What topic do you plan to research for the semester? What do you want to learn more about this topic? Why do you want to research this topic? What do you already know about this topic? What do you need to know more about this topic?

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GUN VIOLENCE

In English 102, you will research a significant question, topic, or issue for the entire semester. The research proposal is the first step in the research process. A research proposal is an opportunity to identify a topic that you are interested in and try out different approaches before making a commitment for the entire semester. You will propose a topic you will investigate, how you will carry out your research, and what you plan on achieving in your final Writing Project in this class, the research-based argument paper. In this proposal, you will build on your own personal interest in a topic to develop tentative research strategies to investigate the topic and articulate the significance of the topic to a larger audience.

DIRECTIONS:

Your research proposal should answer the following questions:

  • What topic do you plan to research for the semester? What do you want to learn more about this topic? Why do you want to research this topic?
  • What do you already know about this topic? What do you need to know more about this topic?
  • Who else is interested in this topic?
  • What are the various perspectives on this topic?
  • Why is this topic significant to you and to larger audiences?
  • What research question will you ask and investigate about your topic?
  • What are relevant, credible sources that address your topic? (you might need to do a quick search for scholarly and academic sources on the topic)
  • How will you investigate your research question? Where will you look for information about it? What kind of search strategies will you use? what kinds of sources would you like to find?

 

In a multi-paragraph essay define “happiness.” In your examination of “happiness,” consider some of the lenses through which experts view “happiness”, ways to achieve happiness, some of the obstacles to achieving happiness, and perhaps even what happiness is not.

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Final draft essay

In a multi-paragraph essay (1500-1600 words including a Works Cited page in MLA format) define “happiness.” Be sure to formulate a focused, controlling and specific argument, supported with examples from at least three texts we have read and discussed in class.

In your examination of “happiness,” you may want to consider some of the lenses through which experts view “happiness” (spiritual, scientific, philosophical), ways to achieve happiness, some of the obstacles to achieving happiness, and perhaps even what happiness is not.

Be sure to include thoughtful, analytical commentary which helps the reader see the significance of each example as it demonstrates the central argument.

Edit the below final draft essay. Rephrase the argument/use three sources to support the argument with quotes and have supporting detail and to quote more and paraphrase less.

Classmate draft essay:

Am I happy? How can I be happier? Can I ever be perfectly happy, or must I settle for something less? Does everyone seek happiness as the ultimate goal? Should they? Most of us ask ourselves these fundamental questions, seeking answers for ourselves–answers that suit our particular personalities and circumstances. Most of us, perhaps all of us, seek to be happy, yet few of us know exactly how to achieve happiness. In America, where “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” stand as “unalienable rights,” many of us have yet to consider the difference between “happiness” as opposed to “my own happiness” in a systematic or informed way.

As a college student, choosing a major, preparing for a career, meeting new people, and facing new possibilities, you may find that questions about happiness have a special urgency and resonance. At no other point in your life, perhaps, will it be so important to ask these questions and to think seriously about the answers. Considering your personal values, beliefs and experiences of “happiness,” as well as the information you gathered from your interview about happiness, you will examine some of the key aspects of happiness and how it is reflected in the various texts we have watched, read and discussed, including: Nic Marks (TED Talk), “The Happy Planet Index”; The Bible, “Gospel of Matthew”; Haybron, “Happiness and Its Discontents”; Csikszentmihalyi, “If We Are So Rich, Why Aren’t We Happy?”; Lyubomirsky, “How Happy Are You and Why?”; Lewis, “We Have No Right to Be Happy”; any of the videos on this topic available to you via Canvas. Keep in mind that when you write a literary essay, you are essentially making an argument. You are arguing that your perspective–an interpretation, an evaluative judgment, or a critical evaluation–is a valid one. In this essay you are developing your position with evidence from primary texts.

 

Pick ONE character in Tartuffe and analyze their role and significance in the play. Make sure you consider not only the plot, but also other aspects: for example, language/style, symbolism, etc.

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Great Works of Literature II

General guidelines:
The paper should be about 2-3 page long (typed, double-spaced, with a 1-inch margin).

  • Avoid extensive summary (we have all read the texts), generic statements about literature, or the background or biography of the author.
  • This paper can be based entirely on your reading and reflection on the text. However, if you use any source to write your paper, you MUST acknowledge it in the proper way (whether you’re quoting or paraphrasing).
  • The paper does not need to be organized as a very formal essay: you should avoid lengthy introductions and conclusions and use most of the space, instead, for the analysis of your topic. The organization can be somewhat more schematic than a traditional essay.

