Splendid and sublime creatures,

The second outcome of writing includes demonstrating the ability to read, analyze, and synthesize textual information and to provide evidence supporting the goals of the writing piece. Mastering this outcome means showing comprehension of various texts, actively engaging with the texts in ways that support the writing purpose, connecting the texts with the writer’s ideas, using multiple types of sources, and correctly documenting all sources. This outcome is vitally important for reading and writing practices because the texts must be read and fully comprehended before moving on, and afterwards the writer must work to meld together his or her ideas with the texts. Equally important, this outcome will test the writer’s skill in picking out and providing the most solid pieces of evidence from the texts to support his/her purpose. Lastly, the writer must be able to properly cite the sources used for the paper, which are skills important in many life occupations and practices (such as scientific research). Overall, mastering this outcome is important for any writer because creating a compelling writing piece involves using variety in ideas, evidence, and sources alike. 

Of my three major papers, this paper best exemplifies outcome 2 primarily due to its incorporation and analysis of two major texts, and its major claim which synthesizes the two texts. In this paper I analyze the structures of two texts, The Arabian Nights (Anonymous) and The Ninety-Ninth Bride (Catherine F. King), arguing that The Arabian Nights “provides ample detail in each [embedded] narrative” to “preserve the myth and folklore that the tales express” while The Ninety-Ninth Bride “includes far less sophistication in the embedded narratives to emphasize the concepts of woman-to-woman relationships and empowerment of women” (Mititean 1-2). This argument shows intertextuality and understanding of the two texts through its clear comparison of the two texts and their organization, and through the way it integrates the texts to support my goal of conveying how these structures demonstrate the author’s purposes.

This paper shows the two texts are used in strategic ways through detailed analysis of their structural organization, using this analysis to make a claim about each author’s purpose, and discussing how each text’s organization conveys these purposes. For example, on page 2 of the essay I include a block quotation of a paragraph from The Arabian Nights and discuss its repetition throughout the text. On page 3 of the essay, I delve deeper and speculate that this unique structural organization results in more emphasis on the text’s embedded narratives – therefore promoting the author’s purpose of preserving the myths and folktales. The use of evidence from the two different texts also shows how I used evidence from different sources. One of my sources, The Arabian Nights, is more of a collection of tales and The Ninety-Ninth Bride is a short novel. Additionally, in my paper I state that the “presumed period” in which The Arabian Nights “was written” was the 14^th century (Mititean 5) while The Ninety-Ninth Bride is of “the 21^st century” (Mititean, 1), deeming them different sources.

Lastly, this paper shows responsible use of MLA citations. First, it shows proper in-text citations by following the MLA guidelines, which specify that the author’s name must precede the page number (if any). I also follow the MLA guideline for citing a text with no author, which dictates that the text name must precede the page number, such as “(The Arabian Nights, 164)” (Mititean 3). Finally, my paper shows proper MLA citation through its “Works Cited” page (Mititean 9), which compiles a list of the sources I used for the paper.

I have included a copy of my second paper below. I hope you consider it an adequate example of the second writing outcome.