English 111—Essay #2
Exploring Academic Issues
Important Dates
Monday, September 19—discuss guidelines for Essay #2
Monday, September 26—first source due
Monday, October 3—final source due and prewriting in class
Wednesday, October 5—Essay #2 written in class
Essay Prompt
For your third essay assignment, you will be required to complete an in-class essay. While you will have time in class to complete prewriting and source activities, the actual writing of your draft will occur entirely during our hour class on Wednesday, October 5. You will need to bring a blue book to class on this day (available in the bookstore).
Though I won’t be giving you the exact essay prompt until the day of the in-class essay, I am going to give you some guidance on how to prepare. You will need to complete your prewriting and source work prior to October 5, so that you can devote all of class time on this day to your drafting and revising. Though I don’t expect your essays to be as polished as an out-of-class essay, I do expect you to meet certain criteria and spend time revising and editing.
There are three topics you can choose from for this essay assignment. All of them have to do in some way with our education system and scholarly issues. The topics are liberal arts education (and the value of it), plagiarism, and censorship/banned books. You will choose one of the topics about which to write.
Prewriting Activity (to be completed in class on Monday, October 3)
For your prewriting, I want you to use whatever technique you find most useful (brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, listing, etc.) and think about your chosen scholarly topic (liberal arts education, plagiarism, or censorship). After you have chosen your topic, please consider the following issues:
· what do you know about this issue;
· what do you need to learn about this topic;
· how does this issue affect the current educational system;
· what do your sources have to say about this particular issue; and
· how does this issue affect you as a college student.
Be sure to brainstorm completely for your chosen topic. I will take up this activity on Monday, October 3, and return it to you on the day of the in-class essay. If you are absent or do not complete this prewriting, you will not receive full credit for Essay #2.
Source Activity (your final source is due on Monday, October 3)
After you have completed your prewriting, you need to find one source about your topic through the library’s academic databases. You will also be reading selections from your textbook and from handouts that I provide about these issues, and you will need to use one of these sources in addition to your source found in the library. This source should address any or several of the issues addressed in the prewriting prompt above. You will bring this source (as well as the textbook/handout source) to class on October 3, work with them, and turn them in to me. I will then return your source work to you on the day of the in-class essay; again, you will not receive full credit for the essay without your sources.
In-class Essay
On Wednesday, October 5, you will come to class prepared to respond to a prompt concerning your chosen issue. I will return your prewriting and source work to you on this day (both of which should already be completed) and give you the essay prompt. You will then have an hour to complete your draft, revise, and edit. Your essay should contain the meet the following criteria:
· length should be at least three blue book pages (front and back with skipped lines);
· a specific and complex thesis statement;
· use of at least one direct quote from each of your sources (with proper attribution, citation, and commentary);
· complete response to the essay prompt; and
· evidence of some revision and editing.