What is the author’s purpose, audience, genre, and message? How does the author support this central belief/main idea with other ideas, images, language, or emotional content? Is there anything else that makes the text special?

Assignment 1: Should I read…?

For this assignment, you will write a post for an imaginary student blog To Read or Not To Read. Curious, intelligent, busy undergraduate students visit this blog to find out about texts other students are reading. In your post, you will review one of the readings we have covered so far this term and help your audience decide whether to read it on their own time or not. Obviously, they should read the text if it has been assigned to them for a class, so don’t make your review about that. Instead, ask yourself: Is the text wise, beautiful, funny, or otherwise delightful? Is it a slog, but still worth reading for the ideas it contains? Is it deeply aggravating, but important for understanding an issue? Or is it just plain not worth reading unless you absolutely have to?

Skills: Evaluating a text, making an argument, writing for an audience. These are foundational skills for many of the essays that you will write as an undergraduate at UNB.

Audience: Readers of To Read or Not To Read (students like you!) You are writing to inform and persuade your peers, so this shouldn’t sound like an ‘academic essay.’ Feel free to use the pronoun ‘I’, make jokes (if appropriate to the subject matter), and drop pop culture references your tutor might not get. Don’t use a thesaurus or any words you don’t know (this is good advice whatever you’re writing). Be clear and engaging!

Process:
If you completed the Before and After exercise, you can skip to step 5!

1. Choose your text.
Here are your options:
Rebecca Thomas, Etuaptmumk
Genesis selection from the Torah
Exodus selection from the Torah
Homer, Odyssey (excerpt from Book 9)
Sappho, Selected Poems (choose one or two as your focus)

2. Analyze the text.
What is the author’s purpose, audience, genre, and message? How does the author support this central belief/main idea with other ideas, images, language, or emotional content? Is there anything else that makes the text special? Jot down some notes in answer to these questions.

3. Think about the audience for your blog post.
How much do your peers across the country already know and care about the text, its author or topic? Does the text contain ideas that could change their thinking? Would they benefit in some way from reading it? Jot down some notes in answer to these questions.

4. Decide on your position.
Will you be encouraging your peers to read the text or not? Why? In making your argument, will you be changing their minds about something?

5. Write a draft.
Writers draft in lots of different ways. You can write from a detailed outline listing every main point and supporting point you plan to include. Or you can ‘free write’, see where you end up, and then reorder what you have until it flows. Or maybe something in the middle will work best for you. Just remember your audience and purpose, and be open to revising when you’re finished.

6. Test your draft.
Ideally, exchange your draft with a student or friend who is not taking ARTS 1001. Have them read your review and then try to answer the following questions without referring back to the review. Or you can re-read your own draft, set it down, and try to answer the same questions.
• What text is being reviewed?
• What is the reviewer’s recommendation regarding the text? Thumbs-up? Thumbs- down? Thumbs-sideways?
• What reasons or evidence does the reviewer give to support their recommendation? List as many as you can remember. Are there any you forgot? Why weren’t they as memorable?
• Do you have any questions? What do you wish you knew that isn’t in the review?

7. Revise.
Revise your review, attempting to meet any missing audience needs.
• Is it easy to identify the text being reviewed?
• Is your recommendation clear?
• Is your representation of the text fair and accurate?
• Is your evidence convincing and memorable?
• Is there any other information you should add to the review?

8. Edit and polish.
Run a spell and grammar check to catch typos and errors. Read your review out loud to
yourself, slowly. Does each sentence make sense? Do the sentences flow together? Does
anything just sound awkward? Edit and polish until you’re happy with your writing.