Be sure to focus carefully on the topic, and remember that these are formal essays: they must have an appropriate, original title; contain an introduction, body, and conclusion; have a clear, explicit, assertive, objectively worded thesis statement (thesis statements must be underlined); and (unless otherwise indicated) avoid use of I or you throughout. Essays should be grammatically correct, free of errors in mechanics, grammar, usage, spelling, and documentation, and will be evaluated according to the Model for Evaluation of Student Writing. Please refer to the Paragraph Outline or Essay Outline and Revising and Editing Checklist for additional assistance.

Note: Due dates are subject to revision according to the Academic Calendar  for the semester, school closings due to inclement weather or other reasons, the instructor’s discretion, and the progress of the class. Changes will be announced in class, and they will also be posted here as well as on the class Announcements page.

Diagnostic Essay (Thursday, January 21):
Select one of the following topics. (Use of “I” is allowed for both choices.) Note that while the first two topics are similar, they are not identical: a moment of glory may be brief, not life-changing, while a life-changing event may not be a moment of glory!

1.)  Write a narrative account of a time you enjoyed a “moment of glory” other than completing high school, receiving your driver’s license, or participating in a sports- or competition-related event. Explain what happened, how you reacted, and why you reacted the way that you did. Be sure to explain both the immediate and the long-term significance of this event.

2.)  Write a narrative account of a time you experienced a “life-changing event” (as above, other than completing high school, receiving your driver’s license, or participating in a sports- or competition-related event). This may be something you only later came to realize had significantly changed your life, or one that you immediately recognized as life-changing when it happened. Again, explain what happened, how you reacted, and why you reacted the way that you did, as well as both the immediate and the long-term significance of this event.

3.)  Why are you here? That is, why are you attending Vaughn College? What are your goals, your purpose, et cetera.

Essay 1: Responding to Reading
Draft for Peer Review due Thursday, February 4; Final Draft due Thursday, February 11.
After reading "Why Are Students Turned Off?" a.k.a. "What’s Wrong with Our Schools? Teacher Plays Student, Learns to Lie and Cheat" by Casey Banas (Langan 6 ed. 657-662, 7 ed. 700-705; 8 ed. 701-703), select one of the following writing assignments from the textbook for your first essay:

Assignment 2 (6 ed. p. 662; 7 ed. p. 705; 8 ed. 706)
Glanz says that students like to describe their teachers as “drips, bores, and numerous varieties of idiots.” Write a description of one of your high school teachers or college instructors who either does or does not fit that description. Show, in your essay, that your teacher or instructor was weak, boring, and idiotic—or just the opposite (dynamic, creative, and bright). In either case, your focus should be on providing specific details that enable your readers to see for themselves that your thesis is valid.

Assignment 3 (6 ed. p. 662; 7 ed. p. 705; 8 ed. 706)
How does the classroom situation Ellen Glanz describes compare with a classroom situation with which you are familiar—either one from the high school you attended or one from the school in which you are presently enrolled? Select one class you were or are a part of, and write an essay in which you compare or contrast your class with the ones Ellen Glanz describes. Here are some areas you might wish to include in your essay:

How interesting the class was

How many of the students did their assignments

What the teaching methods were

How much was actually learned

How active the teacher or instructor was

How passive the students were

What the students thought of the teacher or instructor

Choose any three of the above areas or three other areas. Then decide which method of development you will use: one at a time or point by point.
 

Essay 2: Process
Draft for Peer Review due Thursday, February 25; Final Draft due Thursday, March 4.
After reading Langan Chapter 11 (“Process”) and the assigned process analysis essays, select one of the following topics and compose a clear, well-written directive process analysis. Your reader should be able to understand and complete the process successfully by following your instructions, and your essay should establish why it is important or even pleasurable to learn this process.

While use of the second person (“you”) may be appropriate in your introduction and/or conclusion, remember that the focus of the essay is on the process, not the reader. Instead, use the indefinite pronoun (“Next, one should make sure that...”) or the imperative mood (“Next, close the door...”).

1.)  If you have an unusual hobby or interest, explain one specific process associated with that hobby: for example, how to groom a horse, evaluate the worth of a baseball card, stretch and prep a canvas, et cetera. Do not attempt to explain an entire hobby, however; that is, while how to make kick a field goal may be an appropriate topic, how to play football is by definition far too broad a topic!

2.)  Explain a process that people should know so they can cope with an unusual emergency situation: not how to administer CPR or how to administer first aid to someone badly cut, but what to do if  pursued by an alligator or if your car goes off the Whitestone or George Washington Bridge, for example.

3.)  Write a humorous explanation of a process: how to flunk a test, how to make a bad impression on a date, how to irritate a teacher, how to make a bad impression on a job interview, or how to be a slob, for instance. This topic is the most challenging of the three, as it asks you to explain how to do something wrong, or how to do something badly.

Note: the “Draft” due Thursday, February 25 is not a finished essay for peer review; rather, as explained in class on Thursday, October 29, your submission should be a thesis and three to five topic sentences, typed, as follows:

Thesis:  An assertion concerning the process being explained, indicating the importance or benefit of the process, and the major steps necessary to complete the process.

  For example:  Although [process] may seem intimidating to the beginner, one can save time and money by [step 1], [step 2], and [step 3].

Topic sentence 1:  A sentence utilizing an appropriate chronological transition (time marker), indicating the first major step (your first major division), and emphasizing the main idea from your thesis (the process and its importance, ease, interest, or value).

