In-Class Essay #3 directions & topic choices

In-Class Essay #3 Directions & Topics
WR 121, Prof. C. Agatucci - Fall 2003
Essays #2, #3, & Final Exam Essay (timed "In-Class" essays) will be scored using Final Exam Essay evaluation criteria, and letter graded: 2 highest grades [ @ 20%] will be computed
in determining final course grade, but see also WR 121 Final Exam Essay Policy.
NO Late/Make-Up In-Class Essays are allowed.

For deadlines, preparation, & materials needed, see WR 121 Course Plan

General Directions and Evaluation Criteria for In-Class Essay #3 are much the same as for In-Class Essay #2, so please review In-Class Essay #2 handout directions.
In-Class Essay #3 Topic Choices (stated below) repeat choices given for In-Class Essay #2 and add three new Topic Choices (Topics #7, #8, & #9 below) based on new readings from our Muller textbook.
NOTE WELL: YOU MAY NOT WRITE IN-CLASS ESSAY #3 ON THE SAME TOPIC THAT YOU CHOSE FOR IN-CLASS ESSAY #2!!

Directions (very similar to those you will receive for the WR 121 Final Exam Essay): Choose one of the following topics for your In Class Essay #3 Exam. Whichever topic you choose, make sure your essay is unified by a clearly stated thesis and a narrowed focus. The essay must be well-developed with supporting examples, specifics, or details collected from observation, experience, and reading. Topic choices are drawn from Muller readings previously assigned in WR 121 sections this term.
In your essay, you must incorporate at least two points from the relevant Muller article/s, citing the author correctly and avoiding plagiarism. If you do any additional reading in preparation for this essay, likewise give credit to your source(s) in-text and in your Works Cited list at the end of your bluebook essay.

Topic #1: Parental Influence
Both Annie Dillard, in “An American Childhood,” and Robert Coles, in “ I Listen to My Parents and Wonder What They Believe,” explain how parents’ values, attitudes, and/or behaviors can affect their children. Write an essay in which you identify two or three influential values, attitudes, and/or behaviors of your parents, and analyze how and why they made a lasting impact on you. Remember: You must state and develop a clear thesis and you must incorporate at least two relevant points made by Dillard and/or Coles, citing the author correctly and avoiding plagiarism.

Topic #2: Reading and/or Writing Effectively
Mortimer Adler's "How to Mark a Book," Peter Elbow's "Freewriting," and Donald Murray's "The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts" present the authors’ advice about effective processes for reading or writing. Write an essay in which you explain strategies that you use in your own reading and/or writing processes. Remember: You must state and develop a clear thesis and you must integrate at least two relevant points made by Adler, Elbow, and/or Murray, citing the author/s correctly and avoiding plagiarism.

Topic #3: Ethnic Identification and Its Consequences
In "The Cult of Ethnicity," Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., expresses his concerns about the "unhealthy" consequences of "promoting, celebrating, and perpetuating separate ethnic origins and identities" in the U.S.A. today, although he concedes that there can also be some "healthy consequences" (48, 8). In response to Schlesinger's essay, however, Jamie Taylor explains that "strong identification" with one's ethnicity can be healthy, rather than divisive (38-39). Write an essay which you identify and analyze at least one "healthy" consequence and at least one "unhealthy" consequence of strong identification and celebration of people's ethnic origins. Remember: You must state and develop a clear thesis and you must integrate at least two relevant points made by Schlesinger and/or Taylor.

Topic #4: Appeals of Advertising
In "Red, White, and Beer," Dave Barry offers a satirical analysis of how television commercials have used "retail patriotism" (520) to sell beer. Identify, illustrate, and analyze at least two different appeals used in U.S. advertising--including the appeal of "retail patriotism" presented by Barry--in order to demonstrate (a) why such appeals are effective in persuading U.S. consumers to buy the advertised products; and/or (b) how critical analysis of such appeals can help consumers resist these advertising tactics. Remember: You must state and develop a clear thesis and you must introduce at least two relevant points made by Barry.

Topic #5: Gender Communication Problems
In “Sex, Lies and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?” Deborah Tannen examines communication problems between females and males that result from different gender role expectations and behaviors. Write an essay in which you identify and analyze one or two communication problems created by gender roles or expectations of males and/or females in our society. Draw upon your own experiences/ observations, as well as at least two points made by Tannen, to develop your essay discussion.

Topic #6: Effective Communication
"I Have a Dream," by Martin Luther King, Jr., is widely considered one of the greatest speeches ever delivered by an American. Write an essay that analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of at least two selected elements of this speech, to help your readers understand why this speech is so highly regarded.

Topic #7: The Power of Television
In "Loose Ends," Rita Dove claims that television's "projected reality" is powerful--not because children and adults "confuse TV with reality," but because many of us "prefer [television] to [the] reality" of our own lives (503-504). Write an essay in which you (a) introduce Dove's essay and briefly summarize her view of the reason/s for television's power; (b) then confirm and/or challenge Dove's opinions by analyzing one or more appeals of selected popular television program/s.

Topic #8: The American Ideal of "Manliness"
In his essay "Being a Man" (219-222), Paul Theroux analyzes the reasons why he has "always disliked being a man" (219). Write an essay in which (a) you identify and illustrate at least two defining characteristics of the American ideal of "manliness," in order to (b) explain why you must confirm and/or challenge Theroux's conclusion that being a man, rather than a woman, in America is not "a privilege," but "an unmerciful and punishing burden" (222). (You may also wish to bring in relevant point(s) from Deborah Tannen's "Sex, Lies and Conversation.")

