English Assignment – Essay 1–Different Ways of Close Reading.

PROMPT: Compare and contrast New Criticism and Reader Response Criticism using your class experiences with “the mother” or “Godmother Tea” from Best American Short Stories 2020  as your main source material.
Think of the basic similarities and differences between New Criticism and Reader Response Criticism. Also, please use your class experiences with “the mother” to guide your essay. 
 
Prewrite: The purpose of this pre-write is not to scare you or to lock you into a paper. I only want to make sure that you’ve given the paper adequate thought at this stage. This is what I need you to do:

In the clearest, most complete way, please write your thesis statement. Remember that it should i) clearly answer the prompt, ii) briefly mention your main supports or arguments or illustrations, and iii) be only one sentence long.

“Although similar in ____________,  NC and RR are different in ________________ as shown by (whatever your are reading.)”

Please write possible topic sentences for every paragraph in your paper. For a paper of three to five pages long, try to make a numbered list of at least five different main topics that you’re going to cover in your paper. Remember to make each of these a single complete sentence.

Your topic sentence might not be as detailed as your thesis, since it’s only covering part of the thesis–but it still must be a complete sentence that refers directly and specifically to the thesis.
We will be discussing this at greater length in class, but remember that as you write the final draft, the thesis and topic sentences may change. All good! Don’t worry about it. The main thing is you have something to start from. Think of this as a point of departure.

Compare and contrast New Criticism and Reader Response Criticism using your class experiences with “the mother” or “Godmother Tea” from Best American Short Stories 2020 as your main source material.

Think of the basic similarities and differences between New Criticism and Reader Response Criticism. Also, please use your class experiences with “the mother” to guide your essay. 

MLA Format. 

12-pt, Times New Roman, double-spaced, single-sided, 

2-4 pages long. Please boldface the thesis and underline all topic sentences.

Best American Short Stories of 2020–Selena Andersons Godmother Tea  
Link to story if you don’t have the book yet: https://main.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/1817-godmother-tea

For more on Topic Sentences, please see: https://owl.purdue.edu/engagement/ged_preparation/part_1_lessons_1_4/index.htmlLinks to an external site.
For more on MLA format, please see: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_general_format.htmlLinks to an external site.

Please READ through ALL of the directions CAREFULLY.