Final Essay Scenario

If you are having topic/thesis trouble with your essay, feel free to use the scenario described below.

Several students, however, have spoken to me about approaches to the assignment that do not conform to the scenario; this is perfectly fine. If the scenario helps, use it. If not, see me with your ideas, and I will help you make sure you're pursuing a viable thesis.

The scenario:

A common cultural experience is being planned on a global scale. This project is similar to common reading experiences, in which all members of a given community read the same book with the idea that this will generate discussion and understanding.

The "text" in this project is not limited to books. Any act of human cultural expression created within your lifetime may be used. Once a work is selected, the goal will be for it to be experienced by as many people on the planet as possible.

Your task is to nominate a single work and make the strongest case possible that it should be adopted for the project.

Your argument must be made objectively and you must provide reasons beyond the fact that you like the work you are nominating.

Also, your argument should be based in part on information obtained from outside sources. Keep in mind that this encompasses much more that background information on whatever book, film, painting or other work your are discussing. For example, imagine that you are arguing that everyone should experience the song "Eye of the Tiger" because it will energize people and encourage them toward physical activity, contributing to increased global physical fitness. In this scenario, you may be better off researching fitness levels around the world than the discography of the band Survivor.

Here are some logistical requirements:

• Length: 1250-1750 words.
• Due at the time of the final exam.
• Sources do not need to come from academic publications, but must conform to reasonable standards of reliability. This means:
• a source must have an identifiable author.
• a source's author must be qualified in some way to discuss the topic.
• Essays citing sources like Wikipedia, Buzzfeed, About.com, etc. will not be accepted. See me if you have questions about the suitability of a particular source.
• Sources should be documented according to MLA guidelines. This includes in-text parenthetical citations that correspond to entries on a works cited page.

 

 

 

Final Exam Information

The following links lead to final exam review terms and sample questions from previous courses. Although this course's exam will not be identical, the content will be very similar.

http://jfcomposition.blogspot.com/2012/12/final-tips.html
http://jfcomposition.blogspot.com/2012/12/final-exam-review-terms.html

Remaining Schedule

Th 11/13: Giving Tree article discussion.


Tu 11/18: Academic writing. Working with sources: locating and evaluating.

Th 11/20: Working with sources: Integrating.


Tu 11/25: Reasoning, fallacies, and types of appeals.

Th 11/27: Thanksgiving--no class.


Tu 12/2: Book report presentations. Final exam preview. Documenting sources.

Th 12/4: Documenting sources. Courese wrap-up.


Tu 12/9: Final exam for 3:30 section.

Th 12/11: Final exam for 5:30 section.

Handbooks may be used for the final exam. Please bring a pencil. Final essays are due at the time of the exam.

Preparing for the Final Essay

In addition to the book review and final exam, the one major assignment remaining in the course is Essay III. This essay will continue to build on skills from earlier in the course.

While Essay II focused on formulating an arguable thesis, the thesis for this assignment is somewhat built-in and should be much more easy to discover; the focus here will be on providing effective support for that thesis.

The topics and skills we will cover include the following:

• Academic vs. other types of writing
• Types of appeals: ethical, emotional, logical
• Reasoning and fallacies
• Locating sources
• Evaluating sources
• Integrating sources
• Documenting sources

I will give you formal instructions for Essay III soon; for now, here is a general idea: You will be asked to choose a contemporary artwork (defined broadly to include literature, music, film, painting, sculpture, dance, theater, architecture--virtually any act of cultural expression) that you feel to be among the most important in existence. In other words, what work has the greatest value to humanity? You will make the case that your chosen work is indeed among the world's most important and support your claim with examples from outside sources.

Details will be provided soon. For now, choose a work you want to write about, and begin some informal research to educate yourself about your work and its context. Don't wait. Be prepared on Tuesday to talk and/or write about your choice.

Reading for Thursday 11/13

For Thursday, please read this article from the New Yorker on Shel Silverstein's book The Giving Tree. Pay attention to the author's claims and the evidence she uses to support them.

A quiz on the reading is very likely. Be sure to print a copy of the article to refer to during discussion.

An Essay Checklist

The checklist below might be useful in making sure your essay is accomplishing its goals:

Essay Focus:
Is the topic narrow enough to address in an essay of this length? Does the essay make an arguable claim about this topic? Do all parts of the essay work to support this claim?

Paragraph Focus:
Do the examples in each paragraph work together to support an overall point about the paragraph’s topic? 

Specific Examples:
Does the essay use suitably precise language, rather than generalizations, to support its claims?

Mechanics/Grammar/Punctuation/etc.:
Is the essay formatted according to the stated guidelines? Has it been carefully proofread. Are there any sentence-level errors of any type we’ve discussed in class?