Q Directions 1. Read the following Original Passage (an excerpt from a book) and then evaluate the student attempts to refer to the source. 2. If a student attempt illustrates an error in introducing, quoting, paraphrasing, or citing the source, briefly explain the error AND revise the attempt to avoid the error. 3. If the student attempt illustrates a correct use of the source, briefly describe what the student is doing correctly. Original Passage In 1925 Dreiser produced his masterpiece, the massively impressive, An American Tragedy. By this time - thanks largely to the tireless propagandizing on his behalf by the influential maverick critic, H.L. Mencken, and by others concerned with a realistic approach to the problem of American life - Dreiser's fame had become secure. He was seen as the most powerful and effective destroyer of the genteel tradition that had dominated popular American fiction in the post-Civil War period, spreading its soft blanket of provincial, sentimental romance over the often ugly realities of life in modern, industrialized, urban America. Certainly there was nothing genteel about Dreiser, either as man or novelist. He was the supreme poet of the squalid, a man who felt the terror, the pity, and the beauty underlying the American dream. With an eye at once ruthless and compassionate, he saw the tragedy inherent in the American success ethic; the soft underbelly, as it were, of the Horatio Alger rags-to-riches myths so appealing to the optimistic American imagination. Source: Richard Freedman, The Novel (New York: Newsweek Books, 1975), pp.104-105. Student Attempts 1. If a student attempt illustrates an error in introducing, quoting, paraphrasing, or citing the source, briefly explain the error AND revise the attempt to avoid the error. 2. If the student attempt illustrates a correct use of the source, briefly describe what the student is doing correctly. Student #1: There was nothing genteel about Dreiser, either as man or novelist. He was the supreme poet of the squalid, a man who felt the terror, the pity, and the beauty underlying the American Dream. Answer: Student #2: There was nothing genteel about Dreiser, either as man or novelist. He was the supreme poet of the squalid, a man who felt the terror, the pity, and the beauty underlying the American dream (Freedman 104). Answer: Student #3: Nothing was genteel about Dreiser, as a novelist. He was the poet of the squalid, and felt that terror, pity, and beauty lurked under the American dream (Freedman 104). Answer: Student #4: "Nothing was genteel about Dreiser as a man or as a novelist. He was the poet of the squalid and felt that terror, pity, and beauty lurked under the American dream" (Freedman 104). Answer: Student #5: By 1925 Dreiser's reputation was firmly established. The reading public viewed Dreiser as one of the main contributors to the downfall of the "genteel tradition" in American literature. Dreiser, "the supreme poet of the squalid," looked beneath the bright surface of American life and values and described the frightening and tragic elements the "ugly realities," so often overlooked by other writers (Freedman 104). Answer: PreviousNext