Write a source-based essay using the research from your annotated bibliography from Unit III
Write for a narrow audience as described in the essay assignment
Learn to enter an “on-going” academic conversation by positioning your viewpoint in relation to your sources
Continue to practice quoting source material using MLA in text citation
Complete two discussion posts
To transform the research from Unit III into a specific essay with your viewpoint as the perspective from which your audience navigates your sources;
To use a source to support a thesis;
To write for a specific, narrow audience;
To persuade your audience to take action or to feel a particular way;
To cite using MLA guidelines;
To develop a works cited page; and
To continue practicing integrating source material within your essays
To complete English 1020 with portable research-writing skills for future classes and beyond
By this point in the semester you will have covered most of the material in the text. However, revisiting some key chapters may be helpful to you as you construct your final essay:
Readings for Evaluating outside sources
Check out the “CRAP Test” here: Printable CRAP test (e.g. the crudely named “crap test” helps students to evaluate a source for Currency, Reliability, Authority, and Purpose).
You are tasked with choosing 2 sources on your topic that are academically credible (remember ethos from unit I?). You cannot use Wikipedia, About.com, blogs, Facebook posts or memes, etc. See the following pages to learn what you can use:
See Composing-Ourselves-and-Our-World Chapters 16.2 and 17.2 on Finding and Evaluating Sources. The information on these pages will help you with the Unit II: Discussion I: Source Discussion.
Also, you may want to revisit these helpful pages from Unit I’s readings:
Reading to help you with quoting:
The Quotation Sandwich
MLA-In-Text-Citations Examples
Readings that show you how to prepare your works cited page:
See Composing-Ourselves-and-Our-World Chapters 19.2 on works cited pages. You can also try out https://www.bibme.org/items/new, a website that helps you create the works cited page (you have to watch one 30 second commercial per day that you use the bibme). There’s also Easybib, but I have had better luck with Bibme.
In our final unit, we will use the research from our Unit III annotated bibliography assignment to write our final essays.
Take heart class! You have done the research and have become authorities on your topics (at least more than you might have been 15 weeks ago). Indeed, your research and your works cited page are finished (you are allowed to add sources and annotations if you decide that you need more research than you had in Unit III, but otherwise, your research and works cited are already finished!).
For this final essay you will conceive of an audience and a goal as described in-depth here Slide Show Lecture: Unit IV and here in the Unit IV: Discussion I: Audience Description. Follow these links and read through the discussion description which will help you generate an audience and goal for this final essay.
Once you have a firm grasp of what you will argue and to and for whom you will write, the final step will simply involve writing the essay. You will be posting a half-length rough draft (minimum 500-750 words) as an attachment here in the Unit IV: Discussion II: Rough Draft. There you will receive some feedback from me to help you further refine your concepts of audience and goal as you move towards the final draft.
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:
Write a 1000-1500 word essay
Use your Unit III Annotated Bibliography for your sources. Therefore, the same source guidelines apply: Use a minimum of 5 sources. One source must be a peer reviewed journal article or a book. One source may come from 88 Open Essays, but you must have at least 4 outside sources. You may not use Wikipedia, About.com, blog posts, Facebook posts, etc.
Quote in your essay using MLA in text citation at least 6 times (see this handout–The Quotation Sandwich–as well as chapters 18.4 and 19.1 in Composing-Ourselves-and-Our-World for help here).
Continue to show improvement in any pattern of grammatical error that you may have had in earlier essays.
Double-space your essay
Avoid using contractions in your writing
Use 12 point, Times New Roman Font or Arial Font (but not Calibri)
Write for your narrow audience as best you can
Use MLA Essay format (see the MLA Format Help Module)
Upload your essay to the Unit IV Dropbox by the deadline on the class schedule
In Unit IV you will first participate in the Unit IV: Discussion I: Audience Description.
Then, you will participate in the Unit IV: Discussion II: Rough Draft
You will conclude this unit by writing the Unit IV Essay (described here: Final Essay Assignment & Requirements) and you will submit that essay to the Unit IV: Dropbox by the deadline.
While there will be no opportunity to revise the Unit IV essay, you will have the opportunity to revise an early essay and submit it to the Revised Essay Dropbox (Optional) by the deadline.
