Speak Literary Analysis

Expository Writing
&
Editing & Peer Review with Word Technology

 | Directions | Topics | Planning the Essay | Writing the Essay | Peer Review Guidelines | Peer Reviewing using Word | Publishing the Essay | Grading Rubric | Essay Tips |

1. Learn about essays and strategies for writing good essays. Use a graphic organizer if you like.
2. Choose one of the following topics to write about.
3. Save a Word document as "speak_first name" on your H:/ drive. So Emily would call hers speak_emily. This naming style is VERY IMPORTANT.
4. Explore the idea in a well-organized, fully developed expository essay. (So this is the "write your essay" step).
5. Check your essay for conventions errors (especially spelling and sentence faults), coherence, and development of ideas. Be sure to use effective transitions also.
6. Send your essay to your cyber partner as an email attachment. The subject line of this email is "speak."
7. Open your cyberpartner's essay file by right clicking on the Word icon in the email and choosing 'Open With' and then Word.
8. Save this file in your H:/drive. DO NOT change the file name (if your cyberpartner named the file wrong, see your teacher before you save the file).
9. Review your cyberpartner's essay using Word.  You are to make five comments in all (minimum).
10. See the peer review guidelines for this assignment. Develop your comments fully. One or two words is not really a comment. If you say something that needs explaining, explain.
11. Send the reviewed and saved document back to your cyberpartner as an attachment. CC: your teacher The subject line for this email is also speak.
12. When you get your paragraph back, consider your feedback carefully and then revise it and make final edits.
13. Publish your fully edited and revised essay in your web page. (see below for directions for this step; you will need to remove the comments before you publish).
14. See the semester calendar for the due dates.
15. Consult the rubric to see how you will be graded.

Topics

Choose your topic from the options listed below. There are eight topics in all below.

1. Choose either of the following topics from Mrs. Tigner-Rasanen.
   1. Find as many references to speaking in the novel (when people speak, when they don't). What are the consequences for not speaking? What about for speaking up (saying what's important). What is the author saying about speaking?
   2. How does the development of Melinda's art reflect her process of healing and recovering?
2. Choose any of the following topics:
   1. How is Melinda like the cycle of life she learns about in biology, from the seed surviving to the fully grown tree?
   2. As Melinda withdraws further and further into herself, we become aware of the contrast between outer reality and inner reality. In what ways does this novel show how people are sometimes not who we think they are? (29, 33, 83, 104, 111, 115, 119, 125, 157) Hint: Melinda is not the only character you can consider for this topic.
   3. Mirrors are one of the main motifs of the novel. Find as many instances of mirrors (or any reflective surface) and think about what Melinda is doing, thinking, or learning. How does she grow or change through as she continues to consider her own reflection? Mirror images: 17, 21, 25, 40, 50, 82, 101, 124, 125, 136, 145, 170. Don't forget to consider the value of the mirror at the end of the novel as well.
   4. Melinda's escapes: Look at all of the places Melinda goes to avoid being "in school." How are these places similar or different? What are the benefits of each place for her? Are there any detrimental effects?
   5. What do Melinda's report cards say about her? Predict what her 4th quarter grades will be. Also include your ideas about what her 8th grade and 10th grade report cards were/will be.
3. Come up with your own topic. You must get your topic approved before you begin writing.

Planning the essay: Getting ready to write!

• Read all the passages from the novel that are relevant to your topic. You will have to do some serious re-reading.
• Take notes about what is important to you. Use post it notes on important pages. You will be citing passages from the novel, so your notes will help you find what you're looking for.
• Use a graphic organizer if you like (not required). Graphic organizers can help in several ways:
  • They help you organize your thoughts and ideas.
  • They can help you see what you're missing: not enough information, missing support, etc.
  • They can help you see if your ideas are too similar or overlapping.
  • They can help you see connections between ideas.
  • They can help you generate new ideas.

Writing the essay

• Write in third person. Do not use “you” or “I.”
• Do not lose track of your thesis, your guiding idea. You must know what this is first. What is the main thing you want to say in your essay.
• Use quotation marks around passages that you use directly from the book to support your main ideas. Put the page number at the end of that passage showing what page you took it from. For example: Sentence begins and then "there is a passage from the book" (72). See how the period goes after the parenthesis? Use this model. For more help, see pages 42 and 43 in your Skills and Style Handbook to see how to weave quotations into your writing.
• Cite the novel at the bottom of your page (when you publish). There is a space for your source in the essay format. Use your MLA guide in your FSSH for a book with one author.

Publishing your essay

• Make a new web page: speak is a good file name. Format the page like you did for your hypertext essay. There must be a link back to your webfolio on this page. See the sample.
• You also need to cite this book as your source at the bottom. Use MLA style for a book with one author:
  • Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Puffin Books, 1999.
• Before you copy the text from Word and paste it into your table in FrontPage, you need to delete all the comments from your paragraph. If you think you might want to save the copy with the comments for later reference, save a copy of the assignment under a different file name first. To delete comments, you need to open the reviewing toolbar first; go to View, Toolbars, Reviewing). Then, look for a little yellow icon with a red X on it. In the drop down menu, there is an option to delete all comments from the document. Choose this option. Then, you can copy and paste the text of your paragraph into the table you have made in FrontPage. (Remember to take your indent off in Word first).
• Make a hyperlink to the new speak page on your webfolio. Call it Speak essay: your title.