“America Needs its Nerds”Common Errors

What is the prompt asking you to do?Write an essay in which you analyze how Fridmandevelops his argument.

• Not just analyze rhetorical devices but how he develops his argument.

• Identify his argument and remember he is arguing for a specific purpose

• Don’t summarize.

How it was scored

• 4 talked strategies but didn’t talk function of those strategies. More summary than analysis.

• 6 talked strategies and attempted to analyze function. More analysis; little to no summary.

Random Errors

• Quotations starting on the end of a line: “

Here’s my quote” (citation).

***Quotation marks need to be glued to the words

they are next to… no spacing. Move the word up or

the quote down.

“Here’s my quote” (citation). OR “Here’s

my quote” (citation).

• “Develop” misspelled “Develope”

• Missing Thesis Statements

Argument VS Analysis

• Argument: You analyze the effectiveness of the author’s ideas; in essence, you defend or refutewhat he/she is saying; this deals strictly with the ideas conveyed by the author

• Analysis: You DO NOT offer any insight into whether or not you agree/disagree with the author; instead, you merely analyze HOW he made his argument (tone, comparisons, juxtapositions, rhetorical questions, shifts in diction, sentence structure, etc.) and why he chose to make it that way.

Content Errors

• Don’t slip into summary. Your job is to analyze how Fridman develops his argument – not to evaluate, make a judgment, or agree/disagree with the topic and not to tell the reader what the essay was about.

• Be careful that you are not summarizing the complexityof an author’s ideas and assuming this is analysis; you must address specific devices and techniques.

• Avoid talking about “effects on the reader;” instead think about the audience, specifically the intendedaudience

Content Errors

• Your job in an analysis is to always look at rhetoricaldevices.

• Don’t state that he uses rhetorical devices to create his argument; just go right to analyzing: Fridman begins his essay by…

• Discuss Rhetorical Strategies (NOT Literary Devices)• Some Rhetorical Strategies in this essay:

• Comparison, Definition, Cause/Effect, Rhetorical Questions, Exemplification

• Don’t just rely on the obvious ones (pathos/logos/ethos)

• NOTE: Literary devices are used to analyze literature; rhetorical strategies are used to analyze informational text

Content Errors: Rhetorical Devices

• Cause /effect – his argument of the US staying a world power

• A call to action…Where would we be without our nerds and how we should restore them to their rightful position in society?

• What is his tone? Maybe urgent at times (think: call to action)

• He develops an argument through description and examples.

Content Errors• Don’t refer to rhetorical strategies without giving specific

text evidence and without interpreting their function. Here is a student example of this error:

In the first paragraph, the author makes a claim that the terms “nerd” and “geek” are derogatory. He supports this claim in the second paragraph when he defines the word “geek.” In the third paragraph Leonid gives an example of students being ashamed of learning and calls out athletes as the “enemy.” The fourth paragraph shows a cause and effect system between what kids do when they are young and how they are perceived when they grow older.

…but what’s the function?

Content Errors: List of Don’ts

• Don’t put in your opinion of the topic or what the author has written (DON’T EVER DO THIS!)

• Don’t repeat the entire definition he gave for geeks. Instead, refer to it, but more importantly, explain WHY is he using this definition – what is he trying to do?

• Don’t just list examples; explain how they develophis argument.

• In reverse, don’t just tell without citing evidence.

Content Errors: WHY?

• Starts out with a definition of geek which exemplifies his opening statement for discrimination again intellectuals. WHY?

• Uses Harvard, our most prestigious institution, as an example of anti-intellectualism. WHY?

• Shows that America’s values as backward to other developing nations including Asia. WHY?

• Expands to the social ostracizing of intellectuals from childhood. WHY?

Content Errors

• Explain quotes. Do not end a paragraph with a quote as you have not provided sufficient explanation.

• Quotes need to be explained in a minimum of twosentences. Neither of those sentences should restate what you said in the quote.

Stylistic Errors

• Refer to authors by last name:• In his essay, Fridman states…

• <NOT> In his essay, Leonid states…

Stylistic Errors

• Explicit references should cite line numbers, not just the author’s last name

Stylistic Errors: Pronouns

• Provide clear pronoun references:• The text states that…

• <NOT> In the text, it states that…

• Avoid the use of first and second person pronounsin academic writing. First person pronouns are acceptable only when using them anecdotally. • Sample from a student paper: “When you read this, I

picture a nerd.”

Stylistic Errors

• Don’t tell us what he means or what he is trying todo. This is summary.• Avoid these:

• He means that…

• He is trying to tell readers that…

Stylistic Errors

• Thesis must be a statement – never a question.

• Make sure that you get the punctuation for the titleof the piece correct, especially if it is already punctuated for you in the prompt!

Stylistic Errors

• If you use a semicolon, you MUST have a completesentence in front of it and a complete sentenceafter it.

• Punctuation ALWAYS goes inside the quotation marks unless you have an in-text citation.

• Its is the possessive form of the word; It’s is broken down to it is.

DIRECTIONS• With the common errors in mind, analyze your own essay

for EVERY error included in this document.

• HIGHLIGHT all errors you find – content errors in green and stylistic errors in yellow.

• Reverse Map essay. Add information you were missing OR information you want to change into your map in a NEW COLOR.

• DUE MONDAY