BIG QUESTION Essay Assignment 2015
Prompt
In a well-constructed, logically organized, and strongly supported essay, analyze and argue the answer to your big question.
Artifacts/Sources
Collect and evaluate three artifacts that address some aspect of your big question. Select the artifacts that you feel best develop a cohesive and persuasive answer to your big question to utilize as support within your essay.
You must use 1-2 in-class texts AND 1-2 correlating out of class artifacts; a total of 3-4 sources must be used in crafting your big question essay response.
Essay Organization
ü Elucidate the answer to your big question by crafting a clear, concise, and specific thesis statement. Your thesis must be arguable, i.e. it should represent a specific perspective; it cannot be an observation or fact.
ü Start each body paragraph with a new assertion, the building blocks of your thesis. Think of your assertions as forming the foundation that holds up your argument. Each assertion is a specific aspect of the overall argument you are building.
ü Use the artifacts you have collected as the proof to explain why your answer is correct. Each body paragraph should illustrate how the artifacts/sources helped to deepen, challenge, or expand your understanding of the question.
ü Close the essay and leave the reader feeling as though your question has been explored and explained to the fullest extent. Create a conclusion that provides the reader with a relevancy factor, i.e. it should answer the questions “so what?”... “why does this matter?” … “moving forward, what needs to happen or what needs to be considered and why?”
ü Include a works cited page, listing in alphabetical order all of your sources you’ve used to complete the essay (include both the artifacts that you have collected on your own and the in-class sources selected).
WORKS CITED
· Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
· Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize, bold, or underline the words Works Cited) and center the words Works Cited at the top of the page.
· Citations are listed ALPHABETICALLY on the works cited page by the author’s last name (or the title of the article if the author is not provided).
· Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
· Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.
· The entries on your works cited page should directly match and connect to the parenthetical citations. This is non-negotiable.
Parenthetical Citations:*
· Direct quotes and paraphrases from your artifacts require parenthetical citations.
· The author’s last name and the page number should be included in the citation (Golding 12).
Short Prose Quotations: When quoting short passages of prose, use the following examples:
Lord of the Flies is characterized by the "loss of humanity and the return of savagery" (Wordsworth 263).
According to Smith’s study, college acceptances in 2015 are more likely to be influenced by “social media postings” than ever before (184).
Internet Quotations: When quoting a passage from the internet, use the following examples:
Dystopian literature focuses on the “social disparity or class inequalities” of a futuristic society (“Famous Dystopian Works”). [No author listed on site; use article title]
Famous works like 1984 and Brave New World, “have encouraged a resurgence of dystopian novels, movies, and commercials” (Smith). [author list on site]
*You do not need to list page numbers or paragraph numbers for internet articles (unless they are provided and are standard for everyone)
Multiple Authors: When quoting a passage from a work with multiple authors, use the following example:
The authors state "Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story of all time" (Jones, Wilson, and Walter 76).
Long Quotations:
· Place quotations in a free-standing block of text and omit quotation marks.
· Start the quotation on a new line, with the entire quote indentedone inchfrom the left margin;
· Maintain double-spacing. Your parenthetical citation should comeafterthe closing punctuation mark.
· When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.)
For example, when citing more than four lines of prose, use the following example:
Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:
They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)
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