William Golding's "Thinking as a Hobby".Discuss

English 111 Cumbie (updated 9/19)
Writing Assignment #2: Summary and Response Essay with Research
Length: 5-6 pages, not counting the works cited page

Write an essay in which you summarize the thesis and the main points of one of the following essays and then offer a thoughtful response to the argument (See Schedule of Assignments for page numbers or links). Include in your response at least two secondary sources. The secondary sources will be focused not on the primary source itself, but the topic you decide to focus on within the primary source.
William Golding’s “Thinking as a Hobby”

You’ll want to summarize and quote some of the author’s ideas and make clear whether you’re agreeing, disagreeing, or both agreeing and disagreeing with what he says. Remember that there are templates in TS/IS that can help you get started; see chapters 1-3 for templates that will help you represent other people’s ideas, and chapter 4 for templates that will get you started with your response. Pay close attention to chapter 12; in particular, as you analyze the reading and begin to contemplate your response, think of these questions: “What other argument(s) is the writer responding to?” “Is the writer disagreeing or agreeing with something, and if so what?” “What is motivating the writer’s argument?” “Are there other ideas that you have encountered in this class or elsewhere that might be pertinent?”
Use MLA-style parenthetical citations and a works cited page for the essay you choose. Include at least two other sources from your research.

Additional clarification added 9/19
After you choose one of the above essays and understand its thesis and main points, you will need to decide what topic you wish to research to help you respond to the argument, either agreeing, disagreeing, or both. You will not be researching to find articles on the essay’s themselves, but on the topics discussed in the essays, or on examples or events that illustrate the points the author is making. The research you conduct will become the focus of the annotated bibliography assignment. Here are some obvious examples from the above essays, but not the only topics suitable for research as you consider what these writers are trying to convey to us:
Golding: thinking, hypocrisy, difficulty of thinking, developing a thinking mind, why the highest level of thinking is so difficult, why most people don’t think
Also, there may be a current event that illustrates (positively or negatively) the argument the author makes that you can research to illustrate why you agree or disagree with the author of the essay. For example, there may be a 2016 political candidate who does or does not correlate with the arguments in Plato’s essay about the characteristics of an ideal leader, so you could provide research to explain how the candidate compares to the author’s points or doesn’t.
Or there may be a philosophical difference of opinion in your field that you’d like to use as an illustration of what Emerson is talking about. Conduct research to support your views on the disagreement. Your discussion could illustrate how you agree with Emerson’s argument about the two impulses (conservative and liberal) that reside within all of us, and how his article helps you to understand this philosophical argument in your field in a new light.
Or you may be studying something in another class that one of the above essays really helps you to understand. You could apply the points in one of the above essays to what you are learning to show the correlation. Your research would help your reader understand the concept from your other class.
Or there may be some historical event that you are interested in, and one of the above essays helps you to gain a better understanding of what happened. Conduct research to find evidence so that you can correlate the event to the thinking in the essay.
Or there may be a controversy in one of the communities you belong to, and reading one of these essays helps you to gain a better understanding of the controversy. For example, some in the group exhibit grade three thinking, some exhibit grade two thinking, few if any exhibit grade one thinking, to use Golding’s essay. You could then explain how these three grades of thinking help you understand the conflict and a possible solution. Your research could focus on the three levels of thinking Golding describes: spouting conventional opinion, pointing out hypocrisies, reconciling paradoxes.

