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We have already worked with the theory of speech communities, so you already have some understanding about what it means to work with a theory. For this last section of the quarter, we have looked at the. theories presented in McCabe, et. al’s “Gender in Twentieth-Century Children’s Books: Patterns of Disparity in Titles and Central CharactersYou will write a paper in which you support, refute or modify the writer’s idea. You will be writing to an audience who has not read your text but who may have heard of it. In any case, you are the expert on the ideas.
Before you write:
You will need to read and understand what the writer’s theory is.
Then, you will have to come up with a way to test the writer’s theory before you begin drafting. This will require you to observe or perform primary research by attempting to apply the theory yourself. For example, if you are looking at McCabe, you will want to collect samples of children’s books either by looking at a virtual library, an online bookstore, or by looking at children’s books in your own home. You could even extend the theory and instead of looking at children’s books, you

could look at children’s movies.
After you have made your observations, you will use your findings to evaluate the argument. You will then you will draw from one to two other sources, i.e secondary sources, to help you construct your argument. For example, if you find that McCabe is correct, books in the twentieth century do convey specific gender roles, but books written in the last twenty years have changed these roles, then you can do research in our online library to see if your finings are valid or to help you explain why your findings are different from that of McCabe. If you find that some of the readings that we have done this quarter could help you, you are free to use these sources as well.
Your final paper will need to have:
A “They Say/I Say” introduction that establishes the writer’s theory with which you are working.
A thesis that leads your reader to a discussion of your support or modification of the theory.
A body that provides a careful analysis and showing examples of the theory and, if necessary, its limitations and your modification.
Acknowledgement of the sources you use within the text
A Works Cited Page