For example: The first step in [process] is to [name and define Step 1].

Topic sentence 2:  A sentence utilizing an appropriate chronological transition, indicating the next major step, and emphasizing the main idea from your thesis.

For example: Next, to [process], be sure to [Step 2]

Topic sentence 3:  A sentence with an appropriate transition, indicating what the step is, et cetera..

For example: After that, [Step 3].

Topic sentence 4 (if necessary): and so on. 

You may include individual phrases or substeps in outline form under each topic sentence, but this is recommended, not required.

Essay 3: Compare/Contrast
 “Draft” due Thursday, March 18; Final Draft due Thursday, March 25
After reading Langan Chapter 13 and the assigned compare-contrast essays, select one of the following topics and compose a persuasive comparison-contrast essay; that is, you must assert something significant about the subjects, that one of the two is in some way superior to the other (for example, “A is funnier than B because...”). In addition, your essay should have a title, ideally one more creative or original than “A vs. B.”

1.)  Contrast print advertisements from at least twenty-five or thirty years ago with ads for similar products in contemporary magazines; for example, advertisements for health and beauty products or for automobiles in Life or Look from the 1950s compared to those in today’s magazines. Caution: research is required; in addition, you must include photocopies or printouts of the ads discussed! (“Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking,” an extensive display of print and television advertisements from the 1920s through the 1950s, is available online at tobacco.stanford.edu.)

2.)  Compare/contrast the movie and book versions of the same story; for example, consider Richard Condon, The Manchurian Candidate (as The Manchurian Candidate,1962, and The Manchurian Candidate, 2004), H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds (the classic The War of the Worlds, 1953, and the less than classic 2005 remake), C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 2005, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 1979 (television, animated), and The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe,1988 (BBC television)), and so on. The book version of the story can be a novel, short story, or play; however, do not attempt this topic using a movie and the novelization of the movie!

Note: Many additional texts that have been made into movies are listed on my Literature and Film page, specifically, here. Feel free to select one of these, but do not follow the instructions for the Literature and Film Research Project. That is, you are not to compare/contrast two or more versions of the same film, or write about the differences between the versions. Instead, be sure to focus on how one version adapts, revises, or alters the story, what is changed or left out, and why.

3.)  Compare/contrast two similar fictional characters, ideally from the same genre: Captain Kirk and Captain Picard, Indiana Jones and Han Solo, Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennet, and so on (not Batman and Superman or any other superheroes, nor Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, however).

Note: Your “draft” due on March 18 is not a finished essay for peer review; rather, your submission should be a thesis and three to five topic sentences, typed, as follows:

Thesis:  An assertion concerning the two subjects of your essay, indicating the specific significant difference between the two and the major divisions of your essay.

For example:  Although A and B are (similar in some way or ways), A (is superior in some way to) B because of (major criteria: the divisions of your essay).

Topic sentence 1:  An assertion about how one single criterion, your first major division, distinguishes the two groups.

For example: The first way in which A (is superior in some way to) B is (first major criterion).

Topic sentence 2:  An assertion about how one single criterion, your first major division, distinguishes the two groups.

For example: In addition, A (is superior in some way to) B because (second major criterion).

Topic sentence 3:  An assertion about how one single criterion, your first major division, distinguishes the two groups.

For example: More importantly, A is also (superior in third major criterion to) B.

Topic sentence 4 (if necessary): and so on. 

Essay 4: Division and Classification
Draft for Peer Review due Thursday, April 15; Final Draft due Thursday, April 22.
After reading Langan Chapter 15 and the assigned division-classification essays, select any one of the following topics and compose a clear, well-written essay defining at least three distinct categories, citing specific examples. Your categories should display more thought and originality than good, average, and bad; be based on a single clear, specific criterion; and be arranged according to a single, logical organizing principle. In addition, your essay should be persuasive; that is, it should demonstrate that one type or category is best—or worst—in some way. For example:

“Bad drivers can be classified according to how dangerous they are—to themselves and to others—as suicidal, homicidal, or just plain stupid.”

Although any of these topics may allow you to draw upon personal experience or observation, the essay must be formal and objective: no first person or second person! Be sure to focus carefully on the topic, and remember that these essays must have an appropriate, original title; contain an introduction, body, and conclusion; have a clear, explicit, assertive, objectively worded thesis statement (thesis statements must be underlined); and avoid use of I or you throughout. Your essays should be carefully revised, edited, and proofread.

1.)  Write a classification of the types of television situation comedies (a.k.a. sitcoms). Use specific examples of situation comedies and/or specific elements from specific situation comedies to illustrate each type you define.

2.)  Classify college teachers – not by subject area (English, math, etc.) or by age/experience (new/young faculty; established/middle aged faculty; senior/old faculty), but using some other criterion and/or ordering principle. Use specific examples of these teachers’ behavior, teaching styles, or approaches in order to illustrate each type.

3.)  Classify the types of presents one receives on one specific holiday or event—for example, wedding presents or birthday presents or Christmas presents, et cetera. Use specific examples of presents one might receive to illustrate each type you define.

Note: Your “draft” due on April 15 is not a finished essay for peer review; rather, refer to Writing Assignment 2: Prewriting, steps b. and c., in Chapter 15 (Langan: 6 ed. 317; 7 ed. 346; 8 ed. 360). Your submission should be an essay outline, and take the following form: