English 1100: Workshop IV: Evidence Exercise. (to be submitted next Tuesday).

The assignment:
1) Carefully re-read either Vanessa Gs essay on Kim Kardashian as the American
Woman, OR Ursula Franklins essay Silence and the Notion of the Commons, OR the
two pro /con essays on hydro-fracking.
2) Identify what you feel to be a significant weakness (inconsistency / blind-spot / bias etc.)
in your chosen essay and find a piece of evidence that makes the essay stronger.
For example, you might want to explore Kim Kardashians attitude to issues of gender,
especially male / female relations. (Here I am recalling how a number of you commented on the
way in which she seeming to be avoiding Vanessa G.s questions about feminism.) You could try
to hunt down other interviews in which Ms. Kardashian is more explicit about her views on this
question. Or, if you come up empty there, check out what other commentators (thoughtful ones)
are saying about this issue.
This exercise will be easier if you seriously pretend to be the author of your chosen essay. (ie.
channel your inner Vanessa G., but more awake to complexity than she seems to be). You be the
judge of what needs to be added. And you will especially need to be thinking hard about what
constitutes a solid piece of evidence for the particular gap you identify. Keep in mind as well
what you understand to be the target audience for the original essay. Go for a thoughtful
comment with complex details that you can work with.
3) Using a mixture of paraphrase and quotations, properly contextualize, integrate, and
comment upon your chosen piece of evidence. NOTE: No need to reproduce the entire
page of the original essay where you incorporate your new evidence. Just include the two
sentences from the original essay that bookend your inserted evidence and commentary.
The submitted assignment should run page max.

4) Make sure that you properly cite (with in page citations) and document (at the foot of

your page is sufficient) your source, using either MLA or APA. (whichever you prefer).