Author: admin

My proffesor wants me to write  A DMS on a story 
Volar
by Judith Ortiz Cofer   please follow instructions carefully since this will be afterwards be turned into an essay .
#1 Complete the following checklist, which is based on the page 19 checklist in Mays.
Checklist of Literary Elements (Fiction): (based on the page 19 checklist in Mays.)
(Students choosing to analyze poems should use the poetry checklist on page 746-753.)
For a thorough baseline grasp on any story, answer all the following questions in as much detail as possible.
Consider your expectations based on the title, and the first few paragraphs.
What do you expect after conflicts arise?
What forces are in conflict?
2 What happens? (Chapter 2)
Do the characters or the situation change?
What are the main events or occurrences of the plot?
3 How is the story narrated? (Chapter 3)
Is the narrator identified as a character?
Is it narrated in past or present tense?
Is it narrated in the first, second or third person?
Do you know what every character is thinking, or only some characters, or none? (this determines narrative point of view)
4 Who are the characters? (Chapter 4)
Who is/are the protagonist(s)?
Who or what is/are the antagonist(s)?
Who are the other other characters? Are they rounded, or flat characters?
How do they affect the story?
Do your expectations change about some characters?
5 What is the setting of the story? (Chapter 5)
When does the story take place?
Where does it take place? (Identify all places)
Does the story move from one setting to another?
Does the story move in one direction, or back and forth, in time and place?
6 What is the style of the prose? In other words,
Are sentence structures and vocabulary unusual in any way?
Are sentence structures complex and elaborate? Short and concise?
Does that style contribute to a tone? A mood?
What images seem important? (Chapter 6)
What figures of speech appear? (Chapter 6)
What symbols are used? (Chapter 6)
Themes are important ideas in stories shown by characters, their conflicts, and their actions.
What important ideas, or themes, doe the story examine?
What attitude about each theme does the story imply?
Which characters, plot turns, symbols, images or other literary elements seems linked to each theme?
#2 Ten Questions (At Least!!)
Write ten questions directly asking about how or why the elements explored in the checklist matter. Ask about how elements develop, affect, contribute to key ideas or actions in the work, the more specific the better. The DMS is a progressive process, and these questions should derive from your analysis of the elements in the checklist.
General questions (Is the setting important?) or factual questions (Who is the main character?”) do not help. More specific questions, guided by your examination of that checklist should be the goal: (“What metaphor is implied by the setting in this story, and is that linked to a main theme?” “How do they symbols amplify what the story says about the theme of self-exploration?”)
Use prewriting strategies to explore elements and devise questions. To contribute well to the progress of analysis, every question needs to ask about an element – questions without an element are off target.
*Stay away from questions about theme; as stated in the checklist, themes are complex and derive principally from the whole of the other elements.
Each question should ask about how an element functions in the story.
Use prewriting at this point (and any other point it might help) to explore answers to questions of interest. Try a variety of methods.
3- Three potential thesis statements:
A good thesis answers a complex question about the work (thesis can’t be a question). Based on your development of complex questions above choose three claims about elements in the work that you consider possible essay directions. Thesis statements
-Should not be paraphrases of each other.
-Should be full, complete sentences.
-Should be specific rather than general, expressing both the element and some opinion about it.
Evaluating three different thesis statements helps us determine which can be best supported.
>Thesis #1:
>Thesis #2:
>Thesis #3:
4- Complete a Sentence Outline, beginning with the selected thesis.  All items must be complete sentences, as they will appear in the essay.
-This outline should present a developed plan for an essay. Logical links between thesis and development claims should be evident.
-Remember, the best outlines are written not as one word topics, but as full sentences making statements about portions of the essay’s ideas. The goal should be to get as close to that as possible. If starting with topics, what will you show your audience about that topic?
-Preferably, writers should already have a strong idea what text they’ll be quoting to examine the element in each of the body paragraphs.
(insert text below)
Item 1: Place single sentence thesis here, including its number from above. 
Item 2: Place main idea of first body paragraph here:
Item 3: Place main idea of second body paragraph here:
Item 4: Place main idea of third body paragraph here:
Item 5: Repeat as appropriate.
Item last: Concluding idea, if available:
**Remember, the outline of the essay plan should be ready for development as a draft, is the most important aspect of the DMS, and will be the focus of instructor feedback.  A DMS without an outline cannot score well.
First, review the Essay One Assignment and its specific requirements, to establish our goal. There you’ll find the list of stories essay one can examine. Second, remember that you will not submit an essay to this DMS assignment.
Instead, the Draft Materials Submission, or DMS, is a guided pre-writing activity. Because we write complex essays, complex planning different from what might be familiar is necessary. Read the Draft Materials Submission Instructions in the module.
Instead, the Draft Materials Submission, or DMS, is a guided pre-writing activity. Because we write complex essays, complex planning different from what might be familiar is necessary. Read the Draft Materials Submission Instructions in the module.
Use the DMS Template, provided in the module, to complete the DMS.
The DMS moves through a series of steps designed to build on each other towards a complex topic. The process begins with a checklist thoroughly and specifically exploring the variety of the elements in the work, discussing their connections. That checklist, which can be taken from page 19 in Mays, is followed by and thus developed into at least ten complex questions investigating the role that elements play in developing important ideas in the story.
Having asked valuable, interesting questions about how particular elements make meaning, the goal is to develop and consider three potential thesis statements that specifically respond to (answer) one of the ten-plus questions about how elements work. 
This should be followed by an outline definitively choosing one of the three thesis statements, then showing claims about that element that support the claim.
The DMS Template is provided in the module as a guide with specific instructions for each step.  Complete the template.
The End Result:
A complete DMS Submission will include:
1-A very detailed checklist exploring each main element and important sub-topics of those.
2-Ten questions specifically pursuing literary elements.
3-Three potential thesis claims discussing elements and their function.
4-A detailed full-sentence outline describing and framing the planned essay.
**Do Not Submit an Essay Draft to This Assignment.**  Submit the Draft Materials Submission according to template expectations.