English composition 101
The purpose of the last paper is to show that you can intervene in a scholarly debate. Building upon the skills you developed with the previous essay, begin by choosing one of the texts from this unit to work closely with — you should fully grasp this text!
• Allan Johnson’s “What is a System of Privilege”
• Amber Hollibaugh’s “Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home”
• Angeline Price’s “Working Class Whites”
• Benjamin Demott’s “Put on a Happy Face”
• Fan Shen’s “The Classroom and the Wider Culture”
• Kevin Jennings, “American Dreams”
• Melissa Algranati’s “Being an Other”
• Michael Omi’s “In Living Color: Race and American Culture”
• Nell Bernstein’s “Goin’ Gangsta, Choosing Cholita”
Note: While you may choose any reading from this unit, you may have to read ahead depending on which text you choose.
Note 2: You may not use any of the following introductory chapters to Signs of Life in the USA: “We’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe,” “Popular Signs: Or, Everything You’ve Wanted to Know about Popular Culture (But Nobody Asked),” “Writing About Popular Culture,” “Consuming Passions: The Culture of American Consumption,” or “Brought to you B(u)y: The Signs of Advertising.”
Next, you must form a sophisticated opinion on the text; where and how can the argument be torn down or strengthened? Take your answer and develop a working thesis (a thesis statement that’s still just a rough draft). Afterward, choose one text rom any other point in the course (not this unit) and one piece that you find on your own (this can’t be a text that I assigned). Use both to support your thesis. After you’ve chosen three texts total, consider when the texts emerged and under what political climate to present a well-reasoned argument on how they participate in a conversation with each other and the greater culture.
Remember that this essay’s goal is, as it was the case for every essay this semester, to present an argument responding to a text, not to summarize the ideas in your chosen texts nor simply compare what the different authors have to say. Essay must be 5-6 pages in length with 1” margins.
