Your second formal writing assignment will include both a creative and a critical response to Salvador Plascencia’s People of Paper. For this assignment, you will write a short chapter of People of Paper and then write a short essay analyzing the choices that you have made.

 

Format:

The chapter of People of Paper that you write should be a minimum of 850 words and should include at least 3 characters. (Baby Nostradamus and the Mechanical Tortoise may appear as characters in your chapter, but they will not count toward your three characters or your minimum word count.)

The thesis-driven analytical essay that assesses your creative work should be 850-1100 words (3-4 double-spaced pages) written in Times New Roman 12 pt. font with 1” margins. (You do not need to include a Works Cited page unless you consulted outside sources or you are using a different edition of the text. Please follow MLA guidelines. See https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ for help with MLA formatting.)

 

 

Deadlines:      – Paper due on April 18 at the start of class (10:45 a.m.)

– Full rough draft due for Peer Review on April 13 (Bring a hard copy to class and submit an electronic copy in Blackboard under Assignments. Completion of the draft will count as a 10pt. quiz/homework grade. Partial drafts will receive partial credit)

– Draft of creative portion of the text should be brought to class on April 11 for a partial peer review

 

Submission Requirements: Final drafts must be submitted electronically through SafeAssign in Blackboard and a hard copy must be submitted by the start of class on April 18. Papers submitted after that time will be considered late. Late papers will be penalized 1 letter grade for each day they are late.

 

Don’t plagiarize! Plagiarism is the improper use of another’s thoughts, ideas, or words without proper citation. This includes copying from academic texts and assigned readings without quoting or citing the source, rewording ideas found on the internet without crediting the author, and having someone else write your paper for you. Please see the English Department’s handout on plagiarism for an extended definition.

 

To avoid plagiarism, make sure that you use in-text citations to give credit to any ideas you have borrowed. As always, words taken verbatim from a source must be put in quotation marks.

 

*Make sure you read through the paper prompt and rubric carefully.

 

Rubric for Creative Component:

 

Plausible/accurate replication of style and form of the overall text and an accurate representation of the voices of the selected characters          / 15

 

Originality and Creativity  (presents a new/interesting scenario or perspective and incorporates or makes use of the visual)          / 10

 

Inclusion of at least 3 characters (not including Baby Nostradamus and the Mechanical Tortoise) and at least 850 words (not including binary code)          /20

 

Grammar and Usage        /5

 

Total        / 50

 

Rubric for Accompanying Critical Essay:

 

Clear, specific, and sophisticated thesis statement that makes an accurate claim about what the creative portion of the assignment reinforces and achieves in terms of its form and its content

/ 10

 

Organization (clear, argument-driven topic sentences, clear link between sentences and paragraphs, introduction that provides an overview of scenes and states where this would be inserted into the text, conclusion that begins by paraphrasing the thesis and that goes on to reflect on the overall significance of the creative project)      / 10

 

Claims are well substantiated with evidence from the creative portion of the assignment; quotes are used clearly and effectively and their significance is made clear       / 10

 

Strong analysis of both form and content; clear rationale for the stylistic and thematic choices made       /10

 

Grammar and Usage       / 5

 

Proper MLA formatting for in-text citations     / 5

 

 

Total       / 50

 

 

 

 

Overall Grade           /100