30% Assignment #3: Research Essay
Draft- 5%
Essay- 20%
Annotated Bibliography- 5%
Audience: Columbia College first-year students
Length: Minimum of 2,000 words (6-8 pages, not counting works cited)
Sources: 5 primary sources and 3 secondary sources
Part 1: Introduction and Thesis:- 1 paragraph
You will argue that first-year students at Columbia College should read one poem, three stories, and one play from the ones we have discussed in this class only to understand more clearly how people move from sensual and rational perception to imagined or dreamlike states of conviction. You must persuade your audience to agree with your side. The thesis should be 1 sentence with the claim and the reasons at the very end of the introduction!
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Part 2: Problem and Solution
This section will be 1-2 paragraphs.
There are two argument levels in this essay. First, you will persuade your audience that there is an ideological problem (political, social, gender, sexual, economic, spiritual, etc.) during the spring of 2024 that necessitates the reading of the literature you select. You will show this need. Second, you will persuade your audience that reading these pieces of literature helps them to solve this problem in some way. This just might be to provide them with a better understanding of human nature, which could enable them to respond more logically and emotionally to the problem. There should be some incentive for your peers to read the literature.
Your audience is someone who already understands what you mean by your key terms, so you do not need to summarize them. What you must provide, however, are two secondary sources by using a total of 2 short quotes from the college databases that identify WHY Columbia College students should understand one of these “perception” elements. These sources must provide information why students should, for instance, care about moving from the real world to imaginings, from sense-based perception to creative imagination (if this is the element chosen) by way of addressing trust, isolation, nature, characters imagined, lies, etc.. You may use the pieces of literature that you have already discussed in A. #1 and A. #2, but you cannot cut and paste passages from those documents. You should use other databases such as Psychology, Business, Health to make connections to the theme!
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Part 3: Prove the solution with just the primary sources
This is where you discuss the theme without any outside sources and simply from your interpretation!
You might discuss how the literature displays epiphanies or revelations about human nature in America during the spring of 2024. Not all of the literature may portray exactly what you contend, so offer concession/refutation that acknowledges this.
In terms of organization, group the poems in one section, combine the stories in the next section, and write about the play in the last section.
You will offer descriptions and examples, as they are pertinent, in these sections to argue your position.
This section must be 4 paragraphs!
Total quotes for this section: 5 short quotes- 1 from poem, 3 from stories, 1 from play
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Part 4: Criticism: This is where you discuss each literary piece with help from literary secondary sources.
This section must be 3 paragraphs (1 for poem, 1 for stories, 1 for play)
Explain how one secondary source from the college databases about one or two works that you select supports your contention that the literature demonstrates the element concerning initiation.
Total secondary sources: 3 articles from databases
Total quotes in this section: 5 short quotes from secondary sources
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Part 5: Refutation: In the paragraph before the conclusion, think about a reader who says, “I do not need to read this literature!” Offer refutation to that person’s argument. This is important because not everyone will agree that first-year Columbia College students should even read the literature- 1 paragraph with no quotes or sources!
Part 6: Conclusion, reiterate your position that first-year students at Columbia College should read these pieces of literature because of what you have established as the context.
Works Cited (10 sources: 5 primary, 5 secondary sources)
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Annotated Bibliography (5%):
two sources from databases about the context/theme
three sources from the databases about the literature.
These 5 secondary sources need to be summarized and evaluated for bias and use. You will receive instruction for how to write an Annotated Bibliography.
