Day: October 2, 2020

In our examination of public life in the drama unit, we have looked at how writing may manifest the self (or not), beginning with our framing texts (see syllabus). As seen in these texts, human sentiment is sometimes hard to capture in words, hard to control, and actions can often substitute words to express emotion. For your drama essay, you will be asked to synthesize some of these ideas as they relate to one reading in our unit. In a short argumentative essay, Id like you to define ONE feeling of your choice by close-reading ONE character in the plays dialogue AND stage directions or actions.

ANALYZE: Which form of communication offers more insight into character development (or lack thereof)? How is the audience impacted by the characters movements, placement, or gestures in the play? In other words, how does the character get the audience to empathize with a particular emotion? How does the character express his or her emotions, and how do you know? How vaguely or meticulously does the author control the character? Does the author stage scenes in a very specific manner/Is the setting at all important to the development of this character? Why or why not? When reading, which form of communication (verbal or nonverbal/stage directions or dialogue) controls the narrative? Be conscious readers: carefully use evidence from the play AND from one of your framing texts to support your ideas.

CONNECT: As you continue to develop your argument throughout your essay, be sure to reach a larger conclusion about how the genre of drama requires a specific kind of reading. How does drama develop human emotions? What does drama as a genre offer to readers/viewers (in other words, why read it)? What does drama do differently than other kinds of writing? How does your specific play speak to the tenets of public life, as we have discussed all semester? Use these questions as a guide when drafting your essay; DO NOT address every question unless they are all critical to your argument.

Requirements:

1. 4-5 pages, not including the Works Cited page.

2. Times New Roman font size 12, black ink, double spaced (no extra spaces between paragraphs), left-aligned, 1 margins all around.

3. Adherence to all MLA style and formatting rules, including those for headings, page numbers, in-text citations, and the Works Cited page.

4. Include metatext (see syllabus).

5. Rough draft due at the start of class. Submit electronically on SafeAssign AND upload file in TEAMS. Submit your peer-reviewed essay on Blackboard once you have answered all questions (see Blackboard) and given substantial feedback.

6. Final draft due via Blackboard at the start of class. Notable changes should be made (do not submit your rough draft again as your final draft).

Use a character from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde or Trifles by Susan Glaspell

500-750 words
Format: MLA

Point of view: Third Person

Assess the website based on the following criteria:
The credibility of the author
The intended audience
The sponsor of the site
The purpose of the Web site
Possible bias of the site
The credibility of the information on the site
The use of sources
The writing style of the site
The date of publication on the Internet and/or last update
The value of the source for students writing a cause-and-effect paper on the topic
Use the CRAAP handout in the module to help you ask questions about the site.

Remember: YOU WILL BE WRITING ABOUT THE WEBSITE, NOT THE ISSUE DISCUSSED.You may even think of yourself as getting a helicopter view of the site.

Students should choose academic sites, such as those posted by universities or academic journals, or professional sites by organizations. Students should not choose generic news sites or popular news sites, such as USA Today or Time.

Demonstrate knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes.
Develop ideas with appropriate support and attribution.
Write in a style appropriate to audience and purpose.
Read, reflect, and respond critically to a variety of texts.
Use Edited American English in academic essays.

Value of a Source for a Problem-Solution Paper
When considering if a site would be valuable for a problem-solution paper, you need to assess whether the source contains the following types of information:

a definition of the issue
the scope of the issue–the number of people affected
the causes of the issue
the effects of the issue
solutions for the issue

Body paragraph one–two or three of the following criteria:

The credibility of the author
The intended audience
The sponsor of the site
The purpose of the Web site
Possible bias of the site
The writing style of the site
Body paragraph two–all of these criteria

The credibility of the information on the site
The use of sources
The date of publication on the Internet and/or last update
Body paragraph three–everyone must have this paragraph
The value of the source for students writing a cause-and-effect paper on the topic

Conclusion
Restate points of credibility
Comment on the significance of your issue.
Comment on the importance of assessing the overall credibility of websites.

Avoid .com sites. Also avoid .org sites of organizations that are not well established.

Look for .gov and .edu sites. They are the most credible types of sites.

Step 1: Revise your Research Topic: (attached last post)

Now that you have submitted a preliminary research topic and received feedback from your peers in the Identifying a Research Topic discussion board, you should submit a revised research topic. This research topic should be revised according to the peer feedback you received. Your revised research topic should be direct and concise. In about 4-5 sentences, state what your topic is and what aspect of that issue you are most interested in studying and why. If it is helpful in explaining your research topic, you can also indicate what aspect of the issue you are less interested in. Explain what diverse perspectives or ideas you think you will encounter in your research, and tell why you think this issue/problem is important to research.

Remember, your research topic should have multiple perspectives or ideas. This means that you need to be thinking about your topic beyond two clearly defined sides for or against. Most real-world situations are more complicated than that because they impact peoples lives in various ways based on age, gender, culture, geographic location, race, occupation, religion, income level, education level, etc. The goal of your research project is to help you to more fully understand the multiple, diverse aspects to a specific issue or present possible solutions to a specific problem. Ultimately, you need to be able to answer this question: Why is it important for society to solve this problem or understand this issue?

Step 2: List at least six Research Questions

Ideally, you came up with some questions in Identifying a Research Topic.  Consider your feedback and see if you want to make any changes or additions.  List at least six questions. Consider the following advice to ensure that your research questions are as effective as possible:

You have two goals in your exploration:

To enhance your knowledge These questions should be designed to help you gain some mastery over the facts of the problem or puzzle that interests you. You will be required to demonstrate that you are learning new things about your topic, so you do not want to ask questions that you know the answers to.
To enhance your understanding: These questions should be designed to help you gain a better understanding of the complexity of the situation. You will want to be looking for sources that will challenge your preconceptions and make you think about the issue in new ways. You will be required to demonstrate that you have a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the complexity of your issue.

Essay 2 (additional comment for writer: I am on the republican view side of things)

Rogerian argument

1500 words

due via online submission through Blackboard, by midnight on Friday, 2 October
by 11:59pm. 

MLA format for heading

page numbering

font size and style

margins

Works Cited page

Works cited word count does not count toward the word count of the essay.

Choose either a political topic that is a point of debate/argument regarding the upcoming election; or, instead, you may examine an issue related to the U.S. Covid response process, in which you should focus the topic, such as Covid responses to education/universities/sports/campus organizations/campus events, etc.  You choose.  This should be a 2-sided argument, with differing opinions.
Research the public media, in any form, written or online, to determine points made and opinions held about this topic. You must find argumentative support from both sides of the issue.

Write an essay in simplified Rogerian argumentative style, as outlined briefly below:
Write an opening paragraph with a thesis stating your topic, the points of debate, quotes from the media, facts/statistics if applicable, and then stating your position on the issue.
Before beginning your own argument, develop and write a fair description of the opposing points of view.  Use more than one body paragraph to explain this.

As a transitional statement between the opposing argument and your own, admit what is fair and agreeable about at least one of the opposing points of view.

Finally, develop your own however argument, in which you state your points of view on the topic.  State your points of view in opposition to those state in section one, the opposing view; then, to thoroughly develop your argument, consider one or two additional points, facts/statistics, ideas, etc. that further develop your own argument.