This document provides guidance for students on an upcoming paper assignment analyzing Aziz Ansari's book Modern Romance. It discusses aspects to focus on in describing Ansari's writing style like voice, vocabulary, tone and use of support. It offers tips for developing a thesis statement evaluating what the book does well and could improve on. Example thesis statements and potential quotes to support the theses are provided. Finally, it reminds students of best practices for their upcoming individual presentations.

1. CREM LART 211
Feeling thankful?

2. Paper 4 Assignment
In-class essay on Thursday, November 30

3. Aspects of Writing Style:
Describing Ansari’s style
 Voice: Is it clear what kind of
person the writer is? Is the writer’s
voice consistent throughout?
 Vocabulary: difficult or easy to
read?
 Tone: serious or humorous? Formal
or informal?
 Support: personal stories or
academic research?
 Appearance: text or pictures?
Visually interesting?
 For each of these aspects, make a
descriptive claim about the Ansari
book.
 State that claim in a clear
declarative sentence.
 Then provide at least one example
from the book to support your
claim.

4. Towards a thesis statement
 Consider your three criteria:
 what is good or useful about the
book. Make sure you explain
clearly and in depth.
 what the book could have
discussed better or in more detail.
 Ansari’s writing style.
 Come up with multiple examples
for the first two criteria. Then
come up with your own judgment
about the third criterion (style)
based on multiple examples.
 Write a few sentences stating your
current judgment of the book. Try
answering these two basic
questions:
 In what ways is it a good book?
 In what ways does it fall short?
 Then, write one or two sentences
that could serve as your thesis
statement. Think about how you
should state your overall
judgment—how emphatic you
should make it, whether you
should qualify it, and whether you
should include in the thesis a
forecast of your reasons and
support.

5. If I were writing this essay…
 This would be my thesis statement:
“I think that Ansari’s Modern Romance is an admirable, though flawed, work.
His exploration of the role of technology in modern dating—especially his
focus on data and research—is enlightening and I think college students will
find it useful; however, I am frustrated by Ansari’s exclusion of LGBT
experiences and I find his relentless attempts at humor to be exhausting.”
 What is the judgment/evaluation here?
 What reasons is the judgment/evaluation based on?

6. Finding quotes/examples
 THESIS:
“I think that Ansari’s Modern
Romance is an admirable, though
flawed, work. His exploration of
the role of technology in modern
dating—especially his focus on data
and research—is enlightening and I
think college students will find it
useful; however, I am frustrated by
Ansari’s exclusion of LGBT
experiences and I find his
relentless attempts at humor to be
exhausting.”
 Discussion/data about technology
is useful.
What kind of quotes might I find
here?
 Lack of LGBT experiences. What
might I quote here? How about
something from the “Gay
Loneliness” article about how gay
romance is different?
 Trying too hard humor: maybe that
“doughnut” joke riff in one of the
early chapters?

7. Yes, this is kind of an easy prompt, but…
 Your outline for the essay can ONLY
include the following things:
 Your thesis statement (two
sentences or less).
 Two quotes from Ansari (with MLA
citations).
 One quote from another source.
 That’s it.
 Things I’m going to pay close
attention to:
 PARAGRAPH FOCUS. Your body
paragraphs better be perfect PIE
paragraphs.
 QUOTE SANDWICHES. You should
introduce each quote and provide
context. Then, after the quote,
you should explain it. Your MLA
citations should be perfect too.
 THESIS. Does the thesis control the
body paragraphs?

8. Presentation Best Practices
 Don’t prepare too much material.
Time moves quickly when you’re
talking in front of the class.
 Slides: realistically, you won’t need
more than ONE for your three-
minute individual presentation.
Trust me.
 Don’t put too much info on the
slide. Make sure it’s readable
quickly and from a distance.
 Use a colorful visual on the slide!
 Practice in advance!
 Work on your presentations RIGHT
NOW!

9. See you next week!