If I were asked to guest lecture this English 181 class to incoming freshman, I would feel most confident teaching them how to incorporate quotations into their writing. I feel that I have had a lot of practice integrating quotations this semester, through blog posts, in class and our research paper and that I could successfully demonstrate this skill and help them practice doing it themselves. I think that coming into this class I had a lot of experience using this skill, but now I am much more aware of how to integrate quotations successfully and how to better use the “sandwich” structure. I think that I could explain how to successfully integrate quotations to help them support their argument, like I have learned to do this semester. This skill is very important to use in papers because it gives support and validation to an argument. While this skill is very important, not many people come into college very skilled in it and I think everyone can work on this skill to do it more successfully.

In order to teach quotation integration, I would first explain why integrating quotations is important and then show them different examples, some that are done well and some that are done unsuccessfully. For each example I would ask if they thought it worked well or didn’t and why. What qualities did the well done ones have? What is missing from the ones that aren’t done as well? I would explain how to best structure the integration with an introduction and an explanation- the “sandwich” and explain how the well done ones have a structure that resembled this. I would then have them practice this skill by giving them a theme from whatever we were reading during that time and ask them to create a thesis, find a quotation that supports it and use the sandwich structure to integrate the quotation to support the thesis. I would then ask them to write it on the board and have the class discuss what makes each one successful and how to better improve each one.

The first artifact I think I might discuss in my cover letter is my Pecha Kucha presentation. Not only was it the first major assessment we did in this class, but it was a presentation style I have never heard of before. Thus, I was really nervous at the beginning of the project, but afterwards I was really proud of myself for giving this presentation in front of the whole class (and first). The second and third artifacts I might showcase in my cover letter are blog posts number 7 and 9. Blog post number 7 was one in which I summarized Eleanor Salotto’s article “Frankenstein and Dis(re)membered Identity,” as well as give a possible way that I could use this article in my research paper. I did end up using this article in my final paper and thus I think it is interesting to compare my original summary with my actual argument in my paper and how my ideas change over time. Blog post number 9 was my (very) rough outline for my paper. In my paper I did end up discussing these rough outline of points and arguments, but in a different order and not exactly the same. Again, I think it is interesting to see how the process of writing includes a lot of editing and looking back, what I thought was an outline for my paper ended up not being how my paper actually turned out. My fourth, fifth and sixth artifacts will be my paper proposal/ annotated bibliography, rough draft and final draft. I think these three are the most important writings I have done in this class and not only reflect my writing, but really illustrate how much editing goes into the writing process. It takes multiple attempts and corrections to reach full potential and these three stages demonstrate that.

The objective that I would like to focus on is Objective #3: “Writing as Process.”  

“Getting started: Consider describing the changes in one of the projects included in the portfolio from beginning to end. Did you use techniques that your instructor may have mentioned: outlining, response paragraphs, and blogging? Did informal kinds of writing find their way into the process such as emailing a professor about an idea, sketching out notes on a napkin at a coffee shop, or talking to a friend about your ideas? Ultimately, your writing process includes each step you take from the coffee shop napkin to an outline to a first draft and eventually, a final product.”

I think the artifacts that I mentioned to put in my cover letter are the ones that best respond to this prompt. These showcase the steps it takes to create the final product. Each illustrate how my ideas change over and over again until a final product is created. Also, the paper utilized talking to peers and others to make the final product such as peer editing and conferences and thus demonstrates how many steps are taken to reach the final paper.

In an introduction, I usually start off with a hook that catches the reader’s attention and then connect this hook into the general idea of what the paper will be about while introducing the name of the novel, author, publisher and publishing date etc. I then give a background of the novel as it relates to my topic and then state my thesis (the argument of this paper) as well as my so what to show how the message of my paper will connect to the real world.

In a conclusion, I usually start off by summarizing my overall argument/thesis/main points. I then talk a little more about the so-what aspect of my argument and expand this to how it is important to understand the argument of the paper because it can relate to the real world at large.

