CRAFT ANALYSIS GUIDELINES Overview A craft analysis addresses what the piece accomplishes and why/how it works.

In addition to discussing your selected writers craft, you will address what youve learned about your own craft from looking at this work and how you will apply what youve learned. Purpose Your goal in the craft analysis essay is to identify a piece of food writing that puts to use one or more craft techniques about which you would like to know more so you can continue to hone your own craft as a food writer. Audience I am your audience for this piece, so you can assume I am a) interested and b) at least passingly familiar with the piece you have chosen to analyze. Process Choose a piece in our Best Food Writing collection that is not scheduled for discussion in our class prior to the due date for this assignment. Consider the writer of this piece as a kind of companion to you as you work on your own craft. You do not need to discuss every element you notice in the piece, but you may wish to discuss two or more craft techniques that are somehow related. Make sure that if you do decide to analyze more than one craft element that you can relate the elements to one another rather than simply listing them. In other words, the transitions from point to point in your analysis should be more connective than another thing author x does very well is thus and so. . .. Be sure to use ample specific textual support to illustrate your analysis (i.e., the authors actual words). First person POV, informal or semi-formal tone/style/voice is fine but not required. Keep your focus on craft rather than subjective or literary interpretation/appreciationthe purpose of the analysis is to illustrate what you as a writer can learn from a writer whose work you admire. Attach a marked-up/annotated copy of the work you are analyzing. Your essay should be around 3-5 double-spaced pages long. Give your essay a descriptive title. Make sure to allow time to proofread and edit your essay. Use MLA style for citations and Works Cited. The rough draft of your craft analysis is due Thursday, is 7 February for workshop; the revised piece is due to me in class on Tuesday, 12 February. I am more than happy to meet with you to discuss process at any point and/or to look at a draft in progress with you and give you my suggestions for development, revision, and editing. I will not, however, allow for revisions once Ive graded the essays, so please budget your time accordingly. Evaluation Rubric

strong

okay

developing

selected work is analyzed using key terms from our book/discussions analysis is sufficiently detailed to make point(s) abo impact of craft choices analysis draws on sufficient textual support main ideas/paragraphs are ordered logically main ideas are connected rather than merely listed essay clearly establishes why this work was chosen analysis discussion of how the student writer will apply what has learned from the analyzed work is sufficiently developed essay is framed with an effective introduction & conclusion style of writing is clear & engaging essay is expertly edited/formatted

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