McMahon 2018 Spring English 1A Syllabus
Office H121P; Phone Extension: 5673
Office Hours: Mon and Wed: 2:30-3:45; Tues and Thurs: 12:15-1 and 3:30-4:15
Email: [email protected]
Books and Materials You Need to Buy for This Class
Cooked by Jeff Henderson
Acting Out Culture, 4rd Edition, edited by James Miller
Rules for Writers, 8th Edition by Diana Hacker
1 Blue Book for in-class final writing exam
1 pocketed, flat folder for your Homework Portfolio
Work You Must Do in This Class
One. You will write 5 typed, 1,200-word essays in MLA format. The fifth essay, your capstone essay, will need 5 sources for your Works Cited. These essays will be uploaded on turnitin. Late essays are accepted for a week after deadline and are marked down a full grade.
Two. You must generate a writing response to every reading. Instead of getting quizzed on the readings, you will write 3-paragraph reading-response essays to the readings. Each mini essay should have at least 3 signal phrases citing the text of the assigned reading. You will not be uploading these essays on turnitin.com. Instead, you will bring a typed hard copy to class and discussing it with your team of 3 or 4 students. Classes will typically start with a 20-minute discussion about the reading response while I mark them with a teacher’s stamp. The mini essay will be stamped with either an excellent top-grade mark or a middling mediocre mark. An unacceptable essay won’t be marked. You will keep these essays in a flat, pocketed folder, which I will grade twice a semester. Each grading period is referred to as Portfolio 1 and Portfolio 2. You cannot make-up missing mini essays. You should be motivated to show up to every class.
Three. Before the 1,200-word typed essays are due on turnitin, there is a peer edit session. You bring hard copies of your completed typed draft so your team can review your work, and you can review theirs. Like your mini essays, the completed draft gets a stamp, either a top-tier stamp or a middling one.
Four. During the last week of the semester, you will write an in-class Blue Book Final exam essay of 500 words.
Grading Based on 1,000 Points and 13,500 Words Written Over the Semester (about 110 words a day).
One. First four 1,200-word essays are 125 points each.
Two. Final Capstone Essay with 5 sources: 1,200-word essay is 250 points.
Three. Two Homework Portfolios include all your mini essays and peer edit drafts (kept in flat pocketed folders) 100 points each, for 200 points
Four. In-Class Final Blue Book Exam is 500 words for 50 points.
Grading Point Scheme
Total Points: 1,000 (A is 900-100; B is 800-899; C is 700-799; D is 600 to 699)
Essay #1 Options with 2 sources (Brooks and Henderson) Due 3-5-18
One. Apply the wisdom of Arthur C. Brooks’ essay “Love People, Not Pleasure” to develop a thesis that analyzes the personal transformation of Jeff Henderson rendered in his memoir Cooked.
Suggested Outline:
Paragraph 1: Summarize Brooks’ essay.
Paragraph 2: Summarize Henderson’s memoir.
Paragraph 3: Your thesis that shows how Henderson’s transformation illustrated Brooks’ ideas.
Paragraphs 4-8 will support your thesis.
Paragraph 9, your conclusion, will restate your thesis in dramatic form.
1,200-word total
Sources and Signal Phrases
You need only two sources, Henderson’s book and Brooks’ essay, but you must use at least 6 different signal phrases for using in-text citations in the form of quotations, paraphrase and summary.
Two. A wise man once said that when we think we're rising in life, we're really falling and when we think we're falling, we're really rising. In a 6-page essay, apply this wisdom, in all of its psychological complexity, to Jeff Henderson's journey and compare to someone from a personal interview. Use blog, book, and personal interview for your sixth page, your Works Cited page.
Suggested Outline:
Paragraph 1: Write a narrative of someone who thought he or she was rising but was actually falling.
Paragraph 2: Summarize Henderson’s memoir.
Paragraph 3: Your thesis analyzes how Henderson’s memoir is an illustration of the wise man’s adage with 5 mapping components.
Paragraphs 4-8 will support your thesis.
Conclusion, a dramatic restatement of your thesis.
1,200 words
Sources and Signal Phrases:
You need only one source, Henderson’s book, but you must use at least 6 different signal phrases for using in-text citations in the form of quotations, paraphrase and summary.
