C. Requirements
Your essay draft must be 3-5 pages (approximately 800-1300 words), double-spaced, with one-inch margins.
Informative essay draft and topic selection guidelines must be followed or your submission will not be graded.
Use a readable 12-point font.
Composition must be original and written for this assignment and all writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
Use of generative chatbot artificial intelligence tools (ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Bard) in place of original writing is strictly prohibited for this assignment.
Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
Submission should include your name, the name of the course, the date, and the title of your essay draft.
Submission must include both your color-coded informative essay draft and your answers to the “Think About Your Writing” questions.
Include all of the assignment components in a single .doc or .docx file.
Extend the definition of one of the following words beyond either the dictionary’s definition or a societal understanding of the word:
Family
Success
Courage
Art
Beauty
In the introduction of your draft, briefly explain how the dictionary or society defines the word you’ve selected, and then explain the extended definition of the word in a single-sentence thesis towards the end that outlines the main points of extension. In the body paragraphs, provide unique examples and explanations to support these points of the extended definition.
Your thesis must inform your readers of the extended definition and, because you are writing in the informative mode, you must use objective language. For this essay, writing in the informative mode means avoiding writing in the first-person and/or framing personal examples using objective language.
Draft an extended definition essay that defines or redefines a word or concept.
Step 2. Think About Your Writing
As a part of your completed draft, complete the color-coding activity and include answers to all of the questions below your draft.
PART 1: Color-Coding Activity
Using the color codes provided, evaluate your draft as follows:
Use red text to indicate your thesis statement.
Use green text to indicate the topic sentence of each body paragraph.
PART 2: Reflection Questions
What is the significance of your essay? Why should readers care about what you have written? (2-3 sentences) Sophia says: Think about why you decided to analyze this particular image, or why you picked the word you chose to define. Your interest in your subject matter should be clear to readers.
Which areas of your draft do you think will benefit most from revision? (2-3 sentences) Sophia says: Consider the organization, style, focus, development, and conventions of your draft. Which areas did you struggle to complete?
Consider the strengths and weaknesses of your writing. How can you capitalize on your strengths and improve on your weaknesses in future essays? (3-4 sentences) Sophia says: Think about what was easy about writing the draft, and what was more difficult. For example, if you write paragraphs with strong topic sentences, but repeatedly use the same type of sentence to provide supporting details, you can improve your paragraphs by varying sentence structure.
