing situation?

Review your collage. Think about your collage as prewriting for an essay.
In the New Century Handbook, read section 3e, pp. 46-47.

Step 3. Drafting a Working Thesis

Draft a working thesis. Your thesis should answer this question: What is your attitude about this subject? View the resentation "Thesis Statements."
See "Evaluating a Working Thesis" in the Handbook (p. 48).

Step 4. Organizing your information and writing an outline

In the New Century Handbook, read sections 3e. 4 and 3e.5 (pp. 49-52).
Make an outline to create a pattern of organization for your essay. To do this, you may want to print a new draft of your collage.
• Number the sections in the order in which they occur in the collage
• Take scissors and cutt the pieces apart.
• Rearrange the blocks of the collage in a pattern: chronological order, spatial order, or logical order.
• Make an outline that describes this order.

Step 5. Collaboration

Share your outline and thesis with your group. Do they have any suggestions for improving your outline or for strengthening your thesis? (See the Handbook, section 4c, p. 61-63.)

Step 6. Drafting

Using your outline, make a draft of your essay. (See the Handbook, section 4b and 4d.)

You may want to do this on the computer by opening separate Windows: open one window with your collage document and another window with your outline. Copy one block at a time from the collage and paste it into the place indicated in your outline.

Draft an introduction for your essay.

Draft a conclusion.

Decide where to place your thesis.

Add transitions to link the sections of your essay together, so that the reader moves smoothly from one block to the next.

Step 7. Title

Use the title exercise to find a good title for your essay.

Step 8. More collaboration

Share your draft with your writing group. Ask them to describe for you what they are thinking as they read your essay. Are they confused at all? Do they want you to tell them more about any one particular point? Is you thesis clear? Is your pattern of organization clear and easy to follow? Can they identify your purpose? Are the people in your group part of your target audience? If not, how are they different from the readers you have in mind for this piece?

Step 9. Revision

Use the feedback from your group to revise your essay. (See the Handbook, section 4e, pp. 66-70.) Share your revised draft with them and ask them to help you edit drafts and proofread your final draft.

Step 10. Process Memo

Write a one page process memo.

Process Memo
Write a one-page process memo that answers these questions:

• Who do you see as your audience for this essay?
• How do you want to affect your readers' attitudes or behavior? In other words, what is your purpose in this essay?
• How did your thesis statement evolve?
• How did your writing group help you develop your essay?
• What was most difficult for you in this project?
• How could you use the collage-to-essay method in the future?

Project Requirements

___ your planning notes
___ your outline
___ your working draft(s)
___ your final draft
___ your process memo