Draft due: see drop box for due date (Submit in Blackboard drop box)
Completed essay due: see drop box for due dates (submit in Blackboard drop box).
Rhetorical Strategy Options:
- classification and division
- description
- exemplification (illustration)Writing Topics: choose one topic from the choices below.
Some of these topics ask for personal experience/situations. If at all possible, avoid “I” and “me.” For example, if you choose to describe your neighborhood use description that reveals what anyone might notice about the place. Above all for any of these topic choices, remember that you must have a thesis with a controlling idea for the essay.
Classification and division: Do not use existing categories. Create your own. For example, if you were classifying physicians you would not want to classify them according to their field of study. That is how doctors are often classified. Instead, you could classify doctors according to where they work: private practice office, office in a hospital, office in a clinic, or doctors without an office (doctors without borders). Consider other unique ways to classify doctors. Think about the classification learning activity.
Write an essay classifying the teachers or bosses you have had. Use distinct categories and give each a name. Be sure your essay has a thesis that makes an assertion about why people would want to put the teachers or bosses in these categories. Think about what can be accomplished by considering the categories (classes).
What fashion styles have you observed lately? Write an essay classifying people based on how they dress. Each body paragraph could address a different class/category, so you would need enough distinct categories to construct your essay. Be sure to name each category. Do not be disrespectful when choosing your categories.
Other choices include classifying drivers, pets, hairstyles, vacations, shoppers, status symbols or snack foods. Be sure to clearly define your categories and include a thesis at the end of the introductory paragraph that makes an assertion about the categories.
Description: Remember that with descriptive writing the details of your essay must work together to create a dominant impression. For example, if you wanted to describe your home, what would be the dominant impression that all the points made in the essay should combine to support? The thesis may be just a statement of the dominant impression, or the thesis may go further and make a point about that dominant impression.
Describe a place where you have traveled (perhaps on vacation). Again, as with all the descriptive topics, do not simply describe the place. The essay should work to support a dominant impression about the place.
Suppose you travel to Mars and meet an alien? Describe Earth to the alien. Alternatively, describe your neighborhood.
Describe the happiest, sadist, or most frightening place you can think of.
Describe an object or person that has special significance to you.
Exemplification: Give the examples something to prove by using clear, strong thesis statements and topic sentences.
Write an essay establishing that you are an optimistic or pessimistic person. Use examples to support your case.
If you could change three or four things about WGTC or at WGTC what would they be? Tie the changes together in the thesis statement. Alternatively, write about changes in your work place, high school, or all schools in general.
With the presidential elections coming up, voters should consider what the candidates stand for. What issues should voters find most important? Give examples of the issues or why the issues should be important. For example, healthcare could be an example of an issue, but more specifically what about healthcare? A more specific example might be affordable prescriptions.
What makes a student, parent, or employee successful?
People often idolize sports figures, musical artists, or film celebrities. What makes any of these icons so appealing?
How do you envision yourself in the future? What does your perfect life look like? This could be a perfect life for anyone and not just you. Make a claim in your thesis and use examples to support your thesis and/or topic sentence claims.
You may choose to write a variation on one of those topics, or you may use a topic from these sections of your textbook: “classification” or “description.” You may use one of the topics listed in the PowerPoint that covers “exemplification (illustration).” Allow me to approve your topic to make sure you can develop it using your chosen rhetorical strategy.
Composition Requirements
- You must submit your documents in the Blackboard drop box.
- Your essay must have at least five well-developed paragraphs.
- It must have between 850 – 1000 words.
- The introduction must effectively introduce your thesis statement, the LAST sentence of the introduction.
- Each body paragraph must have an easily identifiable topic sentence (the first and sometimes the second sentence of the body paragraph), substantial major and minor details, and transitional words or phrases indicative of the rhetorical strategy you have chosen.
- (Remember, each rhetorical strategy has its own set of common transitional words or phrases.)
- Your language must indicate which rhetorical strategy you choose, especially in the introduction, so I should have no problem determining the rhetorical strategy as I read.
- You must format your essay using MLA style.
- Be sure to use one-inch margins all the way around (Word default), true double spacing throughout your entire document (only selecting double spacing does not result in true double spacing), Times New Roman, 12 point font size, and an inserted page number, preceded by your last name and one space.
- See the MLA instructional PowerPoint, the sample MLA document, or the MLA websites listed in Blackboard if you do not know how to format an MLA style essay.
- Do not use research. If, for example, you decide to write a descriptive essay about a popular vacation destination, only do so if you can describe it without looking it up. You do not need statistics or the kind of facts that you would need to research. Write about something that you know about. If you choose to include research, you will lose points for not meeting the requirements of the assignment. However, you must correctly use quotation marks around the cited material and include an in-text citation following the quoted or paraphrased material.
- The in-text citation must correspond to a full source citation included on a work(s) cited page.
- Be sure to use one-inch margins all the way around (Word default), true double spacing throughout your entire document (only selecting double spacing does not result in true double spacing), Times New Roman, 12 point font size, and an inserted page number, preceded by your last name and one space.