Topic #9: Patriotism Today
In 1762, Oliver Goldsmith, an Anglo-Irish writer, deplored "National Prejudices" feeding xenophobic patriotism in his eighteenth-century countrymen. Goldsmith declares himself "a citizen of the world" (243) and enjoins others to see themselves not only as patriots of one particular society but as "general inhabitants of the globe, or members of that grand society which comprehends the whole human kind" (242). Write an essay presenting and illustrating your own definition of "patriotism." In the process, respond to Goldsmith's question: "Is it not possible that I may love my own country, without hating the natives of other countries? that I may exert the most heroic bravery, the most undaunted resolution in defending its laws and liberty, without despising all the rest of the world as cowards and poltroons?" (243).

Adler, Mortimer J. "How to Mark a Book." Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across

the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 47-49.

Barry, Dave. "Red, White, and Beer." Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, 1988. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader:

Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 519-521.

Coles, Robert. “I Listen to My Parents and I Wonder What They Believe.” Redbook February 1980.

Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed.

Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 438-442.

Dillard, Annie. "An American Childhood." An American Childhood. HarperCollins, 1994. 110-117. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 184-189.

Dove, Rita. "Loose Ends." The Poet's World. 1995. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader:

Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003.

503-504.

Elbow, Peter. "Freewriting." Writing Without Teachers. Oxford UP, 1973. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader:

Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 52-56.

Goldsmith, Oliver. "National Prejudices.'" The Citizen of the World, 1792. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 241-243.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. "I Have a Dream." Keynote address, March on Washington, 28 August 1963. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 309-312.

Murray, Donald M. "The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts." The Writer 1973. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 56-60.

Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. "The Cult of Ethnicity." Time July 8, 1981. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader:

Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 47-49.

Tannen, Deborah. “Sex, Lies, and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to

Each Other?” Washington Post 1990. Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across

the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 228-232.

Theroux, Paul. "On Being a Man." Sunrise with Seamonsters. Cape Cod Scriveners-Houghton Mifflin, 1985.

Rpt. The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 8th ed. Boston:

McGraw-Hill, 2003. 219-222.

In-Class Essay #3 Evaluation                    Name___________________________
WR 121, Fall 2003, Prof. C. Agatucci
Two highest scores/grades on three in-class                         Grade & Score_______________
essays count (2 @ 20% of course grade)                              No Late/Make Up Allowed

____Must be written in blank bluebook(s) or In-Class Essay will not be accepted for grading.
____Must avoid plagiarism: see Category #6 below.

____In-Class Essay #3 addresses topic different from that addressed in In-Class Essay #2

PASSING SCORES & GRADES: High Pass = 4 (Grade of A);
Clear Pass = 3 (Grade of B); Marginal Pass = 3- (Grade of C)
FAILING SCORES & GRADES: Fail = 2 (Grade of D); Low Fail = 1 (Grade of F)
In-Class Essays must demonstrate at least minimum competency (score of “3-”)
in all 6 of the following categories in order to receive a Passing Score/Grade:

_____1. ASSIGNED TOPIC & TOPIC FOCUS: Clearly addresses (all parts of) assigned topic question & explores relevant issues; topic/thesis is well focused (limited enough) to allow for satisfactory treatment in an essay of 750-1000 words within timed writing period.

1: Parental Influence Coles, Dillard;
2. Reading and/or Writing Effectively Adler, Elbow, Murray;
3. Ethnic Identification & Consequences Schlesinger, Taylor;
4. Appeals of Advertising Barry;
5. Gender Communication Problems Tannen;
6. Effective Communication King
7. Power of Television Dove
8. American Ideal of Manliness Theroux
9. Patriotism Today Goldsmith

____2. CONTENT, THESIS/PURPOSE: Shows depth, complexity of thought (not simplistic) in exploring issues relevant to assigned topic; establishes and maintains a clear "focus" unified by a thesis statement, with clear controlling sentences (e.g. thesis/purpose statements, topic sentences, thesis transitions); engaged writing to communicate with the intended audience. Essay must be written to make a central point--i.e. unified by, organized and developed to support a clear, focused thesis that responds explicitly to assigned topic.

____3. ORGANIZATION, COHERENCE, ESSAY FORM: Effectively organized by a clear, logical organizational pattern appropriate to assigned topic & thesis; essay structure (e.g., introduction, conclusion, transitions & paragraph breaks) clearly establishes and carries out organizational pattern; effective transitions, logical reasoning, & clear expression maintain strong coherence throughout the essay.

____4. PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT: Body paragraphs are well-developed, drawing upon reading, personal experience, observation; general points (e.g. topic sentences) are developed with strong supporting detail & well-selected examples, with sufficient explanation to establish relevance of body points & specific evidence to the essay topic & thesis.

____5. STYLE & COMMAND OF STANDARD WRITTEN ENGLISH: Clear, coherent, effective style demonstrates control of diction/word choice & sentence structure, creating tone appropriate to topic/purpose; & pleasing sentence variety; strong Command of standard written English is demonstrated by few flaws in grammar, usage, punctuation, mechanics; no serious patterns of errors (e.g. subject-verb agreement, verb form/tense, persistent misuse of commas) and no more than three (3) major/high distortion errors (errors that hurt clarity)—e.g. fragments; run-on (CS) comma splices & (FS) fused sentences; unclear pronoun references, word choices, or sentence structure.

____6. EFFECTIVE & RESPONSIBLE USE OF READING. Demonstrates strong reading comprehension & integrates smoothly, effectively viewpoint/s &/or quotations from relevant reading, as required by assigned topic; avoids plagiarism: all sources are cited responsibly within (in-text) & at the end of (Works Cited) the essay; good faith effort to follow MLA style.