The first paper is a deceptively simple assignment: pick a specific reading from class, or other example of comedy, and write an argumentative 2-3 page essay on it. Your paper should feature a strong, refutable, significant thesis. The thesis should possess all of the components we've discussed in class (clear topic; focusing question; central claim; a connection to and role in a larger debate or conversation; clearly defined key concepts; organized evidence; and a strong sense of significance).
This is also going to be one of the more difficult papers to write, as it is very open ended, and asks you to provide a compelling take on any topic of your choosing. You may write about the novel we are reading, about a clip we have watched, or about any other thing we have read or watched in class. You may also pick almost anything else of interest to you (run the topic by me if you have any doubts or questions about it). If you are unsure what to write about, then pick something from the class.
As with all college writing, what you write about is less important than how you write about it, and it is this latter skill we are attempting to master. The most important thing for this assignment is to focus in on a very specific feature of the work you are writing about, hone in on a narrow topic and question it suggests, and provide a strong, refutable claim in answer to it. The point of this exercise is to practice framing narrow questions and topics; making significant, specific, refutable, non-trivial claims about them; and to support those claims with specific bits of textual or detailed evidence.
Have a posible topic picked out for a writing exercise on Friday, September 11th. Bring a rough draft to class for Friday, September 18th. The paper is due Friday, September 25th.
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