Please stay within the assigned word limits, and indicate the word count at the end of the essay. (It is ok to go a bit over, but treat the word count as a minimum.)

ESSAY #1: EXPRESSIVE

Length: 500 words (about 2 pages)

Typed, double-spaced, 12pt font, 1" margins all around, with title (but not a separate title page)

The Assignment

Using the tools of narration and/or description, write an EXPRESSIVE essay on one of the topics below. Try to bring your topic to life by providing concrete supporting details. Be sure to make clear the SIGNIFICANCE of the person, place, or event.

1. a place that has special significance to you (past or present)
2. a memorable vacation
3. a memorable date
4. a significant event that influenced the person you have become
5. a time when you a) made a tough decision, b) felt like an outsider, c) acted out of character, d) were a hero. (choose one)
6. a person who left a strong impression upon you
7. Illustrate the following sentence: As children, my friends and I gave new meaning to the term "daredevils."

ESSAY #2: REFERENTIAL (Explantory/Informative)

Length: 600 words

Typed, double-spaced, 12pt font, 1" margins all around, with title (but not a separate title page)

The Assignment

Your purpose in this essay is mainly to inform your readers about a topic. Thus, your language choice will probably be fairly neutral. Clear explanations are the goal, but the essay need not be dull. Strive for lively word choice and an entertaining introduction.

Option #1: Write about something you feel qualified to give advice about. For example, how to buy a house or car, how to survive a break-up, how to care for an iguana, how to build a tree house, how to host a party, etc.

Option #2: Explain a topic that you have a great deal of knowledge about to an audience uninformed on the matter. Think about skills you have acquired or concepts you have mastered on the job, at school, or through a hobby or leisure activity. For example, the secrets of t-shirt printing, the characteristics of Renaissance painting, horseback riding skills, cake-decorating techniques, the perfect curveball.

***Remember that you will need to provide and underline the THESIS or main point of your essay. For an essay like this, your main point will probably be fairly simple and neutral, since your job is simply to inform rather than to take a stand. For instance,

ESSAY #3: REFERENTIAL (Analysis)

Length: 700 words

Typed, double-spaced, 12pt font, 1" margins all around, with title (but not a separate title page)

The Assignment

Write an essay in which you analyze the messages being sent by a particular television show, movie, or CD. For example, what is this cultural product saying about

• the family
• gender (the behavior and characteristics of men and women)
• children, adolescents, generation X, the middle-aged, the elderly
• race (confirming or challenging stereotypes)
• morality
• violence
• religion
• capitalism
• the United States

You can begin by brainstorming about any or all of the areas listed here. Then try to focus on your strongest ideas. Your thesis will need to present an ASSERTION about the messages being sent. What is being said about the family? About violence? About teenagers (for example) What is the social significance of these messages? What kind of person does this film or t.v. show or CD teach us to be?

Structure

Think about engaging ways to open your essay, strategies that can lead logically into your thesis (which is your conclusion about the overall impact of the film, show, or CD). Next, you will probably want to follow your introduction and thesis with a paragraph that presents an overview of the general plot and characters of the movie, or television show. Provide enough background so that you can refer to characters and situations later in the paper and your audience will know what you mean. For a CD, discuss the style of music generally, the instruments involved, and perhaps the overall subject matter addressed in the lyrics.

The body of your essay should discuss specific images, scenes, characters, or events that prove the assertion that you make in your thesis. DANGER: be careful to avoid merely re-telling the plot of the movie, or t.v. show. Your focus should be on ANALYZING images and messages. Similarly, for a CD, don’t merely tell us what the songs say; instead, present specific lyrics and images and ANALYZE their meaning.

Finally, your conclusion should remind us again of the social impact of this creative product in a way that makes clear why your essay has something important to say.

