Read every word below carefully, more than once, before starting your essay.
Choose one of the following options and respond in an argumentative essay of 700-1000 words (in the body of the essay, excluding headers, name, date, title, works cited entries, etc.). Raise a central question at the end of your introduction that the rest of the paper strives to answer in the persuasive format.
For details of the physical formatting of your paper on paper—margins, headers, titles, etc.—see the simple stuff page. For guidelines on quotation and documentation, see the quotes and documentation page. All options require that you offer quotes from the readings to illustrate or substantiate your claims, so a works cited page is required.
I encourage you to seek my help with your paper outside of class, of course. If my office hours don't mesh well with your schedule, let me know, and we'll make arrangements for other times.
Options:
1) According to many so-called experts, the
American family is falling apart. However, it may be that the family is
not disintegrating, but rather is evolving to meet the great social and
economic changes of the last several decades. In current terminology, what
were once called "broken homes" have become "single-parent
households." More often than not, children are raised today either
by single parents or in families including step-parents; many children have
two separate homes, in a sense, according to a court-determined division
of custody between biological parents. Argue that the "family"
is not disintegrating, but rather is changing to a new and even better form
than the traditional family model dependent upon biological parents living
together "until death do them part." Hint: emphasize what is most
important in all families. Cite any of our readings relevant to this topic,
totaling at least three quotations minimum. You may offer quotes in support
of the opposing view or in support of your own viewpoint.
2) "Coinciding with radical changes in the family structure as we have known it for hundreds of years is the modern 'liberation’ of women—liberation from a set of social conditions determined by and for men, which restricted women largely to the role of ‘homemaking,’ providing comfortable homes for husbands and children. With the growing scarcity of ‘homemakers,’ there is a directly proportionate scarcity of traditional families." These statements imply that the demise of the "traditional family" is tied to advances in women's rights. Argue either for or against this assertion that improvements in women's rights are responsible for the demise of the traditional family. Whichever side you take, be sure to account for the economic necessity which forces many families to rely on income from working mothers, which may not involve "women's rights" at all. Cite any of our readings relevant to this topic, totaling at least three quotations minimum. You may offer quotes in support of the opposing view or in support of your own viewpoint.
3) Construct an argument debating the issue of whether or not homosexual marriage should be legal in all fifty states. Quote from any of the pertinent readings at least three times.
Note: Unless you can prove that the religion in question is absolutely, categorically "the one and only true religion," do not bring religion into the discussion. Unless you can prove that the Bible is 100% verifiable fact, do not base any significant points of argument on any teachings or passages from the Bible.
4) Develop an argument for either one (not both) of the following two topics arising from Elizabeth Joseph's article, "My Husband's Nine Wives": a) Should polygamy be legal? or b) Is plural marriage (polygamy) more beneficial for women than monogamous marriage? In either case, quote Joseph's article at least three times in your discussion.
5) We have seen how arriving at a comprehensive definition of "family" is difficult. Argue against a definition of "family" that you find outdated or too limited (or too broad), and offer your own definition encompassing the significant changes in typical family structure over recent decades. While your definition need not deal only with types of families recognized by law and tradition, you must restrict your definition to groups that include one or more parents and children—in other words, your soccer team, your street gang, your AA group, etc. are off limits. Quote from the appropriate reading(s) at least three times.
Read every word below carefully, more than once, before starting your essay.
Address one of the options below in an argumentative essay of 750-1000 words (in the body of the essay, excluding headers, name, date, title, works cited entries, etc.). Raise a central question at the end of your introduction that the rest of the paper strives to answer following the persuasive format.
For details of the physical formatting of your paper on paper—margins, headers, titles, etc.—see the simple stuff page. For guidelines on quotation and documentation, see the quotes and documentation page. It's mandatory that you offer quotes from the readings to support your claims, so a works cited page is required.
Submission of final draft in both hard copy (printed on paper) and electronic form (on floppy disk or as an email attachment) is required. Failure to meet this requirement will result in a letter-grade penalty.
I encourage you to seek my help with your paper outside of class. If my office hours don't mesh with your schedule, let me know, and we'll make arrangements for other times.
