Who Are You? Where Are You Going?

In the novel Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse portrays a young man who leaves home on a spiritual quest, despite the presumably bright future he would have had if he had stayed in his village. Simlilarly, in Jon Krakauer's story Into the Wild, Chris McCandless chooses the life of a vagabond and adventurer over law school. Not satisfied with the many expectations their families and peers have for them, both young men decide instead to follow their own paths, asserting all along that enlightenment can only be gained through experience.

In today's world, many young people grow up with the expectation that they will go to college immediately after high school. Many, however, are choosing to defer entrance to college for a year or more, often against the objections of their parents and peers. Some students question whether college is even the right choice for them.

The following assignment is designed to help you think about your own path. Follow the directions and guidelines below.
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Life After High School

Your task is to write a document based persuasive essay in which you formulate a position on the following questions:

• Is a college education the only path to success in today's world?
  
  
• For those who choose college, is it necessary and/or beneficial to attend college immediately after high school?

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You must read the following articles before developing a position, and then you must support your position using references from at least four sources:

• What's the Matter with College...read this article first
• College Essay Contest Blog
...these are students responses to the article above
• More Are Taking a Rain Check on College
...this article, along with the three listed below, examines the idea of taking a break between high school and college
• Gap Year
• Taking a Gap Year
• More Delay College Entrance
• Eight College Seniors Face the Future
...the college experience and the transition to the "real world" from the point of view of eight college graduates

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I encourage you to take a creative approach to writing your essay. Read the following articles for suggestions and approaches to writing a good persuasive essay:

• How to Write a Persuasive Essay
• How to Write Pro-Con Essay
• Incorporate Smiley Face Tricks to achieve a strong voice
• You may also download the standard persuasive essay model to help you structure your writing.

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Evaluation: You will be evaluated by the Expository Writing rubric with the following guidelines as additional criteria. Points will be deducted for errors in the listed target areas. You must:

• State a clear position on both questions
• Support position using specific references from at least four sources
• properly incorporate quotations - target area = no "dropped quotes" (5 points)
  
• Use MLA in-text citations and include a Works Cited (5 points)
  
• Use language that's appropriate to purpose and audience
• Use proper spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and mechanics - target areas = pronoun/antecedent agreement, clear pronoun references, no "I" or "you" (5 points each)
• 500 - 750 words
• Include a title
• write a reflection (10 points)
• submit both the essay and reflection to turnitin

Typed rough draft due for peer editing due: 12/19/07
Final draft and reflection - hard copy and submitted to turnitin (10 points) due: 1/3/08

Who are You? What's Your Slogan?

If you had to design a bumper sticker or a T-shirt slogan that defined you as the person you are right now, what would it say? How would you sum yourself up accurately in just a few words?

Your challenge is to do just that: create either a bumper sticker or T-shirt design with your own slogan (which means write your own words; no quotes or song lyrics) , and then in a short essay (350 words) explain what your slogan means and why you chose it.

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Guidelines:

• create a visual representation of your bumper sticker or T-shirt on a sturdy surface (poster board, etc.) Make sure your name and class period are written on the back!
• type your essay to hand in
• 350 words
• appropriate language for purpose and audience

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Evaluation:

Assignment Requirements = 40 points

• Project follows assignment instructions
• Meets minimum length requirements
• Follows guidelines as stated in the directions

Creativity = 20 points

• Shows effort to approach the project with creativity and imagination
• Shows evidence of bringing imaginative ways of thinking to the topic

Effort/Presentation = 20 points

• Evidence that best effort was spent producing the project
• Displays effort in presenting the project with pride

Composition/Mechanics = 20 points

• Essay shows awareness of purpose and audience
• Essay meets appropriate standards of written English

This assignment is due on 11/21/07

The Bean Trees – Exploring Social Issues

Introduction

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver is the story of Taylor Greer, a young woman who leaves her Kentucky home determined to find a life beyond early pregnancy and limited opportunities. Ironically, on her way west she finds herself the involuntary guardian of an Indian infant whom she names Turtle, and arrives in Tucson, Arizona as a single mother. The main action of the story centers on Taylor's struggle to raise Turtle and find a welcoming community in which to live.

Taylor's struggles and interactions with the other characters in the novel raise thematic questions about the nature of personal quests, the effects of oppression, rejection and injustice, the dynamics of relationships between men and women, and the true meaning of friendship and family. In addition to examining these themes, Kingsolver's novel also raises questions about many important social issues.
Task

Working in a small group you will research one of the social issues (assigned by random drawing) listed below to find two current articles that show opposing viewpoints regarding the issue. You will then write a persuasive essay (750 – 1000 words) in which you take a position on a possible solution for the problem or strategy to approach the problem, using clear reasons and explanations backed by information from the two documents.

Topics

Your group has been assigned one of the following topics:

1. adoption
2. single mothers
3. teenage pregnancy
4. alcohol and drug abuse
5. Native Americans
6. animal rights
7. child abuse
8. illegal immigration
9. political refugees
10. negative body image
11. phobias
12. domestic violence
13. blended families
14. religious intolerance
15. homelessness
16. interracial marriage

Process & Resources

Step One - The Annotated Bibliography

The first part of your project is to develop an annotated bibliography of at least ten articles that you will use to research your articles.

Guidelines:

1. Brainstorm a number of search terms, and use a variety of search strategies to explore your group's topic. Start by visiting the two research site, SIRS (http://sks.sirs.com) and iconn (http://www.iconn.org). NOTE: If you find articles on these sites, you should print them out. You will not be able to access them outside of school.
   
   
2. You may also search using a variety of search engines. FindArticles is another good source. In addition, you should visit the UC Berkley Library site to learn about all aspects of using the internet for research.
   
   
3. The sites you choose for your annotated must be credible, so be sure to carefully evaluate each website you visit before choosing it as a resource.
   
   
4. Be sure to choose a variety of resources that contain the current articles that show different and opposing perspectives on your assigned topic.
   
   
5. Annotate each site you choose for the bibliography, following the rules and style for an annotated bibliography. Annotations must follow specific guidelines:
   
   - Use MLA style for entering the electronic source bibliographic information.EasyBib is a free MLA bibliography/works cited composer.
   
   - Each annotation should be approximately 10 sentences.Each annotation should summarize the content of the site, assess its value, and reflect on how it will fit into your research and writing.
   
   
6. Choose a title for your annotated bibliography and write a brief description of the bibliography and its purpose.
   

Step Two - Write the Essay

The second phase of your project is to choose two articles that show opposing viewpoints on your assigned topic from the resources you compiled in your annotated bibliography to write a persuasive essay (750 – 1000 words). In your essay you must take a position on a possible solution for the problem or strategy to approach the problem, using clear reasons and explanations backed by information from the two documents.

Article Description, Resources and Guidelines

• Write a persuasive essay (750 – 1000 words) in which you take a position on a possible solution for the problem or strategy to approach the problem, using clear reasons and explanations backed by information from the two documents.
  
  
• Download the Persuasive Essay Model from the smartscion resources page to structure your essay.

Your essay must include:

• correctly formatted MLA in-text citations for any information that you include that is from an outside source (even if you write it in your own words). Consult your MLA packet or the Bedford-St.Martin's site for guidelines.
  
  
• a correctly formatted Works Cited section at the end of the article. Consult your MLA packet or the Bedford-St.Martin's site for guidelines.
  
  
• a title

Be sure to:

• Proofread your article for spelling, grammar, correct usage, and required components.
  
  
• Write a reflection and hand it in along with the essay, the annotated bibliography and copies of the two articles you used.
  
  
• Submit the essay to turnitin.