Topic options:

Pick ONE character in Tartuffe and analyze their role and significance in the play. Make sure you consider not only the plot, but also other aspects: for example, language/style (how they speak, what things they have to say), symbolism, etc.

Pick ONE scene in Tartuffe and analyze its role in the play and how that is established through the use of characters and their interaction, language (symbols, metaphor, tone), structure of the scene.

Pick ONE poem by Blake, Dickinson, the Romantics, OR Baudelaire and write an articulate response to it: what you find interesting, what you think are its main characteristics (content, but also language such as metaphors, tone, etc.).

Pick ONE of the short stories we have read by Pushkin OR Tagore and comment on a very specific aspect of the text: the more limited, the better, as it will allow you to look closely at something you can discuss in a few pages. It could be a specific passage, a symbol, a character, its use of language, etc.

Write a 3–4 page narrative essay describing an idea or a principle you believe in, focus on the idea is that the transition from child to young adult causes conflict with parents and their belief’s of what they want for their children.

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Parental Conflict

Write a 3–4 page narrative essay describing an idea or a principle you believe in, focus on the idea is that the transition from child to young adult causes conflict with parents and their belief’s of what they want for their children.

 

Demonstrate your understanding of the skills necessary to draft an effective researched argumentative essay. Write an evaluation of another person’s written review of another subject.

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Evaluation Essay

For the final essay, you will demonstrate your understanding of the skills necessary to draft an effective researched argumentative essay. In this essay, you will write an evaluation of another person’s written review of another subject (e.g. movie review, book review, cell phone review, restaurant review, etc)

In the evaluation, you must summarize the subject being evaluated, and determine the criteria necessary for such an object to be considered a good version of its kind (e.g. what makes a good comedy movie?). Then your essay must prove your thesis, which will be to make a claim about your subject being a good or bad example of its kind (e.g. This movie is a good comedy because it has these characteristics.)

 

Write essay on women’s right to vote. Must include clarity and organization,focus and content,evidence,insight style and grammar and mechanics.

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Rhetorical analysis essay

Write essay on women’s right to vote. Must include clarity and organization,focus and content,evidence,insight style and grammar and mechanics.

Do you consider yourself a ‘crammer’ when preparing for a test? If you are, discuss potential problems that come from cramming. If you don’t cram for exams, how do you prepare?

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How to master your memory and prepare for exams

Read about how to master your memory and prepare for exams. (FOCUS on Community College Success by Constance Staley read chapter 9)

Post 1: In 150 words, using what you’ve read, answer the following questions in your post:

After reviewing Exercise 9.2 in the textbook, give an example of how you have used one of the memory techniques. Choose a new one that interests you and discuss why you chose that technique.

Do you consider yourself a ‘crammer’ when preparing for a test? If you are, discuss potential problems that come from cramming. If you don’t cram for exams, how do you prepare?

Complete the High-Middle-Low assignment. You have on the assignment sheet at least two samples from each level (that is, low, middle, and high).

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High-Middle-Low assignment

Complete the High-Middle-Low assignment. You have on the assignment sheet at least two samples from each level (that is, low, middle, and high).

the low level (make each one either middle or high)

Tyler Durden, Fight Club rules (Chuck Palahniuk, 1996)

“Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club! Third rule of Fight Club: if someone yells ‘stop!’, goes limp, or taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule: one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule: the fights are bare knuckle. No shirt, no shoes, no weapons. Seventh rule: fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule: if this is your first time at Fight Club, you have to fight.”

Adele, “Hello” (2015)

“Hello, how are you? / It’s so typical of me to talk about myself. I’m sorry. / I hope that you’re well. / Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened? / It’s no secret that both of us are running out of time. / So, hello from the other side. / I must have called a thousand times. / To tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done. / But when I call you never seem to be home. / Hello from the outside. / At least I can say that I’ve tried. / To tell you I’m sorry for breaking your heart. / But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore.”

the middle level (pick 2 to make either low or high)

From Isocrates, To Nicocles 11 (4th century BCE)

“Therefore, no athlete is so called upon to train his body as is a king to train his soul; for not all the public festivals in the world offer a prize comparable to those for which you who are kings strive every day of your lives. This thought you must lay to heart, and see to it that in proportion as you are above the others in rank so shall you surpass them in virtue.”