Note: Before you begin writing the essay, construct a topic sentence outline just as we did for the second in-class exercise (recall the questions, "How is life difficult for women?" and "How is life difficult for teenagers?"). Begin the outline with the literal question your paper addresses, then give full topic sentences that answer the question directly for each primary point in your paper (i.e. for each body paragraph), just as they will appear in the essay itself, and conclude the outline with the the paper's overall thesis, answering the central question directly and combining your essential points from the various topic sentences. On the date of peer response, in addition to bringing a complete draft of the paper to class, you will turn in this topic sentence outline for reading quiz credit. For a sample topic sentence outline, see Writing Tip #2.
Options:
1) Construct
an argument between at least three different viewpoints in answer of the
question, "Why do we work?" (You may use this question, word for word,
as your "intro question" without fear of plagiarism.) You are not
restricted to views expressed in our readings, but you must quote at least
two of the articles we've read on work, and you must incorporate a total
of at least three quotations from these works.
2)
As we have noted in discussion, politicians, education experts, and general
public consensus are generally critical of the American public education
system, and objective testing indicates that U.S. students are lagging behind
those in many European and Asian nations. Suggestions for reform in education
range from "modest" proposals to radical extremes. Construct an
argument in the persuasive format proving that our system of education is
fundamentally sound and in need of only minor improvements. You might seek
to clarify just what the primary aims of the American system of education
are (or should be). Incorporate at least two quotations from our recent
readings on education.
3) If you agree with the critics who condemn
our system of pre-university education, identify the primary flaws in the
system and make thoughtful suggestions for improving American education.
You may rely on any of our readings to support of your assertions, but your
primary points of analysis should present your own thinking on the issue:
bring in at least three quotations from the readings to support your
views, not to make your primary points for you.
Note that this option does not necessarily call for argumentation—you can raise a question in the introduction and then present only positive, direct answers that you agree with. In other words, an opposing viewpoint is not required with this option.
4) Argue for or against Paul Goodman's proposal to abolish grading at the college level. If you agree with Goodman, be wary of simply restating his argument—argue for Goodman's ideas, but concentrate primarily on explaining why you agree with them. Quote Goodman's article at least three times: you might also quote Diane Ravitch's article, "In Defense of Testing," and/or the articles we're reading on grade inflation, but you are not required to do so.
Read every word below carefully, more than once, before starting your essay.
Address the topic below in an argumentative essay of 800-1200 words (in the body of the essay, excluding headers, name, date, title, works cited entries, etc.). Raise a central question at the end of your introduction that the rest of the paper strives to answer in the persuasive format.
For details of the physical formatting of your paper on paper—margins, headers, titles, etc.—see the simple stuff handout. For guidelines on quotation and documentation, see the quotes and documentation handout. Since the assignment requires that you offer quotes from the readings to illustrate or substantiate your claims, a works cited page is required.
I encourage you to seek my help with your paper outside of class, of course. If my office hours don't mesh well with your schedule, let me know, and we'll make arrangements for other times.
Submission of final draft in both hard copy (printed on paper) and electronic form (on floppy disk or as an email attachment) is required. Failure to meet this requirement will result in a letter-grade penalty.
Note: Before you begin writing the essay, construct a topic sentence outline just as we did for the second in-class exercise (recall the questions, "How is life difficult for women?" and "How is life difficult for teenagers?"). Begin the outline with the literal question your paper addresses, then give full topic sentences that answer the question directly for each primary point in your paper (i.e. for each body paragraph), just as they will appear in the essay itself, and conclude the outline with the the paper's overall thesis, answering the central question directly and combining your essential points from the various topic sentences. On the date of peer response, in addition to bringing a complete draft of the paper to class, you will turn in this topic sentence outline for reading quiz credit. For a sample topic sentence outline, see Writing Tip #2.
As we've seen in the recent readings and discussions, our society applies a myriad of stereotypes and cultural expectations to each of the sexes which influence how we act as individual men and women. Consciously or unconsciously, we adhere to these stereotypes and expectations or react against them.
For women, these stereotypes and expectations include the notions that women are intellectually inferior to men; that women should be attractive; that women belong in the house, not in the workplace; that strong, independent women are "bitchy"; that women who acknowledge and act upon their natural sexual desires are morally "loose"; that women are supposed to be "ladylike"—passive, submissive, demure, cooperative, nurturing, polite, etc. For men, the stereotypes and expectations include the ideas that men are tough and unemotional; that "given the chance, all men would be whores"; that "real men" must be independent and aggressive; that men are not "real men" if they don't have latent cravings for violence and if they don't love football, power tools, and cars with big engines. Men are also expected to be financially successful breadwinners for their families. In short, the stereotypes generally say that women should be selfless, pretty, and dainty, and that men should be "macho."
