ENGL 100 Essay II, Fall 2005
This page includes the assignment sheet for the second critical essay. My goal is to make this page as useful to you as possible, so let me know if it can be improved. If anything is badly worded, unclear, or missing, please contact me with constructive criticisms and suggestions. Thanks.
Assignment Sheet
Due: DRAFT--two copies in class on Wednesday, September 28, 2005; FINAL--in class on Monday, October 3, 2005
Format: 4-6 pages as described in the options below, double spaced, with reasonable fonts, font sizes, and margins (be warned that barely getting on to the third sheet of paper does not a three-page paper make!); title that indicates main argument of paper; heading that includes your name, the course name or number, and the date; format, bibliography, and citations in MLA style (see the links page for explanations and examples of MLA style; proper quotation format in body of paper.
Criteria for Evaluation: Your grade for the critical essay will be determined by the coherence and validity of the paper's arguments, the effectiveness of the paper's structure in conveying your ideas and convincing your audience, and the quality of the paper's prose (including grammar, syntax, and punctuation). Check back here for updates to these criteria based on our 9/28/05 workshop.
Audience: Varies; see the options, below.
Draft Policy: I would be happy to offer brief comments on your drafts, so long as you get me them by the Friday before the final version is due.
Rewrite Policy: I will not grade rewrites of the final version of the second essay, although I will give comments on any rewrite(s) you choose to do (which will improve your preparation/participation/team work grade).
Options: Here are your options for the second essay. In each of these options, your job is to come up with an argument that you are trying to support by using evidence to persuade your readers of your interpretation's validity. You will not have the option of choosing your own topic/question for this essay; instead, you must choose one of the following topics and use the readings, research, and discussions in the first section of Unit I in developing your response to it.
The past year Fredonia has been generating a strategic plan (called the Fredonia Plan) to help the campus improve in four areas that President Hefner has identified: student learning, diversity, technology, and image. Since the second section of Unit I is on the purposes and ideals of American higher education, I want to give you a chance to apply what you've been learning and considering in the unit to a local issue. If you choose this option, your task is to analyze the student learning section of the Fredonia Plan and to write a persuasive essay in which you try to convince the campus to improve or otherwise modify that portion of the plan.
Your audience for this essay is the larger Fredonia campus community; your job is to get them to take seriously your proposal for how best to improve student learning on this campus.
You should bring two copies of your draft to class on Wednesday, September 28, along with a list of criteria (along with points for each criterion) on how you believe people who choose this option should be graded.
When you turn in the final version on Monday, October 3, please include a copy of the earlier draft (preferably the one you took notes on in Wednesday's class during the workshop), along with a separate author's note in which you describe and reflect on the revision process (no more than one page).
We read some excerpts from classic and contemporary debates over the purposes and ideals of American higher education during the second section of Unit I. Your task if you choose this option is to take a position on one of those debates and support it effectively.
Your audience for this essay is the larger American higher education community; your job is to get them to take seriously your position on a debate that matters to this community.
You should bring two copies of your draft to class on Wednesday, September 28, along with a list of criteria (along with points for each criterion) on how you believe people who choose this option should be graded.
When you turn in the final version on Monday, October 3, please include a copy of the earlier draft (preferably the one you took notes on in Wednesday's class during the workshop), along with a separate author's note in which you describe and reflect on the revision process (no more than one page).
Implicit in the debates over the purposes and ideals of American higher education are conflicting visions of what colleges and universities can and should be. Your task if you choose this option is to offer your own vision of what higher education should be for and persuade your readers that your vision would be a substantive improvement on the existing system.
Your audience for this essay is the larger American national community; your job is to get them excited about your vision for reforming or rethinking American higher education.
You should bring two copies of your draft to class on Wednesday, September 28, along with a list of criteria (along with points for each criterion) on how you believe people who choose this option should be graded.
When you turn in the final version on Monday, October 3, please include a copy of the earlier draft (preferably the one you took notes on in Wednesday's class during the workshop), along with a separate author's note in which you describe and reflect on the revision process (no more than one page).