The piece of writing I looked at is an article from the New York Times titled “New York City School Suspensions Fell 17% in 2014-15, Officials Say” written by Elizabeth A. Harris. Because this is a newspaper article, it is trying to get straight to the point and thus the introduction is pretty short, however it is still there. The introduction states, “The number of suspensions in New York City public schools dropped about 17 percent last year, the de Blasio administration said on Friday, as it announced steps aimed at helping lower that figure even further. The number of arrests made by school safety agents fell as well.” The short introduction definitely grabs the reader’s attention because it gets straight to the point of the article. Considering that the reader is probably interested in this subject since s/he clicked on the article, s/he now wants to continue reading to find out how this drop occurred and what principles were put in place in the public schools to render such a dramatic shift. This short sentence even hints that it will discuss these points because it states “as it announced steps aimed at helping lower that figure even further.” The reader is going to be curious about these steps and will thus want to keep reading to find out more specifics. Also, the last sentence of the introduction is there to entice the reader keep reading even more. This sentence is not part of the original title, but still relates to the topic and thus the reader is probably also interested in learning more about this topic. Because the reader has now read this hook sentence s/he will want to keep reading to find out more about both topics.

I think that because this is an introduction for a newspaper article it makes sense that it would be very straightforward and short. I think it is effective for this type of writing and I can use how it gives the reader a clear, specific idea of what the article is going to talk about. However, for my paper I will need to give more background and summary as well as a more defined thesis and so-what.

For my research paper, I’m focusing on how characters in Frankenstein rely on the acceptance of others to feel confident in their identities and the consequences of not being able to be happy with who they are without this reliance. In the introduction, I will give background on the novel (such as author, publication date and company) as well as a very short summary of the novel and how it relates to identity. I will then state my thesis and so what statement.

In my first body paragraph I will talk about how the creature is one character that relies on others for confidence in his identity. We see from the first spoken interaction between the creature and Frankenstein that the creature is an outcast and that even his own creator (paternal figure) is repulsed by him. He tells Frankenstein that he is “miserable beyond all living things!” We hear through his story about how being outcasted has affected the creature’s life thus far and this is the stem of his sadness. I will discuss how the creature’s multiple rejections and solitude affects his identity and how he wants a woman monster who will love him. His ultimate goal is for a creature that accepts him and thus he will do everything in his power to get Victor to make this creature for him.

In my next paragraph I will discuss the consequences that the creature faces due to his rejection of identity from the outside world. I will use the article “Self-Referent Cognition” by Howard B. Kaplan to discuss the negative outcomes of seeing yourself as an outcast. I will discuss how the creature’s knowledge that he is different and unaccepted affects his behavior. I would also like to use “Social Acceptance and Rejection: The Sweet and the Bitter” to discuss how the creature’s loneliness causes his rage. I believe that the creature’s murderous acts are due to his rejection. It is scientifically shown that loneliness and rejection can cause poor mental health and this can disrupt society due to the individual’s lashing out- exactly what the creature does. Thus, I will summarize how the creatures rejection and inability to accept his own identity is the stem of his sadness and it is this rejection that causes his rage.

Similar to the creature, Frankenstein cannot accept his own identity. This paragraph will be dedicated to the explaining how Frankenstein cannot justify his own identity by himself. He tries to create someone that would be like him and thus understand his identity- the monster. Because the monster is supposed to be a representation and mirror of Frankenstein’s own identity, he should recognize himself when he sees it. However, the opposite is true. I will use “‘Frankenstein’ and Dis(re)membered Identity” by Eleanor Salotto to discuss how Frankenstein does not go through a “mirror stage” and thus cannot understand his own identity. Because the monster IS his own identity, he refuses to accept it. Instead, he needs others to take care of him because his non acceptance of himself leaves him to not have a complete identity. Like the monster, Victor needs another individual to accept him and when he does not have one, he tries to find another source. 

My next paragraph will again discuss the consequences of Frankenstein’s reliance on another. Frankenstein needs a creature to whom he can relate even more fully and thus this causes a true harm to society- the monster. Victor’s inability to accept himself is what prompts him to create the monster which in turn murders innocent people.

My conclusion will summarize how these two characters’ inability to accept themselves causes consequences for the society and restate my thesis. I will then discuss how we need to use this novel as a warning in society today- we must learn to accept our own identities and not rely on other individuals to do it for us especially in this day and age where social media is always present.

**may discuss Walton’s inability to accept himself and needs a friend who he can relate to- may not depending on page limit with above paragraphs.

