For your essay, select one of the following prompts (adapted from the textbook):Write an essay about “Young Goodman Brown” in which you identify the extent towhich the protagonist changes over the course of the story. What signs of change, if any, does this character show? In what ways might he or she remain the same? Include specific evidence from the story, as well as an outside scholarly source. Cullen’s “Incident” poem is famous; does Trethewey’s “Incident” poem deserve to be equally well known? Write an essay addressing this question for your audience, making clear your criteria for artistic success.Find and read at least three articles on racial discrimination in early twentieth-centuryBaltimore or on American laws against interracial marriage. Then write an essay explaining how these articles illuminate the “incident” described in Cullen’s or Trethewey’s poem. Choose a recent speech, editorial, or blog entry that you see as identifying an injustice and as imagining a world in which it no longer exists. Write an essay analyzing the strategies of persuasion the speaker or writer uses. Think ethos, pathos, and logos. In addition, you may also choose to refer to “The Chimney Sweeper” and/or “What Work Is” in your essay.Today, Amnesty International and PEN International, a writer’s organization, regularlybring to the American public’s attention cases of what they deem unjust punishment. Infact, Amnesty International has criticized all instances of capital punishment in the United States. Research one of the cases reported by these organizations. Then write anessay in which you (a) present the basic facts of the case, (b) identify values and principles you think your audience should apply to it, and (c) point out anything you believe can and should be done about it. If you wish, refer to any of the poems in the “Punishments: Poems” cluster beginning on p. 9205 (two of which you will have already read for class). Read either Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” or Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” (both found in our textbook). Using “Saboteur” and either one of these revenge stories, argue that the authors are making a similar or different point about revenge. Choose a recent case of civil disobedience that the media have reported on, and read some opinion columns that have been published about it. Then, write an essay in whichyou analyze and evaluate at least two of these arguments. Refer to and make comparisons to MLK’s “Letter to Birmingham Jail” in your essay. Choose one of the critics’ interpretations featured after “A Good Man is Hard to Find,”and write an essay in which you imagine how O’Connor would respond to its points. Feel free to express and support your own views, too; however, your views should bediscussed as an aside to what you feel O’Connor’s response would be.O’Connor promoted her version of Christianity in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and inher commentary on the story. On the basis of both texts, list various principles andconcepts that she associates with her religion. Then do research on another religion, perhaps by reading two or three articles on it. Write an essay in which you compareO’Connor’s theology with the religion you have researched. If you wish, you can focus your comparison by imagining what adherents to the other religion would say about “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”Audience. As will be the case for most assignments this term, you are to assume that you are writing to an audience made up of college readers, which means that they will be interested inyour topic but that they don’t necessarily know the readings you’re using. Your reader, then, may not be familiar with the sources you reference in your paper; therefore, you will need to introduce your readers to your research in order to accommodate for their lack of knowledgeregarding your sources in your paper. (We will talk about ways to do this.)Objectives for the Assignment. The assignment has four major objectives:a) To introduce you to the subject matter of the course through readings;b) To involve you in the process of working with texts that make up the “conversation” about the larger topic;c) To involve you in “double voicing” (incorporating your own ideas with those of othertheorists and writers; andd) To begin the (semester- and year-long) orientation you will have to various dimensions of the genre and sub-genres of the academic paper.Evaluation Criteria – Specifically, I will be evaluating your paper based on the following evaluation criteria:INTRO & THESIS: Does the introduction introduce the topic in an interesting and thoroughmanner? Does the thesis take a clear stand and create a road map for the audience?DEVELOPMENT: Does the paper consistently deal with the topic and make a coherent, logical, defensible set of claims? Does the paper have ample supporting evidence taken from the research and the literature?ORGANIZATION: Is the paper organized around a definite superstructure with clearly distinguishable sections (points)? Are topic sentences and transitions included? STYLE:Does it anticipate well enough the needs of the reader who may not know the research? Is word choice appropriate?MECHANICS: Is all grammar and spelling up to the standards expected by a college reader?SPECIFICATIONS (READ CAREFULLY):Your essay should be between 1,250-1,500 words. Please stay within these parameters. Thisshould be the equivalent of about a four-page paper. Your paper should be written entirely inthird person, meaning no personal pronouns (I, me, us, we, you, your, etc.) unless you are incorporating personal narrative structure into the essay. You must use MLA formatting (double space, 1″ margins, Times New Roman size 12 font) and cite your sources using in-text citations and a Works Cited page. For help with citing your sources, refer to the Little Seagull Handbook, if you purchased one, or you can use the OWL Purdue website, or one of the many citing websites like EasyBib and Citation Machine. For an example of a properly formatted MLA paper, refer to the “General Course Information” Module. Papers that do not adhere to MLA format and/or do not properly cite sources will lose points.**NOTE: I will award an additional five points to the two students whom I feel have the most creative title for their papers!**N
