Assignment for Paper 2
For this paper you should choose 1 one of the primary texts we have read this semester to write about. The text you choose should be the one you found to be the most moving and powerful.
Some questions for brainstorming:
*What issue (besides book banning) that we covered do you think was the most important of the ones that we covered this semester (presumably the one the text covers)? Why was this issue the most important?
*What was the most memorable part of the story?
*What effect do you think this story can have on readers?
*How does the human rights situation in the story resemble other situations in the world today?
*How did the author tell the story so that it would have such a powerful effect on the reader?
These are only questions to help you get ideas on what to write about. Do not go down the list and answer the questions, type them up, and hope it looks like an essay. You need to have a focus/thesis to unify your essay. You need to decide after brainstorming: What will your thesis/focus for the paper will be? Which questions and issues are most relevant to this thesis? Sample thesis: The memoir A Long Way Gone by child soldier Ishmael Beah presents the important issue of using children as soldiers, which has only increased since the author was a child soldier himself in the 1990s. The world, through organizations such as the United Nations, needs to do more to prevent armies from forcing children to fight for them and traumatizing them in the process. The thesis could be more personal, however, and focus on how the book moved you personally and why you would recommend for someone else to read it. Sample thesis 2: Ishmael Beah’s book A Long Way Gone is so moving because it shows how war affects children from the child’s point of view. This book would be valuable to read for anyone in order to understand the many conflicts affecting children around the world even continuing today.
A thesis statement and outline is due April 12, on Google docs. A rough draft is due for a peer review/workshop day on April 24. The final paper is due April 26, on Google docs. The paper should be approximately 4-6 pages, typed, 12 point size, with 1” margins. All sources, including texts assigned for the course, should be included in a works cited page in MLA format. Remember to properly document any information you use, including specific information that is paraphrased. All quotes from the texts should be documented in MLA format.