Essay #2 Options with Signal Phrases and Works Cited Due 3-26-18
One. In an essay of appropriate length, defend, refute, or complicate Cal Newport’s argument from his book excerpt (available online) from So Good They Can't Ignore You that the Passion Hypothesis is dangerous and should be replaced by the craftsman mindset.
Suggested Essay Structure:
Paragraph 1: Summarize Newport's argument.
Paragraph 2: Explain how you've been pursuing your career goals before reading Newport's book. Then explain how his book affects the way you might re-think your strategy and approach to your career plans.
Paragraph 3: Your thesis: Example: "Cal Newport's argument that should should shun the Passion Hypothesis and replace it with a craftsman's mindset is convincing (is not convincing) because ______________, ______________, _________________, and ______________________.
Paragraphs 4-7 are your supporting paragraphs
Paragraph 8: Counterargument-Rebuttal Paragraph in which you anticipate how your opponents will oppose your thesis and your rebuttal to their counterargument.
Paragraph 9: Conclusion: Dramatic reiteration of your thesis.
1,200 words
Sources and Signal Phrases
You must use at least 2 sources and 6 signal phrases for your essay.
Two. Defend, refute, or complicate Kristof’s defense of food stamps as he posits his case in “Prudence Or Cruelty?”
In paragraph 1, summarize the debate of food stamps.
In paragraph 2, write your thesis.
Paragraphs 3-6: Support your thesis with these body paragraphs.
Paragraph 7: Anticipate how your opponents would disagree with you (counterargument) and show why your opponents are wrong (rebuttal).
Typical counterargument goes like this: "My opponents claim that I am wrong because of _________; however, their claim fails to address ___________." Or, "My opponents will take issue with __________; however, their opposition is clearly misguided when we consider _______________."
Paragraph 8: Conclusion, a restatement of your thesis with powerful emotion (pathos).
You must use at least 2 sources and 6 signal phrases for your essay.
Three. Support, refute, or complicate the primary argument in Nathanael Johnson’s “Is There a Moral Case for Eating Meat?” (189)
Four. Develop a thesis that compares Francine Prose’s “The Wages of Sin”(197) with Harriet Brown’s “How My Life Changed with One Sentence” (204).
Essay #3 Options with 3 Sources Due 4-23-18
One. Develop a thesis that analyzes the human inclination for staying within the tribe of sameness as explained in David Brooks’ “People Like Us” (very popular with students).
Two. Develop a thesis that compares “People Like Us” (525) and J.D. Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” (531).
Three. Based on your reading of Harriet McBryde Johnson’s “Unspeakable Conversations (93),” write an argument that addresses Peter Singer’s philosophy of euthanasia.
Four. Defend, refute, or complicate Steve Almond’s thesis from his essay “Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?” (125)
Five. Develop a thesis that compares Barbara Ehrenreich’s “How the Poor Are Made to Pay for Their Poverty” (364) and Linda Tirado’s “You Get What You Pay For” (370).
Essay #4 Options with 3 Sources for Works Cited Due 5-14-18
One. Support, refute, or complicate Debra J. Dickerson's argument that race in America is more of a social fantasy than a reflection of objective reality.
Two. Show how the Jordan Peele movie Get Out builds on Debra J. Dickerson's argument that race in America is a cruel invention designed to create a hierarchy of power, one that can be seen in all its horror in post-Obama America. For sources, see NYT review , The Guardian review, and the Variety review.
Three. Develop a thesis that argues that Confederate flags and other iconography from the Confederacy should be relegated to museums.
Four. Develop a thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates the claim that mass incarceration is “The New Jim Crow.” Consult Adam Gopnik’s “The Caging of America.”
Five. Develop an argument that addresses the notion that Tom Jacob’s essay (78) is a feeble solution to the problem of global warming in the context of Naomi Klein’s essay (70).
Six. Develop a thesis that examines how cultural tastes are part of our public personality in the context of Tom Vanderbilt’s “How Predictable Is Our Taste” (142), Kevin Fallon’s “Why We Binge-Watch Television” (156), and David Brooks’ “People Like Us” (525).
Essay #5 Options: Capstone Essay with 5 Sources for Works Cited Due 6-6-18.
