Critical Response Essay: “Copy Wrong”

Assignment One University Writing
Critical Response

Using one of the essays we’ve read so far, devise an analytical question based in your attentive, active reading of the text. Your question should seek to improve our understanding of the text itself, the way its argument is developed, and the assumptions and decisions that motivate the text.

To devise your question, try locating in your source essay an important tension, ambiguity, contradiction, moment of confusion, or some other moment or pattern in the text that may be difficult to understand. Ask questions beginning with “How,” “Why,” “In what way…” and avoid factual questions, Yes/No questions, and questions with a clear answer. For example:

• Why is Stearn so angry in her piece, and how does her anger impact our understanding of her argument?
• How does Lethem reconcile his request that readers do not “pirate [his] editions” but do “plunder [his] visions?”
• How does Graham’s text model “disobedience” in writing, and how does he articulate the source of power that writers ought to disobey?

Respond to your question with a claim about how the writer’s choices of language and form affect the argument. Your analysis should be rooted in a concrete discussion of the text, focusing on a close reading of at least one key excerpt, or a persistent thread that you observe in the text.

The paper should be 1200-1500 words long (include a word count at the end of each draft).

Goals:
• Devise a strong analytical question that is worth addressing, using passages that will reward close reading.
• Formulate a claim that makes a strong argument and is not obvious.
• Establish a distinct project for the essay in your introduction. Here you will answer the “So What?” question, suggesting why your essay is important and interesting to an intelligent reader. Draw out the implications of the argument in your conclusion.
• Structure the essay around your central claim, making sure that each paragraph is adding an essential piece to your argument.
• Use evidence persuasively, quoting from the text when necessary, summarizing or paraphrasing accurately and responsibly when appropriate. Do not provide evidence from other sources or make general assertions (e.g., claims about “human nature”).