ESSAY #4: PERSUASIVE (Evaluate and/or Take a Position)

Length: 900-1000 words

Typed, double-spaced, 12pt font, 1" margins all around, with title (but not a separate title page)

The Assignment

Write a research paper using at least three outside sources. A research paper is a report that an individual presents to others about the conclusions he or she has reached after investigating a subject and carefully assessing the information he or she has gathered.

* Don't be a SPONGE. Don't just soak up and regurgitate information. Instead, your job is to digest information, to think about it, to critically examine it, and to decide what it means to you.

* Think of yourself as a DETECTIVE. The research paper involves a mystery that you must solve.

When you arrive at a satisfactory solution to the mystery, you will have the THESIS of your paper. Since this is a PERSUASIVE essay, your thesis needs ARGUMENTATIVE EDGE. A good thesis (1) asserts your position clearly and firmly; (2) expresses your opinion or attitude about your topic; and (3) states not a simple fact, but an opinion (or argument). The thesis is something you set out to prove in the body of your paper. Thus, you should focus your paper around one central question or argument. Look at these examples:

"There were many different kinds of dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era." This is not a thesis. This is merely a statement of fact. A paper describing the different kinds of dinosaurs may be interesting to some of us, but it is not centered around an argument or question. The reader does not need your particular viewpoint; all s/he has to do is consult a paleontologist. There is no room for disagreement, opinion, or your analysis here.

 

"In evolutionary terms, dinosaurs were a very successful group." This is a thesis. You are making a claim that you will go on to prove in the rest of your paper. Thus, you will be explaining why there were many kinds of dinosaurs, what factors enabled them to be successful, the grounds on which you base your claim for their success, refuting arguments of those who disagree, and so on.

 

"There are several reasons for the popularity of dinosaurs today." This is a thesis. You have raised a question--"Why are dinosaurs popular today?"—that you will be attempting to answer in a reasoned fashion in the rest of your paper. This question requires some analysis, some interpretation of facts, some grounded opinion, some engagement with different opinions and theories, and so on.

Ideas for Research Topics

Hobbies and interests (sports, cooking, music)

Social and political issues (the environment, crime, welfare reform, teen curfews)

Science/Medicine and ethics (cloning, genetic research, renewable energy sources)

Historical figures and Eras (Joan of Arc, Harlem in the 1920s)

Controversies in Religion, Education, Psychology (women priests, bilingual education, ideas on child-raising, for example)

Achieving Argumentative Edge

• Offer an interpretation and support it ("The novel Frankenstein illustrates our fear of science." "The movie Babe teaches us how to overcome stereotypes.")
• Take a position (on school uniforms, gun-control laws, television rating systems)
• Solve a mystery (Why do people join cults? Who was the real Jack the Ripper?)
• Trace influences (How did Van Gogh’s life influence his art? How was Woody Allen influenced by Ingmar Bergman? How has James Brown influenced hip hop?)
• Suggest a Reform (school lunches need more vegetarian options, the public park on Elm street needs a special area for toddlers)

ESSAY #5: REFERENTIAL/PERSUASIVE (Analysis/Evaluation)

Length: 500-600 words

Typed, double-spaced, 12pt font, 1" margins all around, with title (but not a separate title page)

NOTE: THIS ASSIGNMENT IS EXACTLY LIKE THE "C" TEST

The Assignment

For this essay, you will enter into a conversation with another writer’s ideas. Choose any essay that you have read for class as your subject. This is your chance to speak back to the writer. Your essay should have two main parts:

Part I: Summary

In this first part of your paper, mention the title of the article, its author, and provide a summary of its main ideas. (Titles of articles go in quotation marks while titles of books, newspapers, and magazines are underlined.) What is the author’s main point and primary supporting evidence? This material can serve as your introduction, or you can use one of the other introduction techniques that you have read about and then provide the summary.

Important: Give your THESIS at the end of this summary section (which will be a paragraph or two at most), or at the end of your introduction. For this assignment, your THESIS will offer your statement of the author’s main point and your ultimate assessment of the article or book. What conclusion have you come to about it? Make an ASSERTION about the article or book, and then prove that assertion in the body of the essay. You can decide that the author offers great ideas and supports them well, offers great ideas but does not support them well, offers terrible ideas and no support, or offers a mixture of good and bad ideas with both successful and unsuccessful evidence.

