SUNY Geneseo Department of Computer Science
Essay 3 Revision—Race in “The Gold Bug”
Intd 105 13, Spring 2014
Prof. Doug Baldwin
Peer Critique on Thursday, March 6
Complete by Sunday, March 9
Grade by Friday, March 14
Purpose
This exercise gives you practice writing persuasive prose, i.e., prose that defines and defends some point of view.
Background
In essay 3, you wrote about reasons for racial stereotyping in “The Gold Bug.” With the passage of time and feedback from readers, most authors realize ways in which their work can be improved. You have now had both of those things since you wrote your race essay, and so, I hope, have some ideas about how to make that essay better. This exercise asks you to put those ideas into practice.
Exercise
Revise your essay on why you think “The Gold Bug” presents a racist portrayal of Jupiter. The revision should ultimately reflect your analysis of how the original essay can be made better. That analysis can, of course, be motivated by my comments on the original, your own reflections on it, or other things. Regardless of what inspires your revisions, however, I will expect the revised essays to present substantially better (i.e., clearer, more compelling, more complete, etc.) arguments than the originals. The revised essay should be of about the same length as the original (900 to 1500 words or 3 to 5 pages), or slightly more if you want to incorporate lots of new material into the revision.
Follow-Up
We will do peer critiques of draft essays in next Thursday’s class (March 6). Please bring three printed copies of your draft essay to class that day.
Turn in your essay by emailing it to me (baldwin@geneseo.edu). The email must be timestamped by 11:59 on the “Complete By” date above. You can write your essay using any common word processor.
Finally, I will meet face to face with each of you to discuss your essays and give you your grades. Please sign up for a half hour meeting with me, to be held some time between when you turn in your essay and the end of the day (5:00 PM) on the “Grade By” date above. You can sign up for these meetings on the schedule outside my office or via Google calendar. The schedule is divided into 15-minute blocks, so sign up by writing your name across two consecutive blocks; I have schedules for several weeks posted, so be careful that you are signing up for the day you intend.