Argumentative Essay
Becoming a scholar means entering into academic and
scholarly conversations.
Now that you have written a rhetorical analysis, it is now
time to take those skills and apply them to a longer essay where you are
combining rhetorical analysis with developing your own thesis and argument.
Part of what you will be doing in this assignment is entering the academic
conversation and responding to what you have read. This includes not only
analyzing the rhetorics of what you have read, but developing your own
rhetorical style and voice to respond in conversation to others. This will
require you to be able to analyze what you are reading critically, formulate
your own thesis, and provide a claim that is supported.
For this essay, I want you to write an essay that is
responding to one of the texts we’ve read this far in the semester. You are
free to choose from the prompts I’ve listed below and to put any of the texts
we’ve read into conversation in your essay. You are required to quote, to use
MLA in-text citations, and to have a properly formatted MLA Works Cited paper.
Pertinent Course Objectives
Analyze rhetorical strategies, content, and contexts in a
variety of non-fiction texts written by authors representing and reflective of
students in the classroom, including those written by Black, Indigenous,
Latinx, and People of Color and the LGBTQ+ community.
Consider uses of tone in relation to audience and purpose.
Find and engage sources in writings, including thesis
writing, summarizing, paraphrases, and integrating quoted materials.
Practice citation conventions systematically.
Develop flexible strategies for reading, drafting,
reviewing, collaborating, revising, rewriting, rereading, and editing.
Learn to give and to act on productive feedback to works in
progress.
Practice reading and composing in more than one genre to
understand how genre conventions shape and are shaped by readers’ and writers’
practices and purposes.
Practice writing moves like problem-solving, posing
questions, analyzing, interpreting, generalizing, without stereotyping, and
generating examples.
Lectures
Read
For this essay you will be putting two texts from the four
we have read into conversation with each other. I am widening the reading to
include an optional, additional reading, Ibram X. Kendi’s
“Definitions” on pgs. 529-534. It is a short, fast read and gives you
more texts to respond to and more options of prompts to choose from. You do not
have to read Kendi’s “Definitions,” but it is in conversation with
the other texts we are reading and gives you another text to respond to. I highly
encourage you to read it.
In addition, please refer to Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 6 from
your textbook.
Essay Prompts (Pick one)
For your essay you must pick between one of these prompts
regarding the readings we’ve done thus far in the semester:
Prompt #1 (This will require you to read
“Definitions” by Ibram X. Kendi, pgs. 529-534 and put it into
conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones’ “Scholl Segregation, the Continuing
Tragedy of Ferguson,” pgs. 499-517:
Kendi and Nikole Hannah-Jones might have a lot to say to one
another on the topic of manifestations of racism. Reread both essays,
considering how Kendi’s concepts of “antiracist” work might apply to
the deeply troubling situation in Ferguson that Hannah-Jones describes. How do
Kendi’s concepts help you understand what happened there? What steps toward
greater equity might Kendi offer, given the challenges that Hannah-Jones
describes? What can you conclude, based on your findings?
Prompt #2 (This will require you to compare Ehrenreich and
hooks):
Both Ehrenreich and bell hooks analyze the ways popular
understandings of poverty often blame the poor. Place these authors’ ideas in
conversation in an essay in which you make an argument about the ways policy
making and popular culture often go hand in hand to produce ideas about
inequality. What solutions does each author offer, and what do you make of
those solutions?
Prompt #3 (This will require you to compare Ehrenreich and
Reich)
Just as Ehrenreich critiques writer Michael Harrington for
turning poor people into “others,” Robert B. Reich examines the ways
the “working poor” are often blamed for the very conditions that keep
them in poverty. Write an essay in which you analyze the way each author
presents the origins of these ideas and their current iterations. What
conclusions can you draw about economics and identity in our culture? What
solutions would you propose, if any, and why?
