Writing Homework Help

As we mentioned in class, we are starting work this week on the first paper. After reading the prompt together, you should hopefully be clear about what needs to be done. But just in case there is any confusion, here is a brief summary. You are to select one of the courses texts from this section, excluding Pollan, and compose a 3-page essay in which you argue whether or not the article is persuasive/successful/convincing. The authors you can choose from are Freedman, Balko, Moss, Zinchenko, and Zhang.

Here is a small outline that will help.

Introduction.

1) Summarize in general terms the conversation that people are having. What are they talking about, and what is the debate that they are having?

2) Briefly summarize what your author has claimed. You do not need a lengthy summary here. You simply need to give the reader a very clear statement about the position your chosen author has articulated . For example, if the debate is about the best way to eat, what does your author assert?

3) Thesis: you need to announce clearly whether you find the author’s claim convincing or unconvincing. You can take a nuanced approach and say part of the argument is convincing and part of it is not. For example, you could say that Pollan makes a compelling case about the need to eat whole foods but that his argument is ultimately unsuccessful because he doesn’t address the problems of class, affordability, and feasibility. (As noted, I think it is more interesting to show where you disagree with the author.)

Body Paragraphs

The purpose of the body paragraphs is to prove the point that you are claiming in the introduction. In this case, you will provide discrete pieces of evidence from the text you’ve chosen in order to support your assertion that the author is or is not convincing. In some cases, that will be evidence of what is not present. For example, if I were writing an essay about Pollan, I might have one paragraph where I address the fact that he does Not include any material about differences in class.

Each body paragraph should handle one piece of evidence. You should make sure to summarize the part of the text you are addressing (i.e. what is the author writing about in that section). You should quote directly from the text. And you should analyze the quotation in order to show why it proves your thesis statement.