Exploratory draft workshop for the seminar paper

You are engaged in an Inquiry Project that proceeds through a series of steps designed to bring you to your own idea, a logical idea founded on sound evidence (your sources), and presented convincingly. You have located a number of sources and drafted an annotated list of sources in order to engage with the ideas of others. The next crucial step is to identify and discuss your idea (or exploratory focus) and explain how your sources have led you to understand it. It is important that you primarily use your own words to do this, rather than relying too heavily on quotations from your sources. Your exploratory focus represents your unique perspective on the topic—your own well-informed point of view, based on your reading of multiple sources.

Exploratory Draft Assignment
Today, in class, please sketch out the overall argument of your entire seminar paper. You may use your annotated bibliography, notes, and reading responses in writing this draft, but please do not refer to the sources themselves. During this class period, write a spontaneous draft of the main points that you need to make in order to support your thesis or seminar paper focus (complete sentences and paragraphs, please--not an outline). This task demands that you understand and synthesize your ideas about your source material, formulate an exploratory focus (or thesis) for your paper, and discuss it without lengthy quotations and paraphrases. Please write a one- or two-sentence statement of your focus (or thesis) at the top of your draft.

You will have the entire 60-minute period to write this draft, and you should use all the time allotted for this task. At the end of class, print out two copies—give me one copy and keep one copy for yourself. You may use this draft to plan major sections of the seminar paper to write for the next two class meetings.

Assignment for Wednesday (11/21) and Monday (11/26): Using your exploratory draft as a guide, draft a section of your seminar paper. Bring the current version of your draft to class.