Dear students,  

The essay topic for the final Language III exam on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019 will be based on Shyamoli from Mrs. Dutta Writes a Letter by Chitra Divakaruni. 

The mode of development we'll ask you to use to discuss the topic is cause-effect analysis. You will have to analyse reasons for Shyamoli´s uneasiness two months after her mother-in-law moved to live with her family in California.

Please read the text very carefully and take into account that for this essay you should focus on Shyamoli´s feelings, not on Mrs. Dutta´s. You will be allowed to have the text with you. Some of the supporting items we think you should consider are:

- her feeling that her mother-in-law had overtaken the kitchen

- her worries about her mother-in-law’s interfering with her neighbour’s privacy

- her stress because of her hectic mornings

- her uneasiness at/ dislike for Mrs. Dutta's comments on the children's behaviour

- her resentment for having no time to discuss the situation with her husband

- her irritation at her mother-in-law´s indifference to her requests / scoldings

You should think of a way of grouping these supporting items so that you can have two (or three, but no more) developmental paragraphs.

Don't forget to review our notes on cause-effect analysis, outline layout, and the connectors you should use for the different modes of development. You should also review our guidelines on introductory and concluding paragraphs. When developing the essay you should take into account that you should introduce supporting ideas clearly and straightforwardly, then explain them, and if appropriate, or possible, exemplify them. Your developmental paragraphs should have around 200 words each.

Please remember that on Monday, July 29^th, and Tuesday, July 30^th we WILL NOT answer any questions related to the essay topic in office hours, nor will we check possible outlines.

If you have already enrolled, and decide not to take the exam, please let us know. 

Kind regards,

Prof. A. Argerich

Dear students,  

The essay topic of the Language III final exam on Wednesday, July 3^rd, 2019 will be based on the short stories The Legacy, by Virginia Woolf, and The Colonel´s Lady, by Somerset Maugham. You will be asked to COMPARE Gilbert and George.

After reading the short stories, you should try to make a list of possible points of comparison.

You will be allowed to have printed copies of the stories and monolingual and collocations dictionaries.

You should read our notes on the comparison and contrast mode of development and pay special attention to the two patterns of organization of comparison and/or contrast essays and to the use of connectors. Please, check how to use the connectors in context. You should also revise our instructions for Introductions and Conclusions.

Your task will be to write the outline to the essay, and a four-or-five- paragraph essay, with an introductory and a concluding paragraph, and two or three developmental paragraphs, depending on the pattern of organization you choose to use and the number of comparison points you include.

When writing the outline, you should follow the conventions we agreed on in class, like expressing the thesis statement and topic sentences by means of full sentences, and the supporting items by means of noun phrases.

Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

                            

Warm regards,

Prof. A. Argerich