Organization
Introduction
Provide an engaging introduction that pulls your reader into a discussion of the topic.
Introduce the author, giving relevant contextual information such as nationality and historical context.
State clearly what the topic is, why it’s important, who cares or should care about the topic, and how it might relate to today.
State clearly what the author’s opinion is on the topic; in other words, what is the thesis of his essay? Be as precise and as specific as you can be.
Provide your own thesis on the topic by making it clear whether you agree, disagree, or have mixed feelings about the author’s position on the topic.
Body Paragraphs
Aim for 4-6 body paragraphs.
Each body paragraph must have its own topic sentence, which is typically the first sentence in the paragraph.
Each topic sentence must state one of the author’s main points and your thoughts on the point.
The body paragraph will then offer evidence and supporting details both from the essay and from your own experience and thoughts.
You will quote frequently from the text and integrate each quotation from the essay into your own sentence.
You will provide a page number in a parenthetical citation if the source is paginated after each quotation. If the source is not paginated, leave out the citation.
You will develop each paragraph so that it is approximately one half summary and one half response.
You will supplement your own thoughts with material from your secondary research.
Secondary material will be introduced gracefully, quoted accurately, integrated smoothly within your own sentences, and explained thoroughly with a follow-up sentence.
Each paragraph will have a concluding sentence in which you restate, using fresh language, the main point of the paragraph in your own words.
Nasayer Paragraph
Include a naysayer paragraph, usually near the end of the essay (but not the conclusion), where you bring in someone who might disagree with what you are saying.
You may invent the naysayer or you may use your secondary source as a naysayer.
Develop the naysayer opinion respectfully.
In the same paragraph or in a follow-up paragraph, rebut the naysayer’s opinion respectfully.
Conclusion
Your conclusion will restate the thesis in fresh language.
You will expound again, without being repetitive, on the significance of your summary and response to the essay by answering the questions: who cares about this topic, who should care about this topic, so what is significant about this topic.
Keep the following tips from TS/IS in mind as your write:
Start with what the author says (pp. 19+)
Use one of the templates for introducing what the author says (23-27)
Keep in mind what the author says as you move through the rest of your essay (27-28)
Suspend your own beliefs for a time and put yourself in the shoes of someone else (31-33)
Paradoxically, do not ignore your own view. Summarize the author in light of your own arguments (33-35)
Avoid a list summary (35-37)
Use signal verbs that fit the action (38-40)
Quote relevant passages (43-44)
Frame every quotation (44-46)
Use one of the templates for introducing quotations (46)
Use one of the templates for explaining quotations (46-48)
Blend the author’s words with your own words (48-49)
Don’t worry about over analyzing a quotation; do it anyway (49-50)
Avoid redundant and misleading introductions to quotations (50)
Use the templates to show that you disagree and explain why, that you agree but with a difference, that you agree and disagree simultaneously, or that you are clearly ambivalent (55-67)
Use the templates to signal who is saying what in your own writing (71-72)
Use first-person appropriately (72-73)
Use templates to embed voice markers to avoid always having to say, “X argues.” (73-75)
Anticipate objections (79-82)
Use templates for entertaining objections (82-83)
Use templates for naming your naysayers (83-84)
Use templates for introducing objections informally (84-86)
Represent objections fairly (86-87)
Answer objections (87-89)
Use templates for making concessions while still standing your ground (89-90)
Make sure that you answer the question, “Who cares?” (92-94)
Use templates for indicating who cares (95-96)
Make sure you answer the question, “So what?” (96-98)
Use templates for establishing why your claims matter (98-99)
Make sure you answer the “who cares?” and “so what” questions even if you think the answers are obvious and even if you think your readers are already in the know (99-100)
Use transitions (105-111)
Use pointing words (112-114)
Repeat key terms and phrases (114-115)
Repeat yourself, but with a difference (116-118)
Mix academic and colloquial styles if it suits your purpose (122-128)
Use meta commentary to clarify and elaborate (129-133)
Give your essay a title that acts as meta commentary (133-134)
Use templates for introducing meta commentary (135-137)
Evaluation rubric:
Did you summarize accurately?
Does your essay have a clear focus (your response to the essay)?
Is your essay sufficiently developed with half of the essay focused on summary and half focused on your response?
Did you use the writing and organization tips above?
Are your quotations mechanically sound and smoothly integrated into your own sentences?
Did you supply MLA parenthetical citations for every direct quotation if your source is paginated?
Did you quote from at least two secondary sources?
Did you supply a correctly formatted works cited page?
Does the essay use appropriate grammar, language, and syntax for the topic and the audience?
Does the essay have sufficient depth and insight for a college-level essay?
Does your title function as meta commentary?