ENGL132.A – Ecology of the Text

Assignment for Paper #2: History of Place Essay

Due:                            in class, Monday, February 23

Length:                       5-6 pages, plus Works Cited

Special

   Requirements:        ● build essay upon a thesis

● use three non-internet sources

● include a Works Cited Section

● bring three copies to class

Your second formal paper asks you to investigate the history of your place and to build a 5-6 page essay upon your research.  Each paper will of course be as unique as each of your choice of places (and as different as you as observers of those places).  Still, some general approaches that you might find useful include

● investigating the long (pre-settler) history of your places, perhaps extending

back even to the geological history

● exploring the more recent history of your place—its founding, its current

ownership, status as a public trust, etc.

● researching the history of the flora and fauna of your environment

Although this is a research paper, it should still have a thesis.  Think of recent essays we’ve read that construct an argument about an environment’s history: Meloy’s “The Flora and Fauna of Las Vegas” and Kingsolver’s “The Memory Place” offer two especially good examples.

A note about sources: By “non-internet sources,” I mean materials that do not exist primarily or solely on the internet.  A source that you found through an internet search and then retrieved physically would be a perfectly acceptable source.  By the same measure, you may incorporate internet research as long as you have at least three non-internet sources.

Finally, since some of your sources may come from non-traditional venues (i.e. government documents, maps, pamphlets, conversations with local residents, etc.), you’ll probably want to refer to the MLA Handbook for Writers or the back of the Bedford Handbook to learn how to cite these unusual sources.

When you bring three copies of your paper to class on Monday, you’ll distribute two to your peer review group members and one to me.  We’ll then conduct a workshop the following Wednesday, where your peer group will share written and verbal comments with you.  You’ll then be asked to revise the paper based upon these comments and submit it the following Wednesday (March 3) for a final grade. 

As always, I’ll be glad to meet with you during office hours or by appointment to answer any questions you may have; you may also contact me via email.