These cultural myths and stereotypes are but a few of the many expectations by which our culture imposes its ideals of masculinity and femininity upon us as individuals. You should also consider other significant expectations for men and women as established in our readings and class discussions or from your own observation.
Your task is to elaborate what you see as the greatest obstacles stereotypes and cultural expectations pose for each of the sexes (meaning you must deal with both sexes.). The central question you must argue is who suffers more, men or women, from the cultural expectations these stereotypes impose upon them: in other words, who has it worse? Men or women?
You
should probably deal with only one major stereotype or cultural expectation
for each sex per body paragraph—this means you will need to be selective
and discuss only the two or three most damaging or difficult stereotypes or
expectations for each sex. With each major point you should 1) explain what
the stereotype or cultural expectation is, and 2) show how the stereotype
or cultural expectation poses obstacles or problems for the individual.
You must
quote at least four articles we've read on gender issues, two on men and two
on women, either illustrating the stereotypes or expectations you discuss
or the obstacles or difficulties these cultural expectations bring about.
This means that you must incorporate not just four quotations, but quotations
from four separate articles. Quotations from four articles is a minimum:
you can certainly quote from more than four readings total.
Works cited info: For bibliographic information on the handouts, see the referring pages from our schedule of readings and assignments (the pages from which you loaded the Adobe .pdf files). For the poems on web sites linked from our online schedule, See QD5el.
Read every word below carefully, more than once, before starting your essay.
Write an analytical or argumentative essay on a topic of your own choosing focusing narrowly on John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps. Your essay must meet each of the requirements below. Read these requirements carefully.
750-1100
words in length.
Before
you begin writing the essay, construct a topic sentence outline just as
we did for paper 3: begin the outline with the literal question your paper
addresses, then give full topic sentences that answer the question directly
for each primary point in your paper (i.e. for each body paragraph), just
as they will appear in the essay itself, and conclude the outline with the
paper's overall thesis, answering the central question directly and combining
your essential points from the various topic sentences. On the date of peer
response, in addition to bringing a complete draft of the paper to class,
you will turn in this topic sentence outline.
In
order to "focus narrowly" on the novel, the question you raise in
the outline, each topic sentence, and the thesis statement should all mention
the novel directly (or the author or some specific aspect of Buchan's novel—a
character's name, e.g.).
However,
this essay should not raise a literal question in the introduction
of the essay itself, but instead the introduction should culminate in a full
and complete answer to the unstated question your paper addresses—i.e.
a thesis statement. If your topic is argumentative, even though
the introduction presents a thesis statement, you should still explain the
opposing viewpoint in one or more body paragraphs before presenting your own
views (as in the persuasive format).
You
must quote The Thirty-Nine Steps at least six times, following the
MLA guidelines set forth in the quotes and documentation
handout. Note: if the topic you choose involves The Thirty-nine Steps
and another literary work, you must have a total of eight quotes from the
primary sources (The Thirty-Nine Steps and the other literary work
or works).
Note: Papers that do not
follow the guidelines for MLA-style formal paper formatting and for citation
and documentation of quotes will automatically be penalized one full letter
grade. These details of presentation and mechanics are simple, and you
should have them completely mastered by this time of the semester: do not
take them lightly. If you have questions, email me, call me, or see
me during office hours.
As announced in class, I am not providing a list of suggested options for this paper, so one challenge with this assignment is arriving at an appropriate topic on your own, one that is manageable and worthy of exploration in a college-level academic essay. Basically, any significant theme, motif, issue, technique, or aspect of the novel is fair game. If you struggle arriving at a valid topic, see me for help.
Reminders:
The
single most important sentence in your essay is the central question you set
up in the topic sentence outline: be sure this question sets up a viable topic,
one worthy of addressing in a college-level paper. Feel free to email me or
call me if you aren't certain about the validity of your central question.
Every
body paragraph's topic sentence should answer the outline's central question
directly.
Sweat
the details: use the GR, N, SS, QD and WP "handouts" and proofread closely.