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Paper 1 outline (optional)

This assignment is optional. If you submit it, you will receive feedback that can guide your writing process. There is no penalty for not submitting it.

Assignment purpose

The assignment is designed to help you organize your thoughts for your draft. The assignment asks you to submit an outline, following rules designed to help you process the reading in a way that leads to a good draft. Since Paper 1 is an exposition paper in which you explain a source, the outline you submit for this assignment can be thought of as either an outline of parts of the source or as an outline of Paper 1.

Goals

  • practice paraphrasing and correct attribution
  • practice reading course assignments closely and following all instructions
  • develop an accurate understanding of the source material

Scope

The outline should not cover all of Pinker’s arguments, only ones that you will discuss in your paper. See the main Paper 1 assignment for the expected scope of the paper.

Please review exercise guidelines, follow GenAI policy, and submit an updated workload report. This assignment requires pages numbers only for in-text citations.

Outline structure

  • At the top, state Pinker’s main points for the sections and arguments you plan to discuss (not all arguments in the chapter as a whole). Use two sentences maximum. These should be separate from the outline, above it, and not numbered.
  • Follow these main points with numbered/lettered lines in a hierarchical outline form . It should have two levels maximum: :points and subpoints.
  • At the end, include a correctly formatted reference list with only one source, Pinker, and format the citation for the source correctly.
  • Do not include lines about the paper introduction or conclusion in the outline. The thesis stated above the outline will serve as the introduction to the outline.

Outline content

  • Paraphrase all points; do not use direct quotations. Cite page numbers for each point in parentheses (e.g., (22-23)); no names or years are needed.
  • Attribute claims directly to the source (e.g., “Pinker argues that cooperation evolved…”).
  • Each point will paraphrase a claim from the source argument.
  • Each point in the outline should contain exactly ONE complete sentence—not two or more sentences. Do not use more than one sentence per point.
  • Each point should be :a COMPLETE sentence with a clear subject and verb, not a phrase or sentence fragment.
  • Avoid using “this” or “it” as the subject of the points
    • Avoid: “This is an example of mate selection.” [What is an example of mate selection? Identify it clearly.]
  • Each point should be a STATEMENT—not a question.
    • Avoid: “What does survival have to do with sexual selection?” [not a statement]
  • Each point should paraphrase :a claim the source makes about its topic (meaning a claim about an idea or about another author). Points should NOT make claims about the source as a piece of writing, or describe generally what the source does in the paper.

:x points

points and subpoints

:x complete

Correct:

  1. Dance movements convey sex-specific information indicating an individual’s biological quality (352).
    A. Male physical strength may be a mating-related quality conveyed through dance as more elaborate dance movements are challenging and require a higher level of coordination to be executed (352-353).
    B. In contrast, female dance movements may provide information about their fertility (353).

Incorrect:

  1. Dance movements and biological quality (352) (not a sentence)
    A. Effects of male dance movements (352-353) (not a sentence)
    B. Effects of female dance movements (353) (not a sentence)

Incorrect:

  1. Action films and video games teach coping by:
    A. Balancing negative and positive experiences and creating a hierarchy among them.
    B. Integrating negative emotions into positive goals to pose activating challenges.

Problem: (1) is not a complete sentence by itself. (A) and (B) are not complete sentences by themselves. The incorrect format encourages the student to make a list of points without really summarizing them into increasingly broad ideas.

:x topic

  • Avoid: “Boyd gives several supporting examples.” (describes how the source is written)

  • Correct: “Boyd notes that one modern mechanism for punishing cheaters is a police force.” (states the example used in the source argument)

  • Avoid: “Pinker gives several reasons that music is pleasurable.” (describes what the source author does in general)

  • Correct: “Pinker argues that music includes sounds similar to those found in the EEA” (states Pinker’s actual argument)