Just be sure that your thesis is SPECIFIC--

Too vague: Sally Smith writes of some very important issues for Americans to consider.

More Specific: Sally Smith presents strong evidence that the media still portrays African Americans in a narrow and stereotypical way.

Part II: Analysis and Evaluation

For this part of the essay, mention the author’s purpose (i.e. expressive [focused on author’s experiences, using narration and/or description], referential [explain, inform, analyze], persuasive [evaluate, take a position, offer a solution] or some combination) and the method(s) of organization that he or she employs (i.e. narration, description, definition, comparison/contrast, analysis, classification, division, process, cause and effect, argument/persuasion).

After (or as) you describe the purpose and organization, evaluate the author’s effectiveness (this is where you support your thesis):

• How well does the author fulfill her purpose?

Does the evidence presented help to fulfill the author’s purpose? Why or why not?

Would other kinds of evidence have been more effective?

Does the author’s language fulfill his purpose? How?

Should he have made different choices about language?

Are the methods of organization chosen successful? Why or why not?

IMPORTANT: Be sure to give specific examples from the essay to illustrate the author’s purpose(s) and method(s) of organization. Also, give specific examples as you evaluate the success of the essay in achieving its purpose. These examples are your EVIDENCE. Without this evidence, your readers have no reason to agree with your views.

Feel free to use both paraphrase and exact quotation in presenting the author’s ideas. Review the handout called "Integrating Outside Sources Smoothly into Your Own Writing" for information on how to quote from your article. Look also at sample essays to see how they quote other writers. Follow MLA system of documentation.

The "C" Test

Once your first five essays have been accepted, I will give you a permission slip to take the C test. You may take the test in any of the testing centers on any ACC campus. You can stay in the testing center as long as you need to, but you must complete the test in one sitting. You will be given a short essay, and you will then write a 500 word summary and evaluation, just as you did in Essay #5. Use this essay (which was referential/persuasive) as your model.

The "B" Paper

Write an 800-1000 word persuasive problem solving paper. Explain a problem that exists at your job, home, in Austin, at ACC, or in American society. Propose a solution and develop arguments to support your idea(s). Try to choose a topic that will not require outside research.

At home: a work schedule with your roommates, a way to store all of your junk

At work: what reforms would you like to suggest to your manager?

In Austin: city council, smart growth, the police force, parks, teens

At ACC: what are students’ biggest frustrations?

In American society: how to keep kids from having sex too young? From trying drugs?

The "A" Paper

Length: 900-1000 words, Referential/Persuasive (Analysis and Evaluation)

For the "A" paper, the college requires that you compare and contrast the ideas of two writers. Choose any two essays that you have read this semester as your subject. Or, if you prefer I can provide you with two essays on the topic of Violence in the Media ("Cause and Violent Effect: Media and Our Youth," by Barbara Hattemer, and "Facts about Fiction: In Defense of TV Violence," by David Link).

This essay should be quite similar to essay #5 and the C test except that you will discuss two writers instead of only one. Thus, be sure to provide a thesis that gives your conclusion about the two essays. Do the essays have the same message or do their messages differ? Which essay is more convincing and why?

After your introduction and thesis, provide a summary of each essay (perhaps one paragraph on each). In this overview, discuss each author’s main point, key evidence, purpose(s), and method(s) of organization.

The body of your essay should COMPARE/CONTRAST and EVALUATE the strength of the two essays. How convincing are the arguments? How strong is the evidence? Give plenty of specific examples from the essays and analyze these examples fully. Offer supporting and/or counter-arguments based on your own experiences with the entertainment media.

Use both paraphrase and exact quotation as you discuss the essays, and document using MLA format, as you did for your research paper (after all, this is a mini research project).