The Rich and the Rest of Us: Argumentative Essay #1

Your next essay will be an argumentative essay; meaning your focus should express an opinion about the topic you choose and the essay should work towards proving your opinion. You will not get a passing grade on this paper if your paragraphs are not in PIE form. You will also be in danger of not receiving a passing grade on this paper if your paragraphs ramble and consist of more than one topic. This paper will have an introduction and conclusion. This essay will be 4 pages, BRNDJTM.

You will not be using any outside resources for this paper. The only illustrations you may use must be from the book, The Rich and The Rest of us, and the documentaries we watched in class Park Avenue and “9 Out Of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact.” You will need a minimum of 3 quotes from the book. You will not be able to use personal experience or story as your illustrations.

Another twist, we are going to practice metaphor and simile. These two writing tools allow you to insert small bits of description into your essays as well as force you, the writer, to dig deeper into what you are trying to express. You will need to include 1 metaphor and 1 simile somewhere in your essay.

The topics you have to choose from are the following:

·       The Extremely Wealthy—the beliefs of the 1%

·       The Growth of the Poverty Class—Extinction of the Middle Class

You must have “right-sized” topic sentences at the start of each paragraph. Remember, to rule of three your topics and assess if your topic sentences are too general, have multiple ideas mashed together or are “too big” (which is usually a combination of both the problems listed before). To get a “right-sized” topic sentence make sure your topic states specifically who or what you are talking about and why it is important.

Your essay must be in MLA format, typed, double-spaced, and include a works cited page. Be sure to get the MLA format right because I will deduct points if it is incorrect. Look on purdueowl.com if you need assistance.

List of what I will be looking for:

*      If the opinion stated in your thesis, at the end of your introduction, is supported by your paper

*      If your paragraphs are in PIE form

*      If you went into critical analysis and/or metacognition after your Illustrations

*      If your topic sentences are right-sized

*      1 metaphor

*      1 simile

*      3 quotes from the book

*      MLA format

*      4 pages

A complete, 4-page, final draft will be due on Tuesday, Dec. 3. You must bring two printed copies to class. If you do not bring a final draft on Dec 3, your final essay grade will be knocked down two letter grades.

The final essay is due on Thursday, Dec. 5.

In Class Video. November 21, 2013

Homework Due on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013

Homework:

Read: 95-116 (up to chapter 5 for those of your using ebooks)

Writing Assignment:

Take the following topics and rule of three each of them:

·     The Extremely Wealthy

·     The Growth of the Poverty Class

·     The American Dream

They are too big right now. Your job is to make them smaller.

Develop a focus, and then split that large focus up into smaller topics that you can write about. 

See the chart below for an example. You can also look at the previous post on Rule of Three.

Class Canceled on Tuesday, November 5. Please read the following carefully

Please read the entire post carefully.

Due to a family emergency, I need to cancel class on Tuesday, November 5, 2013. Even though I am cancelling class, I still want you to do a couple things to get started on the mini-essay you will be turning in next week.

1.   First, finish watching Extreme Prison Gangs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-aYqGMeWfk. While you watch, be sure to jot down moments that you see something really wrong with the jail/prison system. Remember, part of the taxes you pay go to these institutions. Do you think your money is being misspent, why or why not? What do you want prisons to do and how is that different from what they are doing?

2.     Last Thursday, you had a choice between two articles to read. You hopefully read one and blogged about it. Please read the other one before beginning your essay outline assignment.

3.    Now that you have taken in some reputable information about the prison system in America, form a thesis that states the following:

a.     What problem(s) do you see

b.     How do you think prisons should work

c.      Why is what you are saying important, what difference do you think your ideas will make in the recidivism rates and why

4.    Then write an outline for your paper. Make sure that your points aren’t too Big/General. Speak specifically about the problems you see and how you would solve them and why they need to be solved.

5 .  Bring a print out of that outline to class on Thursday, November 7.

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Your mini-essay will be due next week on Thursday, November 14, and it will be a minimum of 2 pages. You will use a minimum of 2 quotes from the book Tattoos on the Heart and a maximum of 3 quotes from other sources we found in class. This is a really short paper that should be full of your opinions and ideas, not the words of others. You will have an intro with a thesis at the end of that intro and a conclusion. I will expect your body paragraphs to be in PIE form.

This is an argumentative essay that will have credible references in it. Everything I have shared with you I found using the Chabot databases. On Thursday, we are meeting in the library, room 119. My 7:30 class please “line up outside of the building 2300 side of the library on the ramp/walkway.” There we are going to get a lesson on how to use this database to find reliable resources for our papers. I will bring a little assignment to help guide your searching. I will also give you back your papers with an update on your current class grade.

I apologize for the inconvenience. I will see you all Thursday, November 7.