From Hillary Clinton’s Remarks at the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session (1995)

“The great challenge of this conference is to give voice to women everywhere whose experiences go unnoticed, whose words go unheard. Women comprise more than half the world’s population, 70% of the world’s poor, and two-thirds of those who are not taught to read and write. We are the primary caretakers for most of the world’s children and elderly. Yet much of the work we do is not valued — not by economists, not by historians, not by popular culture, not by government leaders.”

St. Vincent, “The Party” (2009)

Honey, the party, you went away quickly,

but oh, that’s the trouble with ticking and tocking.

I lick the ice cubes from your empty glass.

Oh, we’ve stayed much too late

till they’re cleaning the ashtrays.

Do you have change or a button or cash?

Oh, my pockets hang out like two surrender flags.

Oh, but I’d pay anything to keep my conscience clean.

Keeping my eye on the exits, I’m steady now.

How did we get here?

With creaks in these chairs.

Oh, there aren’t enough hands to point all the fingers.

But I sit transfixed by a hole in your t-shirt.

Oh, I’ve said much too much,

and they’re trying to sweep up.

the high level (pick 2 to make middle or low)

From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “On Eloquence” (1847)

“That which he wishes, that which eloquence ought to reach, is not a particular skill in telling a store, or neatly summing up evidence, or arguing logically, or dexterously addressing the prejudice of the company,- no, but a taking sovereign possession of the audience. Him we call an artist who shall play on an assembly of men as a master on the keys of the piano,-who, seeing the people furious, shall soften and compose them, shall draw them, when he will, to laughter and to tears. Bring him to his audience, and, be they who they may,- coarse or refined, pleased or displeased, sulky or savage, with their opinions in the keeping of a confessor, or with their opinions in their bank-safes,- he will have them pleased and humored as he chooses; and they shall carry and execute that which he bids them.”

From Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” (July 4, 1852)

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.”

From Queen Elizabeth I’s “Speech to the Troops at Tilbury” (1588)

“We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too…”

 

In your words, briefly restate (paraphrase) Vernallis’ main argument about music videos. Briefly list the specific methods Vernallis uses to analyze music videos.

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Carol Vernallis

Discussion Board: Carol Vernallis

Respond to each of the following:

  • In your words, briefly restate (paraphrase) Vernallis’ main argument about music videos. You might begin with, “In her article, Carol Vernallis argues that…”
  • Then, briefly list the specific methods Vernallis uses to analyze music videos. You might begin with, “The primary methods Vernallis uses to analyze music videos include…”
  • Finally, use Vernallis’ methods to discuss any music video by an artist of your choice. Choose a video that you would consider writing about in your upcoming essay. Include a link to the video. (video Eminem- Lose Yourself)

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/13761232.0041.105/–beyonce-s-overwhelming-opus-or-the-past-and-future-of-music?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Length Requirement: 250 words minimum

Quotes Required: 1. Your response should include at least one direct quote from the assigned reading.

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/f/fc/13761232.0041.105/–beyonce-s-overwhelming-opus-or-the-past-and-future-of-music?rgn=main;view=fulltext

 

Write a narrative of 3-5 pages describing some event you’ve experienced firsthand. Argue for a unique insight about life by using your personal experience as evidence.

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Narrative essay/Life Changing Experience

For your first essay, you will write a narrative of 3-5 pages describing some event you’ve experienced firsthand. A narrative essay, by definition, tells a story for the purpose of expanding the reader’s awareness in some way. Therefore, it is important to avoid cliché topics and to find a unique perspective of the experience. This paper, although narrative, should include elements of persuasion. In other words, you should argue for a unique insight about life by using your personal experience as evidence.

Here are some possibilities for your topic:

  • An experience that formed your character or worldview in some way.
  • A time you made a mistake and learned an important lesson about life.
  • An “aha” moment when you observed something about life that you had not realized before.
  • The process of achieving a goal and what you learned in the process.

Your essay should include all the following elements:

  • Clear and vivid details.
  • Insightful observation of human behavior and emotion.
  • A definite sense of purpose and a clear focus statement.
  • Solid organization and focus.
  • A strong personal voice.
  • Appropriate use of tone and diction.
  • Clear, grammatically correct sentences
  • Essays should be submitted as MS Word documents and formatted according to MLA, APA, or Chicago style.

Feedback from professor about a life changing event:

You will need to pick a point of realization, that came as a result of ONE life-changing experience AND the lesson this realization taught you, Leonard, a lesson that others could benefit from. Discussing Pros and Cons would render this an Argumentative Essay, which is isn’t. Speculation about life’s changes would make this an expository essay of exemplification. Again, you want state the lesson you culled from personal experience.