Purpose:

This essay assignment will allow you to locate, evaluate, and synthesize information from sources representing diverse perspectives in order to construct an argument about how you self-identify. Writing about the assumptions we make and forming arguments about our own connections to a culture will help us access larger ideas that will take us into more complex reading and writing this semester.

Skills:

The purpose of this assignment is to help you practice the following skills that are essential to your success in navigating arguments you’ll encounter in your academic, professional, and personal lives. In this assignment you will:

• Demonstrate your current understanding of what an argument is, specifically the “Classical/Aristotelian” argument structure)
• Avoid problems in logic through your argument
• Incorporate sources of value to you
• Compose an argument relevant to your own life

Knowledge:

This assignment will also help you to become familiar with the following important content knowledge in critical thinking and reasoning:

• The relationship between what you observe/consume, the decisions you make, and your own expressions in writing
• Specific rhetorical approaches to reach an audience via the Classical style of argument

Tasks:

To complete this assignment you should:

1. Before you start writing, make a list of subcultures you feel connected to. Go over that list carefully, and think about the role you play in various communities. Doing so will help you craft a clear definition of how you see yourself, and the role you play in a specific context
2. When you’ve drafted a clear statement about how you see yourself, and the role you play in a specific context, you can begin to work on an introduction where you make a statement about how you contribute to a specific community. One example might be something like this: “As a poet in San Diego, it’s my responsibility to promote and attend literary events in the area.”
3. In body paragraphs, makes points that help you elaborate on the statement you’ve made (the statement is your argument/thesis). If we go with the example above, one point might be about what makes San Diego unique to other cities in terms of literary arts, another paragraph about the responsibility I feel writers have (this could be a couple of paragraphs), another paragraph about what attendance does, another about promotion, and then a paragraph about how these points build a case that my role is necessary
4. Incorporate sources/evidence as needed and incorporate those in MLA format. Use at least two sources in your paper.
5. In a conclusion, attempt to end in a different place than where you began, remembering that a paper is about a progression, where you move to a new place by the end of it, rather than merely restating the initial thesis.
6. Cite all sources in a Work Cited page at the end of the paper
7. Submit the final paper as a document here in Canvas

Criteria for Success:

You’ve written a paper about how you see yourself, and the contributions you make to a specific community; a heading is on the first page, along with a title; there’s a clear introduction that makes a statement/argument/thesis; body paragraphs are clearly structured to advance that point; a conclusion helps the reader end in a different place from where they began; sources/evidence are incorporated where necessary; MLA format is used both in text and also in a Work Cited page at the end; paper is double-spaced and follows other format criteria on the syllabus.