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Short writing assignment -- week 14
Final paper rough draft is due at 8am on Thursday, Dec. 3rd
* Please bring copies for me and each member of your small group *


Rough drafts can be hard to describe. Every time I assign one, at least one student wants to clarify what I mean by “a solid effort” when I say: “To get credit for this assignment you need to make a solid effort at a rough draft.” By this, I don’t mean that you need to turn in a perfect paper, or even a completely finished paper. But you DO need to write enough that it is a real attempt -- you need to attempt to write out / write through an idea that you’re thinking might work. You need to write long enough to give yourself either a firm sense that your plan is working or that it isn’t working at all. You need to have enough of a beginning that you can begin to see the difference between what you thought you’d write and what you’re actually writing.

For this paper, I would imagine that would be at least five pages (double spaced, TNR font, etc.). You ABSOLUTELY need to have a thesis statement. As we will discuss, the thesis is the most important part of a paper, so any rough draft has to include one.

In class, I’ll describe how the process of peer review will work. When you give me this rough draft, you’ll also give the same paper to two or three fellow students. You’ll get comments and suggestions from all of us, which you can use to revise the paper before its Dec. 16th due date.