Last Thursday, I attended the Literature Is Alive event presented by OOMPH! This poetry recitation was interesting for several reasons, the main one being that the poems were in Spanish. Having not taken Spanish since the fifth grade, it was at first very disorienting. While there were English translations, it was not easy to follow along while listening to it in Spanish. I soon realized that it was better to just skim the English translation and then just listen to the Spanish reciting. Because these poems were written in Spanish, it is difficult to capture the melody and harmony of the poetry in English and thus the true meaning of the poems can only be captured by being recited in the language it was written and produced in. Despite not understanding most of the meaning of the poems it was still interesting to hear the poems recited. One thing I realized that was really interesting was that even though I could not understand the meaning, just by hearing someone recite the poems aloud allowed me to differentiate between the tones and moods. Each author recited his/her poem in a different fashion with a different tone of voice and just from this I could detect the tone/mood of the poem without even knowing what the poem was about. I thought at the beginning that because I had no idea what they were talking about I would not be able to really detect a difference, but I was very wrong. I realized how similar it is to hearing a poem in English and detecting the different ways a poet recites it. I also thought the conversation at the end about translation was really interesting. Especially with poetry, I realize how difficult it must be to translate between two different languages and having to decide whether to try to translate word for word or try to capture the meaning. Overall, this presentation was really interesting and I’m glad I had the experience of going and listening to everyone’s commentary as well.

One blog post in which I quoted from a primary source was blog post #4 in which I quoted from Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story. For this blog post I was discussing how it was disturbing that Lenny could access private information that should not be accessible to the public and used a quotation to give examples of information that Lenny was looking at such as cholesterol level and clothing preference. I stated: “I find it very disturbing that on page 38 Lenny can find out that Sally’s ‘LDL cholesterol was way beneath the norm’ and that ‘The Park sisters favored extra-small shirts in strict business patterns’ etc. These are not normal things that one should be able to find on the internet about another person.” I introduced the quotation by saying “Lenny can find out that…” and then inserted my quotations and created the sandwich by stating that these things that Lenny can find online should not be accessible to the public and how it is disturbing that the society runs in this fashion. Using a template on page 47, I could say: According to Lenny, Sally’s “LDL cholesterol was way beneath the norm” and that “The Park sisters favored extra- small shirts in strict business patterns” and in making this information accessible to Lenny, Shteyngart’s point is that the public has too much access to private information. 

One blog in which I quoted from a secondary source was blog post #6 where I quoted Jessica Hale’s article “Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” I stated that “Hale continues this argument by explaining the ‘homosocial relationship’ and demonstrating how throughout the novel, the intimate relationship between two men is more desired than an intimate relationship between a man and a woman (marriage is a ‘second-best alternative to the intimate male homosocial relationship’) (Hale 13).” I think I introduced the first part, but the part in parentheses could be better worded. Instead of parentheses I could have said in a new sentence: Hale states that in this novel, marriage is a “second- best alternative to the intimate male homosocial relationship” and thus Hale’s point is that Shelley argues that women are thought to be beneath the men in the social hierarchy of this time period.

In “Frankenstein and Dis(re)membered Identity,” Eleanor Salotto argues that Shelley uses different techniques to demonstrate how the characters in the novel struggle with identity. Salotto argues that Shelley’s framed narrative demonstrates how characters struggle with having a unified identity because the framed narrative causes the story of each character to come out in pieces. The life story of each character is told by another person, demonstrating how each character cannot even tell his own identities to the audience- it is muddled by another person telling it for him, therefor no character has an intact representation of a unified identity. Additionally, Salotto argues that the fact that Frankenstein is attempting to create a double of himself, the creature is just an excess, muddled version of Frankenstein’s own identity. Because the creature is supposed to represent Frankenstein, the fact that he is created through other, different human parts also represents his incomplete identity. The fact that the creature is made up of all different unoriginal pieces, his identity is not whole either. Additionally, because the creature is supposed to mirror Frankenstein, the fact that Frankenstein is repulsed when he sees the creature illustrates that Frankenstein does not recognize himself or his own identity. The author uses the critic Lacan to extend her argument. She uses Lacan’s work and study of the “mirror stage” to again demonstrate how Frankenstein does not have a unified, intact identity. The mirror stage is when an individual sees his reflection to better get an understanding of “I,” however, by looking at the monster that is supposed to represent himself (thus, it is his mirror), he does not see himself. He sees a monster that he does not want to claim as his or his identity, thus Frankenstein again grapples with his incomplete sense of identity. While this paper goes on to argue several other points, I really enjoyed Salotto’s arguments on lack of identity. While, I knew that I did want to focus on identity, I wasn’t sure what points I specifically wanted to focus on. However, after reading this article I think I want to explore the techniques Mary Shelley uses to demonstrate how the characters lack identity and how this lack of identity has negative outcomes for the characters in the novel.