One. Support, refute, or complicate Alfie Kohn’s assertion from “Degrading to De-grading” that grading is an inferior education tool that all conscientious teachers should abandon. In other words, will students benefit from an accountability-free education? Why? Explain.
Two. Support, refute, or complicate the inferred lesson from bell hooks’ essay, “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” that upward mobility requires a betrayal of one’s economic class and even family. To rub shoulders with the privileged, do we have to "sell out," to conform to their snobbish ways, and in doing so, are we betraying our core values and turning our backs on our roots?
Three. In the context of Kristina Rizga’s “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong” (253), support, refute, or complicate the assertion that standardized testing is a money-making canard sodden with incompetence, corruption, and moral bankruptcy, and therefore must be abolished.
Four. Addressing Aaron Hanlon’s “The Trigger Warning Myth” (309) and Ferentz Lafargue’s “Welcome to the ‘Real World’” (317), develop a thesis about colleges, microaggressions, and hate speech. You can also refer to Greg Lukianoff’s and Jonathan Haidt’s online Atlantic essay, “The Coddling of the American Mind.”
Five. In the context of Frank Bruni’s “Why College Rankings Are a Joke” (296) and Ben Casselman’s “Shut Up About Harvard” (301), develop a thesis about the notion that college rankings “skew the broader debate about education.”
Your guidelines for your Final Research Paper are as follows:
This research paper should present a thesis that is specific, manageable, provable, and contestable—in other words, the thesis should offer a clear position, stand, or opinion that will be proven with research.
You should analyze and prove your thesis using examples and quotes from a variety of sources.
You need to research and cite from at least five sources. You must use at least 3 different types of sources.
At least one source must be from an ECC library database.
At least one source must be a book, anthology or textbook.
At least one source must be from a credible website, appropriate for academic use.
The paper should not over-rely on one main source for most of the information. Rather, it should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them.
This paper will be approximately 5-7 pages in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required. This means at least 5 full pages of text. The Works Cited page does NOT count towards length requirement.
You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.
You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Your paper must be logically organized and focused.
Late papers reduced a full grade. No late papers accepted a week past due date.
Peer Edit
You must do a peer edit. You must show up to class on peer edit day with a completed typed draft for 20 points.
You Can’t “Ride” the Class
If you’re “riding” the class, that is missing more than 10% of classes and not keeping up with assignments, you can’t fulfill the Student Learning Outcomes, and you will be dropped.
You Must Use turnitin to submit essay and bring hard copy on due date
Each essay must be submitted to www.turnitin.com where it will be checked for illegal copying/plagiarism. I cannot give credit for an essay that is not submitted to this site by the deadline.
The process is very simple; if you need help, detailed instructions are available at http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/student-quickstart-guide
You will need two pieces of information to use the site:
Class ID and Enrollment Password, which I will give you first week of class
Classroom Decorum: No smart phones can be used in class. If you’re on your smartphone and I see you, you get a warning the first time. Second time, you must leave the class and take an absence
Tardies: Two tardies equals one absence.
Homework for Your Portfolio
Your Homework Portfolio connects with a 20-minute class activity that begins the class in your team (of 3 or 4 people).
Your essays are of the “mini” variety: 3 paragraphs, 350 words long, and have at least 3 signal phrases citing the text in the form of direct quotations, paraphrase, or summary.
Almost every class-assigned reading has a mini essay that you will keep in your portfolio.
Every class, while you discuss the study question with your team, I will come around and put a stamp on the completed typed mini essay.
Even though I grade your Portfolio mid-way into the semester as “Portfolio 1,” keep all your subsequent essays in the same Homework Portfolio. In other words, don’t throw your hard-copies of your essay away after I grade “Portfolio 1.”
Course Catalog Description:
This course is designed to strengthen the students’ ability to read with understanding and discernment, to discuss assigned readings intelligently, and to write clearly. Emphasis will be on writing essays in which each paragraph relates to a controlling idea, has an introduction and a conclusion, and contains primary and secondary support. College-level reading material will be assigned to provide the stimulus for class discussion and writing assignments, including a required research paper.
Course Objectives:
One. Recognize and revise sentence-level grammar and usage errors.
