English 1101 Essay One Requirements
Format: The essay should be typed in correct MLA format including, among other conventions, spacing, font style and size, MLA header, inserting page numbers, and indentations. NOTE: I have included a folder in Blackboard with all the how-to’s for MLA formatting.
General Essay Requirements: See the rubric document in Blackboard for the general requirements for all essays and information about grading.
Length: minimum of 800 words and a maximum of 1,000 words. At the bottom of your page in Microsoft Word (you must use Microsoft Word), you will see a running total of your word count which will allow you to keep track of your progress toward the requirement.
Rhetorical Strategy: For this essay, you may choose to write a cause and effect essay or a compare and contrast essay. Whichever you choose, review or reread that section of the “Rhetorical Strategies” chapter 3 before beginning to write your essay. Adherence to one chosen rhetorical strategy and the associated parameters is required.
Topics:
- Cause and effect essay—see topic choices in that section of the textbook: any topics discussed or listed in these chapters are acceptable.
- Compare and contrast essay—see topic choices in that section of the textbook: any topics discussed or listed in these chapters are acceptable.
CAUTION: As discussed in your assigned textbook readings, essays require a thesis that takes a stand on the topic. The essay, then, must support that stand. For the topics within the textbook chapters, do not simply write a book report or summary of the topic. Choose a topic that you can take a stand on. For example, if you choose “history” as your topic, do not retell some history fact or story. Instead, take a stand on some historic issue, event, or phenomenon. If you have a question about some historic idea, think about a possible answer. Then, that answer could be a thesis for the essay to prove. Do not look it up on the internet. Write about what YOU think is the answer. Think critically about it. Then, write the essay using intelligent proof for the thesis. This is your essay, so you are the expert. Trust your own instincts and persuade the reader that the thesis has merit. In the week three folder, I will be adding an extended example of how to approach your topic choice and writing the essay.
You must write a standard essay with at least five-paragraphs. This is a college-level assignment, so formal writing is expected.
Prewriting/Drafting and Revised Essay Due:
A Draft must be submitted in UpSwing for tutor feedback prior to submitting the revision of the draft as the final version of the essay. You must submit proof of the tutoring session in the Upswing drop box before you will be able to submit your essay. For this essay you submit three items before you have completed the essay requirements: 1) proof of the tutoring sessions (see the UpSwing Instructions for details about the proof), 2) the draft that you submitted in UpSwing, and 3) a final, polished, version of the essay. Each of these elements will receive a grade, but the final version of the essay will account for 20% of your grade this semester while the 1st and 2nd elements will each be graded as separate prewriting assignments.
Click on drop box titles to view the due dates for each item. You may submit multiple versions of these documents before their due dates. I will grade the last submission.
Submit the final version of the essay in the Essay 1 Blackboard drop box.
A note on research and plagiarism:
This is not a research essay, so do not use research! I am not asking you to research your topic. In fact, further into the semester you will be asked to do some research. At that time, we will discuss what constitutes acceptable academic research and the grammar and mechanics of using quoted material from research—using MLA parenthetical citations and work(s) cited page formatting. You will be graded on these conventions if you choose to use research. Therefore, it is in your best interest to wait until we cover that information to use research in your writing. For the above topics, write about your existing knowledge and attitudes. What do you think about your chosen topic? This writing task requires that you think critically and logically to prove your own claims. Furthermore, if you choose to research your chosen topic, do not plagiarize. Give proper credit to the source of any claims or supporting details if you obtain the info from somewhere else. Your grade will suffer if you use research because I am instructing you not to, but even worse, you will fail if you plagiarize.
An additional word about plagiarism: If you copy someone else’s words or change only one or two words or copy someone else’s ideas without providing a parenthetical citation and quotation marks where applicable, you will receive – at the least – a zero for your plagiarism.