English homework help

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Essay 2: Enter the Conversation

Percentage of Final Grade: 15% or 150 points

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will understand academic writing as a conversation about topics of consequence.
  • Students  will understand their responsibilities as writers – to accurately cite  the work of other writers, to provide their audience with reliable  information, and to consider multiple points of view.
  • Students will understand academic writing as governed by the conventions of specific discourse communities.
  • Students  will become more critical readers, learning strategies for previewing,  annotating, summarizing analyzing, and critiquing texts.
  • Students will acquire informational literacy – the ability to locate and evaluate source material.
  • Students will improve their ability to write clear and compelling thesis statements.
  • Students will develop the skill of constructive critique, focusing on higher order concerns during peer workshops.
  • Students will understand the distinction between revising and editing.

Assignment:

For Essay 2, you will summarize and then respond to one of the readings from this unit (or the video, College Inc.).  In your essay, you will summarize the reading/video and then respond to  it by discussing how your own experiences and knowledge have led you to  either agree, disagree, or both agree and disagree with the author and by including the opinions of third parties (i.e., by incorporating secondary sources), which is discussed in more detail below.

Most of the readings can be found in your textbook. However, I also assigned a couple of outside readings and the video, College, Inc., which are posted under Course Content. In addition to the assigned readings (or the video), you may choose any of the other readings from Chapter 17 in They Say / I Say.  Choose the one that you best understand. Carefully read the example  essays that I have posted under Course Content, as they will help you to  understand the expectations for the assignment.

Essay 2 is similar to the previous essay, with two additions:

1.  Rather than responding to the selected reading/video with your own  opinion only, you will add other people’s voices to the conversation by  including two secondary sources (i.e., in addition to the selected  reading/video). You will use quotes both from the selected reading/video  and from your secondary sources to support your assertions.

Your  secondary sources can be another reading from this unit. For example,  in “Two Years Are Better Than Four,” Liz Addison is responding to Rick  Perlstein’s argument in “What’s the Matter with College?” Therefore, you  might choose to discuss their opposing views. Instead, you might choose  articles you find through one of the library databases, an article in  another textbook, a radio show, a podcast, or a video. You are not  required to use scholarly sources (i.e., peer-reviewed academic journals  from a library database), but your sources should be reliable. For  example, you may use The New York Times or Forbes, but you cannot use Wikipedia, a blog, or a personal website. If in doubt about your sources, please ask me.

2.  You will begin to answer the questions, “So what?” and “Who cares?” by  considering your intended audience and by linking your argument to  issues that your readers already care about.

Use the templates (pp. 751-766 in TSIS) to situate your argument within the existing conversation.

Note: If you do not have these templates, then you have the wrong edition of the textbook!

  • “Shut Up about Harvard” (pp. 390-397 in TSIS)

Requirements:

1. Length: 1,000-1,200 words

2. Include 3-4 direct quotes from the reading/video that you are responding to.

3. Include at least 1 quote from each of your two secondary sources.

4.  Your thesis should state whether you agree, disagree, or both agree and  disagree with the author. You must respond to the author’s argument.

5.  Provide an adequate summary for your reader, but do not allow the  summary to dominate the essay. The bulk of the essay should present your  own ideas.

6. Properly introduce, present, and cite all direct quotes.

7. Include a Works Cited page in which you cite both the reading/video that you are responding to and your two secondary sources.

8. You must adhere to the formatting guidelines set forth in The MLA Handbook,  8th edition. Be sure that all margins measure 1 inch and that you use  Times New Roman 12-point font. You also should follow MLA formatting  guidelines regarding the page heading, running header, page numbering,  etc.

General Guidelines:

  • Present and support your response (argument) with observations, details, and examples.
  • Use  correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Avoid slang, clichés, and  second person pronouns. Since this essay requires you to respond to the  reading using your own experiences and knowledge, you may use first  person pronouns.
  • Point out the author’s strengths and weaknesses, but do not misinterpret the author.
  • Present your response so that readers can hear your distinctive voice.
  • Properly organize the paper. Provide clear transitions.
  • Use a variety of sentence structures and sentence beginnings.
  • Do  not simply restate your thesis and main points in the conclusion! Your  conclusion should be a fresh take on that thesis, and you should work to  leave your readers with something thought-provoking.

Evaluation Criteria:  

  • Is the writer’s purpose/position clear?
  • Does the writer position him/herself within an existing debate/conversation?
  • Does the writer answer the questions, “So what?” and “Who cares?”
  • Does the writer spend too many, too few, or just enough words discussing the argument expressed in the selected reading/video?
  • Does the writer offer sufficient (quantity) and compelling (quality) support for his/her own position?
  • Is the essay effectively organized?
  • Are the paragraphs adequately developed?
  • Is the tone appropriate to the essay’s purpose?
  • Is  there evidence of attention to language, of a conscious attempt to  employ rhetorical strategies to achieve a certain effect?
  • Does the essay contain errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and/or mechanics?
  • Does the writer smoothly incorporate source material, using signal phrases and transitions?
  • Does the writer accurately cite all sources both in the text of the essay and on the Works Cited pa