This week you will be working on your “shitty first draft” of the Critical Essay. This is the first of two rough drafts you will submit. Before you submit your rough draft #1, be sure to review the lecture and check that you have the basic structure and all required paragraphs of your essay in place. As the lecture points out, all good essays start with a strong foundation. In this assignment, you will begin to build that foundation. Once you have instructor feedback, you will then submit rough draft #2 next, ultimately building up to the final essay.
Before you submit your rough draft #1, check that the following parts of your essay are present:
The Introduction: Using the knowledge you have gained through working with the two provided sources, introduce the topic of education to your readers. Provide your readers with background information, and end with a thesis or purpose statement that reveals your connection to the issue. Be sure to introduce the two sources you are asked to analyze. Include each author’s last name, title of the TEDxTalk/article, and date of the source. Remember that both sources are linked in this assignment’s description.
Body Paragraph 1 (Source Summary 1): Start this paragraph with a topic sentence that includes the author’s last name and date of the work in question. For example:
In Bernadotte’s TEDxTalk (2018), she indicates…
This paragraph is a summary of the first provided source. Remember to return to the feedback you have received on the Summary and Citation assignment for advice on how to develop a good summary. Your summary should contain the author’s most important ideas.
Body Paragraph 2 (Source Summary 2): Introduce this paragraph with a topic sentence that includes the author’s last name and date of the work in question. For example:
In Kent’s essay (2019), she tells the reader…
This paragraph is a summary of the second provided source. These first two body paragraphs should provide your reader with a solid understanding of your sources and the issue you have been researching on education.
Body Paragraph 3 (Connection/Reflection): This paragraph is where the source’s ideas and your experiences converge. This paragraph is an analysis of what you have researched and an illustration of how this issue connects to your own life and experiences in education.
The Conclusion: The final paragraph will tell your readers what they should take away from your essay. This paragraph will illustrate the significance of the issue, showing your readers why this topic matters.
Format: Check that your Critical Essay is formatted properly using APA (hint: use the provided template in Canvas). This includes:
A title page;
A References page listing full references for your two provided sources (in alphabetical order, double-spaced, with a hanging indent on the second and each additional line of each source);
Additional APA Formatting (double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, indented paragraphs, page numbers).