Two. Read and apply critical-thinking skills to numerous published articles and to college-level, book-length works for the purpose of writing and discussion.
Three. Apply appropriate strategies in the writing process including prewriting, composing, revising, and editing techniques.
Four. Compose multi-paragraph, thesis-driven essays with logical and appropriate supporting ideas, and with unity and coherence.
Five. Demonstrate ability to locate and utilize a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites.
Six. Utilize MLA guidelines to format essays, cite sources in the texts of essays, and compile Works Cited lists.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, students will:
- Complete a research-based essay that has been written out of class and undergone revision. It should demonstrate the student’s ability to thoughtfully support a single thesis using analysis and synthesis.
- Integrate multiple sources, including a book-length work and a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites. Citations must be in MLA format and include a Works Cited page.
- Demonstrate logical paragraph composition and sentence structure. The essay should have correct grammar, spelling, and word use.
Students with Disabilities:
It is the policy of the El Camino Community College District to encourage full inclusion of people with disabilities in all programs and services. Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class should contact the campus Special Resource Center (310) 660-3295, as soon as possible. This will ensure that students are able to fully participate.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism:
El Camino College places a high value on the integrity of its student scholars. When an instructor determines that there is evidence of dishonesty in any academic work (including, but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, or theft of exam materials), disciplinary action appropriate to the misconduct as defined in BP 5500 may be taken. A failing grade on an assignment in which academic dishonesty has occurred and suspension from class are among the disciplinary actions for academic dishonesty (AP 5520). Students with any questions about the Academic Honesty or discipline policies are encouraged to speak with their instructor in advance.
Attendance and Class Participation
Deductions of 50 for more than 4 absences (two tardies equal one absence). Repeated use of smart phone in class or leaving class repeatedly to "take a call" counts as a tardy.
More than 5 absences is a loss of 100 points. These rules are designed so that we will be compliant with Title 5 Contact Hour Laws prescribed by the State of California.
Tardies:
It’s reasonable to be late a couple of times a semester, but some students consistently show up late to class, and this distraction compromises the learning environment significantly. Therefore, starting on the fourth tardy, 50 points must be deducted from total grade and another 25 points must be deducted for every tardy after that. Being on your smartphone in class is equivalent to being tardy.
Student Resources:
- Reading Success Center (East Library Basement E-36)
- Software and tutors are available for vocabulary development & reading comprehension.
- Library Media Technology Center - LMTC (East Library Basement)
- Computers are available for free use. Bring your student ID # & flash drive. There’s a charge for printing.
- Writing Center (H122)
- Computers are available for free use. Free tutoring is available for writing assignments, grammar, and vocabulary. Bring your student ID & flash drive to save work. Printing is NOT available.
- Learning Resource Center - LRC (West Wing of the Library, 2nd floor)
- The LRC Tutorial Program offers free drop-in tutoring. For the tutoring schedule, go to www.elcamino.edu/library/lrc/tutoring .The LRC also offers individualized computer adaptive programs to help build your reading comprehension skills.
- Student Health Center (Next to the Pool)
- The Health Center offers free medical and psychological services as well as free workshops on topics like “test anxiety.” Low cost medical testing is also available.
- Special Resource Center – SRC (Southwest Wing of Student Services Building)
The SRC provides free disability services, including interpreters, testing accommodations, counseling, and adaptive computer technology.
Reading and Writing Schedule Includes Homework for Your Two Portfolios
February 12 Introduction, Syllabus, Portfolio, and Signal Phrases; find a team of 3 or 4 for your beginning class activity that will start our classes throughout the semester.
February 14 Cooked, read 1-50, comma splices; homework #1 due: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word typed essay that explains 3 ways Henderson’s childhood shaped his personality. Use at least 3 signal phrases in citing the memoir.
February 19 Holiday
February 21 Cooked, read 51-150, signal phrases, fragments; homework #2 due: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that analyzes the causes of Jeff Henderson’s initial self-pity in prison. Use at least 3 signal phrases in citing the memoir.
February 26 Cooked, read 151-end, parallelism, MLA format; homework #3 due: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that gives 3 reasons Henderson’s post-prison struggles were more difficult that his stay in prison. Use at least 3 signals phrases to cite the memoir.
