Writing Project 2: A Stylistic Analysis

The OED defines “style” as “the manner of expression characteristic of a particular writer . . . a writer’s mode of expression considered in regard to clearness, effectiveness, beauty, and the like.”  This assignment asks you to analyze the style of one of the essayists included in Modern American Prose.  You will want to examine word choice, sentence structure (including parallel constructions, contrasts, and sentence patterns and variety), figurative language, and any other features that give the writer’s work a distinctive voice.  In the early stages of your writing process, you will need to study the essays in MAP closely and identify as many stylistic devices as you can.  Once you begin drafting your essay, you will need to limit your focus to the elements of the writer’s style that seem most characteristic and/or which you find most interesting.

  Write your essay as if it were going to become part of a supplementary text to accompany MAP.  Your audience then will be advanced composition instructors and students across the country.  Your final essay should be a minimum of five pages.  Remember that you will need to file all your prewriting notes and early drafts to turn in with your writing folder.

  A successful response to this assignment will

·      identify characteristic elements of the writer’s style.

·      cite specific examples to illustrate your points.

·      assess the overall effectiveness of the writer’s style.

·      present ideas with thought, depth, clarity, and grace.

·      demonstrate an understanding of the principles of Understanding Style, chapters 1-8.

Calendar for Writing Project 2:

Instructions for Prospectus:

In a one-page document (typed, single-spaced), identify your subject and a working thesis. List the main points of your analysis, and briefly explain how you expect to support your points. The February 6 date is a deadline.  You may turn your prospectus in earlier.  The first three presenters almost surely will wish to do so.

  Presentations:

  Publication is part of the writing process.  Writers generally create with the intention of making a text public.  You will “publish” your analysis by sharing your conclusions with your classmates and instructor in  a fifteen minute presentation.  The presentation not only gives you the opportunity to publish your work, but it also gives you the responsibility of educating your classmates about the style of your chosen writer.  In order that they have some context for your presentation, you will select the essay from MAP that you find most representative of your writer’s style and assign it to be read before the class in which you are scheduled to present.  To aid your classmates in understanding your analysis, you should prepare a one-page handout.  You are welcome to use any other visual aids you wish to design, although you are not required to use additional aids. 

  Our time constraints are rigid, so please be sure that you time your presentation.

Return to course page.