http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.emory.edu/stable/30225415?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=((Frankenstein)&searchText=AND&searchText=(Freud))&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2528%2528Frankenstein%2529%2BAND%2B%2528Freud%2529%2529%26amp%3Bprq%3D%2528%2528Frankenstein%2529%2BAND%2B%2528Id%2529%2529%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bwc%3Doff%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bso%3Drel&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

In “Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” Jessica Hale examines how Mary Shelley connects many different issues such as gender, race and sexuality to the larger context of imperialism and New World slavery. Hale argues that Shelley critiques gender roles in the society by explaining how Shelley uses the idea of “domesticity” throughout the novel to illustrate how women are prevented from accessing the “outside world” that contains “exploration, adventure, politics, public affairs, academia, and intellectualism” (Hale 12). Hale continues this argument by explaining the “homosocial relationship” and demonstrating how throughout the novel, the intimate relationship between two men is more desired than an intimate relationship between a man and a woman (marriage is a “second-best alternative to the intimate male homosocial relationship”) (Hale 13). Furthermore, Hale discusses how the monster is portrayed as an “other” which is used to represent those who are not European and how this racial difference sets the monster as an outcast in the society. Hale then explains how these close readings and critiques of the society in Frankenstein relate to the 19th century society, the time period in which this novel was written.

Hale close reads many different passages from Frankenstein to support her arguments. For her first argument, Hale is discussing the “Domestic and Public Spheres” of both genders and how they play out in the novel’s society. Hale does many close readings to demonstrate how the women are portrayed as weaker than the men in this society. For example, Hale close reads the line “‘like a protecting spirit to the girl, who committed herself to his care’” to illustrate how Alphonse acts more of a father than a lover and how he must give up his public function to take up the role of father/husband. Hale directly quotes from Frankenstein and then proceeds to analyze the meaning and explain how it supports her argument.

Additional to close reading, Hale quotes secondary sources, such as Leo Bersani’s book The Freudian Body to support her argument about suffering and sexuality. Hale uses parts of Bersani’s novel to demonstrate and support her argument that the catalyst of the monster’s sexual desire is the suffering of his first victim, William. Hale uses an idea from an outside source to compliment and help validate her own arguments. It also employs ethos because the audience is likely to trust an outside, published source and thus want to agree with Hale even more.

One term I found while reading that I did not know was the word “mélange.” After looking it up on the online Merriam- Webster dictionary I found that it means a mixture of different things. It also sounded like a french word so I went to wordreference.com and found that it also means a “mixture” or “combination” in french as well, which I thought was interesting.

Super Sad True Love Story demonstrates that everyone in this society uses this technology and social media to communicate and stay connected. They also use this technology to learn about the norm, and copy it to blend it. When Sally is talking to Eunice, she explains that she wants a Saami summer bra because “everyone’s wearing them. Even in Fort Lee,” demonstrating how Sally wants this article of clothing just because others have it and her reliance on technology makes it so easy for her to order it (Shteyngart 31). This is not new in our society. With all of the social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, we too understand seeing someone online and wanting to copy them. While wanting to copy an outfit is not harmful, it can lead to other major harm in our society. As Kimberly Leonard states in her article, “Is Social Media Making Self-Harm Worse For Teens,” these social media sites make it too easy to follow the crowd. Seeing others do a practice, such as cutting, can trigger another’s own desire to do the same. In her article, Leonard explains how easy it is see other people’s lives on social media and want to be similar. Both in our society and the society of Super Sad True Love Story, do individuals use social media to change themselves. Lenny bases his self confidence on being a certain status as an attractive man in a public space. He changes his identity and his actions in order to increase this arbitrary number. When Lenny describes the feeling he gets when his “male hotness skirted into the 600-s,” he states that he “would like to describe this utterly new feeling to you, diary, but I fear it will come out in purely evangelical terms,” illustrating how Lenny’s self confidence purely relies on this social media practice. The number that he receives and seeing others get higher on the list, triggers him to change. Similarly, in our society, we see what others are doing on social media which triggers us to want to fit in and change our own actions accordingly, which can clearly be harmful for ourselves.

Shteyngart, Gary. Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.