February 28 First Typed Draft of Cooked Essay for Peer Edit Due
March 5 Essay 1 Due, So Good They Can’t Ignore You excerpt
March 7 Cal Newport continued, dangling modifiers; homework #4: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that explains 3 ways Newport’s thesis is relevant to your own career quest. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Newport’s excerpt.
March 12 “Prudence Or Cruelty” 525, writing introductions; homework #5: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that analyzes 3 supports Kristof uses to support his defense of food stamps. Use at least 3 signal phrases.
March 14 “Is There a Moral Case for Eating Meat? 189, homework #6: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that offers 3 defenses for killing animals. How convincing are these defenses offered in Johnson’s essay? Use 3 signal phrases.
March 19 “The Wages of Sin” (197), “How My Life Changed in One Sentence” (204); signal phrase review; homework #7: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that explains 3 reasons for “our cultural obsession with thinness,” according to Harriet Brown (204).
March 21 Peer Edit, bring completed typed first draft to class
March 26 Essay 2 Due, “People Like Us” (525), homework #8: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that explains why people stick to their tribe as David Brooks presents us in his essay. Use at least 3 signal phrases.
March 28 “Hillbilly Elegy” (531); in class, we will compare “Hillbilly Elegy” to “People Like Us.”
April 2 “Unspeakable Conversations” 93; homework #9: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that explains how Harriet McBryde Johnson has to deal with stereotypes and how these stereotypes feed into Peter Singer’s morally-bankrupt philosophy. Use at least 3 signal phrases.
April 4 “Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?” 125; counterargument templates: homework #10: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that explains Almond’s objection to football. Use no fewer than 3 signal phrases citing Almond’s essay.
April 16 “How the Poor Are Made to Pay for Their Poverty” 364, “You Get What You Pay For” 370; also see "It Is Expensive to be Poor": homework #11: write a 350-word essay that analyzes 3 reasons, according to Linda Tirado, why she doesn’t feel invested in her job. Use at least 3 signal phrases. Your peer edit draft and Homework Portfolio 1 are due in 2 days.
April 18 Peer Edit, bring completed typed first draft to class; Homework Portfolio 1 Due. Bring to class.
April 23 Essay 3 Due, “The Great White Way”; homework #12: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes why race would be impossible to explain to aliens, as Dickerson posits. Use no fewer than 3 signal phrases to cite the essay. Should we ban all Confederacy iconography and limit it to museums? Consult the following: Jamelle Bouie’s “White Americans Have to Make a Choice,” Aisha Harris’ “Spring Time for the Confederacy,” Margaret Biser’s “I Used to Lead Tours at a Plantation,” John Oliver’s Confederacy commentary, Coates’ “Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?”
April 25 Read online essay, Adam Gopnik’s “The Caging of America.” homework #13: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that explains why Adam Gopnik declares that mass incarceration is a scandal. Use at least 3 signal phrases.
April 30 “One Way Or Another, Everything Changes 70, “It’s Not Easy Being Green--And Manly” 78; homework #14: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that addresses the Klein’s claim that we need to make dramatic changes in order to save our planet from climate change. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing
May 2 “How Predictable Is Our Taste 142, “Why We Binge-Watch Television 156; homework #15: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that explains, according to Tom Vanderbilt, the forces that influence our tastes for popular culture. Use at least 3 signal phrases to cite Vanderbilt’s text.
May 7 “Higher Ground” 58, “Restoration of Faith” 65; homework #16: In 3 paragraphs, explain the cultural norms about crime and punishment that, according to Bryan Stevenson, need to be questioned. Be sure to have at least 3 signal phrases.
May 9 Peer Edit; bring your completed, typed first draft to class.
May 14 Essay 4 Due, “From Degrading to De-Grading” (238); homework #17: write a 3-paragraph, 350-word essay that gives 3 counterarguments to Kohn’s claim. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Kohn’s essay.
May 16 “Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class” (287), “Against School” (271); homework #18: write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes the bell hooks’ struggle with race and social class as she tries to climb the education ladder. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing hooks’ text.
