First, the administrative stuff: You’ll submit your Essay 1 Phase 2 to the dropbox under Unit Portfolios on Blackboard by Friday at 5pm. As a reminder, make sure to review your score once I’ve posted them so you know whether you received a ★ (complete), + (incomplete), L (late) grade, or M (missed), or if any previous L scores have converted to M scores. You are responsible for getting in touch with me ASAP about any time-sensitive scores or missed feedback conferences.

If you did not schedule a mandatory feedback conference with me this past week, or get in touch with me about alternate arrangements, I count it as a Missed labor item. Even though the score is M, I encourage you to meet with me for feedback, as this is your only way of receiving comments on your Essay 1 Phase 1 draft.

Now, Phase 2 should look more like a complete essay, approaching the length estimated in the guidelines, with multiple paragraphs that follow a loose “evidence-analysis-significance” format: evidence being the unit of language you’re introducing in its larger context (e.g., what it means in mainstream communities, what it means in ; analysis being your interpretation/explanation of how the evidence illustrates your controlling idea/claim; and significance being how it represents members of the community or the community as a whole, or how it’s significant in constructing or reinforcing a particular communal value.

In this stage of drafting, you’ll also be incorporating narrative techniques in some form or another. Your paper should be skewed towards analysis more than narrative (and no more narrative than a 50/50 split). Some ways to include narrative are:

  • First and last paragraphs: Write a scene in which redditors “speak” to each other using the lexis you’re examining, or a scene in which you’re navigating the subreddit, or a scene in which you describe an experience you have with the subreddit topic and in which you incorporate the lexis you plan to examine; or
  • Sentences: Include language throughout the essay that practices narrative/creative skill: e.g., adjectives, colorful verbs, vivid description wherever it might help further your claim.
  • If you still feel stuck, Purdue OWL has a nice breakdown of what narrative writing in academic writing might look like.

Full instructions for Phase 2 expectations can be found in the Unit 1 section of the Assignment Guidelines. You can also refer to the Sample Student Essays for further guidance. And as a general tip, if you review the Peer Review forms in advance of each phase, you’ll see the criteria laid out there.

Finally, don’t fret too much about citations, but yes, you will need a Works Cited with this draft, and you’ll need to cite any redditors you quote. You can cite redditors like: u/name (YEAR) says, “quote.” At the end of the draft, in your Works Cited, you would cite the entire thread and use the original poster as the author of the thread. Follow the instructions on Purdue OWL’s MLA Guide for Electronic Sources on “Listservs, Discussion Groups, and Blog Postings.” In the in-text citations, use the format (Author, “Thread Title”) since there aren’t page numbers. Don’t include URLs in the in-text citations. Check out the Internet Sources section of Purdue OWL’s MLA Guide for In-Text Citations for more info.