Workshop Guidelines

Name of Paper Critic: ______________________

Name of Paper Author: _______________________

OUTLINE ONE:

WORKSHOP GUIDELINES

DIRECTIONS: Please answer in complete sentences and take time and care in responding, as you will be graded on these handouts. You should be addressing all questions within a given section. Give the notes to the Paper Author when finished. They will hand it in to me next week at the beginning of class and you will both get credit for the assignment.

 Does the essay’s thesis seem to be undeveloped or too broad, or is it just specific enough? Even if the thesis seems to be specific enough, suggest a way for the writer to make it even more specific and narrow. Also note any awkward grammar or unclear word choice. Remember, the thesis should detail what scene is being examined, what lens the author is using to examine it [religious, psychoanalytic, or race/class/gedner], and the larger cultural implications at stake. Also, is the thesis clearly arguable?

 Is the writer incorporating research from two scholarly sources into the essay? Do the sources seem to be a strong and relevant from the writing at hand (do not ask the writer to tell you about them, but judge them based solely on what is in the paper)? Write what you know about the sources below and give any suggestions for what you want to know more about:

Does the writer incorporate plenty of quotes from Dracula in the essay? They should! Are those quotes strong enough to use (i.e. “murder weapon quotes”)? Which quote is the strongest and which is the weakest? Why? Does the writer integrate the quotes into the paper seamlessly, with context and information about the sources they come from? Are they properly formatted via MLA style?

 Does the writer provide convincing, sufficient analysis for their quotations? Remember, analysis is as important than the quote itself. Make suggestions for improvement below, and be specific. The analysis should of course connect back to the lens used (i.e. psychoanalytic) and the cultural implications.

 Is the paper organized? Do the body paragraphs seem to build logically upon one another? Are the quotations logically organized? Give at least one suggestion for improvement.

 Lastly, it’s imperative that the cultural context be given researched, careful attention. Does the writer make a well-argued, specific, reasonable connection between their scene’s analysis and larger social issues at the time in history? If not, the paper will not receiving a passing score. Please give suggestions for improvement.

Is the scene enough to focus on, or should a parallel scene also be analyzed? If so, suggest a parallel scene to incorporate into the essay (brief response):