May 21 “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong” (252), online homework#19: In the context of Kristina Rizga’s essay (253), write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes the claim that standardized testing improves education. Use at least 3 signal phrases citing Rizga’s essay. "Why Poor Schools Can't Win at Standardized Testing"; John Oliver video
May 23 “The Trigger Warning Myth”(309), “Welcome to the ‘New World’” (317), “Why College Ratings Are a Joke” (296), “Shut Up About Harvard” (301) homework #20: Write a 350-word, 3-paragraph essay that analyzes why Frank Bruni rejects the validity of college ratings (296). Use at least 3 signal phrases.
May 28 Holiday
May 30 Peer Edit; bring first typed draft to class.
June 4 Blue Book Exam
June 6 Essay 5 Due, Portfolio2 Due in Class
Sample Signal Phrases:
From ThoughtCo:
- Sample Signal Phrases:
- Maya Angelou said, "Start loving yourself before you ask someone else to love you."
- "Start loving yourself before you ask someone else to love you," Maya Angelou said.
- "Start loving yourself," Maya Angelou said, "before you ask someone else to love you."
- As Mark Twain observed, "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions."
- According to Frito-Lay research, women snack only 14 percent . . .
- The candidate insisted that the tariff must be reduced to a "competitive basis" and taxes . . .
- Undernourished children have long been India’s scourge--“a national shame,” in the words of its prime minister . . ..
From GMU Writing Center:
Below are some guidelines and tips for using signal phrases.
- Signal phrases usually include the author’s name but can also include the author’s job title or background (“reporter for Washington Post,” “researcher,” “senator,” “scholar,” and so on) and/or the title of the source.
- Signal phrases usually come at the beginning of a sentence before the source material, but they can also occur in the middle of a source or at the end.
- To avoid monotony and repetition, try to vary both the language and placement of your signal phrases.
- According to Maxwell & Hanson, Some scholars have shown... In the words of researchers Smith and Johnson, “...” As legal scholar Terrence Roberts has noted, “....” “...,” attorney Smith claims. Smith and Robert offer a persuasive argument: “....”
- Choose a verb that is appropriate to the way you are using your source. Below is a list of verbs that can be used in signal phrases:
- acknowledges adds admits affirms agrees answers argues asserts claims comments concedes confirms contends counters counterattacks declares defines denies disputes echoes endorses estimates finds grants illustrates implies insists mentions notes observes predicts proposes reasons recognizes recommends refutes rejects reports responds reveals speculates states suggests surmises warns writes
Peer Edit for Typed Essay (First Draft)
First Page
- Do you have a salient, distinctive title that is relevant to your topic and thesis?
- Do you have your name, instructor’s name, the course, and date (in that order) at the top left?
Format
- Are you using 12-point font with Times New Roman?
- Are your lines double-spaced with black font color?
- Do you make sure there are no extra spaces between paragraphs (some students erroneously use 4 spaces between paragraphs)
- Do you use 1-inch margins?
- Do you use block format for quotes of 4 or more lines in which you indent another inch from the left margin?
Introduction
- Does your introduction have a compelling hook using an anecdote, a troubling current event, a startling statistic, etc.?
- Do you avoid pat phrases or clichés? For example, “In today’s society . . .” or “In today’s modern world . . .” or “Since the Dawn of Man . . .”
Thesis
- Do you have a thesis that articulates your main purpose in clear, specific language?
- Is your thesis sophisticated in that it makes an assertion that goes beyond the obvious and self-evident?
- Is your thesis debatable?
- Do you address your opponents with a concession clause? (While opponents of my proposal to raise the minimum wage to $22 an hour make some compelling points, their argument collapses when we consider _____________, _______________, __________________, and ________________. )
- Does your thesis have explicit or implicit mapping components that outline the body paragraphs of your essay?
Questions from Your Reader (write on a separate page so you’ll have more room to write)
One. What’s most compelling about the essay so far?
Two. What is most needed for improvement so far?
Three. Something I would like the writer to explain more is . . .
Four. One last comment would be . . .
Five. What is the writer’s thesis?
Six. On a scale of 1-10, how compelling is the thesis and what could make it more compelling?
Seven. On a scale of 1-10, how effective is the title? Could it be improved? How?
Eight. Does the writer have well developed paragraphs with clear topic sentences?
Nine. Does the writer use a diversity of paragraph transitions?
Ten. Does the writer use diverse and appropriate signal phrases?
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