1. Purpose: To give students experience analyzing a scholarly monograph.



2. Content: This is an exercise in critical thinking. Your essay should reflect an understanding of what the author had to say, and as well should convey what is important about the book to a reader who has not yet read it. The context of these essays will vary, appropriately, from student to student: each of you will see the body of information or the argument differently. The trick in such a short paper is not to try and rewrite the book, but to convey the essence (or even a portion of the essence) and argument while critiquing the book. To get you going, ask some questions. Who is Paul Seaver? Is he an authority on his subject? What is the theme of Wallington's World? Does the book have a central thesis? Does it have a core that can be stated simply? What evidence does Seaver use? How well does he use it? What got left out?

The Seaver paper is due at the beginning of class on November 21.