.
orthographic symbolization of speech

Writing is much more than an orthographic symbolization of speech; it is, most importantly, a purposeful selection and organization of experience. By experience I mean all thoughts€”facts, opinions, or ideas whether acquired first-hand (through direct perceptions and/or actions) or second-hand (through reading or hearsay). This includes all kinds of writing from the poem to the scientific experiment, for all have a purpose and an organized body of selected facts, opinions, or ideas. How clear the purpose, and how relevant and well-organized the facts, determines the effectiveness of the writing €“ Nancy Arapoff, Writing: A Thinking Process 33).
The Situation:

The urgent requirement for travel and work amid a foreign culture has not gone away. Your team has found itself focusing on such disparate cultures as North Africa, Thailand, Central America, Philippines, and China.  Amid all your other work in preparation for this deployment, you must conduct some research into the literature of your area, in order to improve your cross cultural competence. Your research proposal has been accepted, and now you have to get down to work.

This is also your final paper for the course: a literature research essay. You will compose a short written work which articulates, supports, and develops an idea or claim (Booth 1248). This claim will assert some matter of significance to the cross cultural challenge you might face. The literature you select must be used to provide a deeper understanding of this issue. The exact nature of this claim, and the overall tone you adopt, will be up to you. Your audience will be fellow Soldiers engaged with you in this work.  The claim or thesis must be clear. It must be a single declarative sentence which makes an argumentative and significant claim about the culture in question, using particular literary works as support.  This is not, in other words, an area studies, or an anthropology project. This is an essay about the relationship between culture and its literature. Your work must be grounded and supported by examples of literary works.

By now you know that literature is both aesthetic and rhetorical. Its aesthetic beauty is often a function of culturally developed standards, while its rhetorical effectiveness rests on how well it answers the mail. And this latter is a complex matter of understanding purpose, audience, text, genre, and so forth, as well as the nature of the creative literary work you are reading. The task is doubly complex when crossing cultural boundaries because much of the situation is culturally determined. To see your way through this, you should rely on your understanding of the elements of the rhetorical situation, as well as the elements of literary analysis; these do not change.

Now you must put all this together in a persuasive literary research essay which argues for a helpful understanding of the culture demonstrated through an appreciation of the literature you are reading.
The Task:

You will compose a literary research essay, based on a claim which you can support by reference to the literature of another culture. You will use a literary selection(s) of your choice, which may be of any creative genre. In addition to the selection(s), you will provide somewhere between 5 and 10 credible and relevant reference sources. I leave the decision as to what is credible and relevant up to you €“ part of the evaluation of your work will be seeing just how well you meet that criteria. You may include graphics, photos, and links in your essay (although be sure to document the source if you do). Finally you must have a list of sources, composed as a Works Cited page in accordance with MLA style.
You will also provide a working bibliography of five or more sources, as well as an annotated bibliography.  (See Bbd for more guidance on both, as well as templates.)
There is one other requirement that is separate from the formal report, but linked to it thematically. You will prepare a presentation of your research paper for a potential face to face session on the 28th of Feb (assuming that your schedule permits this). In any event, you will submit presentation slides to accompany this oral presentation. You may use either PowerPoint or Prezi for this. You must complete your presentation in 10 slides or less, with your first two slides being an introduction and an overview, while the last will be a list of sources.

Works Cited
Arapoff, Nancy. Writing: A Thinking Process. TESOL Quarterly 1.2 (1967): 33-39. JSTOR. Web.
Booth, Allison and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. NY: Norton, 2006. Print.

Deadlines:

NLT 16 Feb:  Submit via Bbd a tentative thesis and a working bibliography (minimum of 5 authoritative, credible, and relevant sources with at least two being scholarly journals, in addition to whatever primary literary texts you are researching. Be sure to note on your working bibliography the literary works you are reading.
Mon 24 Feb.: Submit an annotated bibliography with at least five sources, other than your primary literary text.
Tue €“ Wed 25-26 Feb (or as arranged by your team): Conduct final peer review
TBD: If a time can be established  you will present the results of your research to the class via Adobe Meeting. PowerPoint Template will be provided.
Fri 28 Feb. Your final paper is due via Bbd by 1700. Submit peer reviews to me via email at the same time.

Specifications:

Your paper must€¦
ü  be 1500 €“ 2000 words in length, not including the works cited.
ü  have a descriptive and meaningful title
ü  contain a clear thesis statement that summarizes your main point and that is specific, significant, and arguable.
ü  present a reason, or reasons, for your position which will link your evidence with your thesis.
ü  explain and support your thesis using a variety of evidence €“ but it must refer back to your literary text(s).
ü  contain unified, coherent, well-developed paragraphs with strong topic sentences.
ü  use proper MLA documentation and manuscript format.
o   You must cite at least five varied sources for information or opinion on your topic. Your sources may be of any sort, provided that they are authoritative, credible, and relevant. You will be graded on the authority, credibility, and relevancy of your sources for your support. If in doubt about the appropriateness of a source, ask. Note: Citing social content provided information sources, such as Wikipedia, Studymode, Course Hero, Ask.com, etc, is unacceptable. You may use such cites in order to gain a rapid background for your project, but you may not cite them as formal support for your thesis.
o   You may use direct quotations, and I encourage you to quote from your primary sources. You must do so properly using MLA-style in-text or parenthetical citations.
o   Your overall manuscript must adhere to MLA style and be in accordance with the class standard as posted on Blackboard. Failure to follow this standard in terms of font, pitch, margin, header, page numbering, word count, etc. will result in the return of the essay ungraded, or a reduction in grade at my discretion.

This paper will be graded by the FTCC English Department rubric, common to all English 111 classes.  The grade points for this project will be distributed as shown:

Research proposal €“ completed     25
Thesis and Working bibliography    25
Annotated bibliography    50
Final presentation    50
Final essay    100
Total points possible    250
Peer reviews are required and graded separately