Prompt #4 (This will require you to read
“Definitions” by Ibram X. Kendi, pgs. 529-534 and put it into
conversation with hooks)
hooks, like Ibram X. Kendi is committed to understanding the
many subtle ways we learn who “counts” in our society and who
doesn’t. Write an essay in which you apply Kendi’s analysis of the dynamics of
discrimination to analyze hooks’ examples, and draw your own conclusions about
the ways privilege works to reinforce economic class stereotypes. Given both
authors’ insights, how might we change these assumptions?
Essay Guidelines
4 – 6 pages, not including Works Cited page
No more than 10% TurnItIn.Com matching content
If your matching content is higher than 10% I will not
accept it. Please make sure to check you percentage and ensure that you do not
have too much quoted material or matching material to others. If your essay is
submitted and has a high matching content it will be flagged as plagiarized and
you may be flagged as plagiarizing. I take plagiarism very seriously so do not
attempt to slip it by. It is not worth it.
Of note: If it is flagging quoted material from your texts,
this is a clue that you are not doing enough analysis. Your work in this essay
is to analyze what the author is doing, and that means I should hear YOUR
voice.
Your text should have zero AI generated material. I check
this across multiple platforms, so please do not use AI–I will not accept your
paper and you will receive a zero.
Use the text throughout your essay to support your analysis
This means if you are talking about the author’s claims, for
example, you should include/show an example of what you think is the author’s
claim. This should be quoted material using MLA citations. Please read the book
that illustrates how to quote, follow the links I’ve provided in the Helpful
Resources module, or use one of the suggested texts that support MLA
guidelines.
Use 3rd person, this means do not use “I” at all
in your paper.
Use present tense
Some other helpful guidelines regarding college level
academic writing. These are all things you need to make sure you are doing in
your paper.
Use different sentence lengths and sentence types
Avoid sentence construction errors (fragments, comma
splices, run-ons)
Make sure your essay is thesis driven
Thesis at the end of your Introduction
Topic Sentence for each body paragraph
One topic/issue/idea per body paragraph
Use the quote sandwich: Introduce the quote, provide the
quote, analyze the quote
No announcements: This essay will address, I will explain,
my thesis, my essay will focus on, etc.
No “I” statements. This should be written as a 3rd person
essay that does not rely on personal narratives.
Use transitions throughout
Use “signal phrases” to introduce your quotes
MLA-Signal-Phrases-for-Quotes-and-Paraphrases.pdf Download
MLA-Signal-Phrases-for-Quotes-and-Paraphrases.pdf
MLA Format:
1” margins on all sides
Black, 12 pt. Font
Times New Roman
Works Cited page
Page numbers upper right corner
Heading
Original Title (centered)
Please write an original title that helps to express what
your essay is about. It should be creative and reflective of the paper you are
writing.
Please include all standard college header information:
Name
Professor Jimenez
English
1A
Date
Please note: You must have a proper, MLA Works Cited page
with correctly formatted citations. If you do not have this, your paper will be
marked incomplete and will not be graded until you have properly included a
Works Cited page with correct citations. If you need help, please see the
following:
Purdue OWL MLA Works Cited PageLinks to an external site.
Works Cited Help (Video Link)Links to an external site.
MLA Citation GeneratorLinks to an external site.
Please use this generator responsibly. You MUST check to
make sure you have used the correct format (MLA 9–the most updated version),
and that you do not have any formatting issues as these happen often when using
a citation generator.
I URGE you to create your Works Cited page and citations
yourself. It is not hard to do, learn, or follow and once you do it a couple of
times you will be able to write your own quickly and easily. You will not have
to depend on a generator.
Generate/Write your assignment in Google Docs to protect
yourself from AI. Google Docs has a feature that tracks the changes of your
document, allowing me to see what changes you have done. This is the best way
for you to protect yourself and prove that you generated/created your work
yourself. If you do not use Google Docs to track your changes and your work is
being listed as AI-generated by Turnitin.com you will have no way to protect
yourself against a zero.
