PUBLIC SPEAKING AND ACADEMIC WRITING INSTRUCTIONS

Public Speaking and

Academic Writing

Final Essays

April 2014

Choose ONE of the questions from the list below for your essay of 1,000-1,200 words, which you must print off and hand to me before Wednesday April 30^th:

1. Compare the techniques and ideas prominent in Surrealist literature and art, referring to 2 or more writers and artists.

2. Compare how an artist and writer on the course use their work to challenge the traditions and institutions associated with art and literature.

3. Compare how an artist and writer on the course engage with social and political issues in their work.

4. Compare how an artist and writer on the course illustrate the importance of looking at life from different perspectives.

5. Compare the visual art and writing of a single figure on the course. (So far, we have only looked at Leonora Carrington, but we will also look at Sylvia Plath, e.e. cummings and possibly William Burroughs – you may write on any of these too)

Surrealist techniques: a) Exquisite corpse b) Accidental poetry c) Collage d) Creative collaboration	Surrealist ideas: a) Desire b) Violence and war c) Dream images d) Freedom / anarchy
Artists & filmmakers on course: a) Leonora Carrington b) Frida Kahlo c) Guillermo del Toro d) Wassily Kandinsky e) Guerrilla Girls f) Jason deCairs Taylor g) Michel Blazy h) Pedro Reyes	Writers on course: a) Leonora Carrington b) John Berger c) Jack London d) David Foster Wallace e) Susan Sontag f) Rebecca Solnit g) George Orwell

Holy Week Assignment

Prepare an outline draft of this essay, and show it to me in class on Monday April 21^st.

Include a), b) and c) below in one document:

a) Choose your title

Choose from the list or create your own – you may only do this if you have discussed the title with me before Holy Week and we have agreed on it.

b) Research your chosen title

Choose the 3 main areas on which your essay is going to concentrate. Once you have made this decision, find sources to improve your understanding and support your argument.

a. Use the internet and biblioteca.mty.itesm.mx. Find three different sources (whether books, newspaper columns or journal articles, or reputable blogs) which look at these areas.

b. Write a five-sentence summary of each source – how does it support or contradict your own ideas on the subject?

c) Produce a plan

This plan will briefly outline the 3 areas of focus and the material you will cover in your essay – this will be a skeleton structure of the essay you will write.

Guidelines for Final Essay

(1,000-1,200 words)

This is a very simple and clear structure that you can use for many different scenarios when you are required to produce a piece of writing reviewing and analysing a subject.

Title (5-10 words)

-   Choose a title that is clear and interesting.

Epigraph (5-30 words)

-   Choose a quote that is eye-catching and interesting. Ideally, it should be funny or otherwise memorable.

Introduction: Set out 3 main sections of essay (220 words)

-   The opening section of the essay must refer to the title, explain why you have chosen to focus on the 3 main sections of your essay (why they are the most important aspects of the subject), and should conclude by referring to the epigraph and explaining what it adds to your argument.

-   Briefly (no more than a sentence) explain to the reader what it is you will cover in each section, why one section leads on to the next, and suggest what you will conclude (this should refer back to the title of your essay).

First section of essay (250 words)

-   In each of the 3 main sections of the essay, you should quote from various sources: interviews with experts, works of literature, and academic studies.

-   In each section, make sure that whatever material you include is advancing your argument.

-   In this first section, you must do a close reading of some literature: include quotes (anything from a few words to 5 sentences) and analyse them.

Second section of essay (250 words)

-   In each of the 3 main sections of the essay, you should quote from various sources: interviews with experts, works of literature, and academic studies.

-   In each section, make sure that whatever material you include is advancing your argument.

-   In this second section, you must do a close reading of some visual art: include the image or images and analyse it or them.

Third section of essay (250 words)

-   In each of the 3 main sections of the essay, you should quote from various sources: interviews with experts, works of literature, and academic studies.

-   In each section, make sure that whatever material you include is advancing your argument.

-   In this third section, you must draw together the observations you made in your first section on literature and in your second section on art

Conclusion of essay (220 words)

-   In this section you need to wrap up your argument, by drawing together the different strands you have traced so far in the essay, and referring back to the title or epigraph. The essay should end with a memorable line.