- For the essay, you will be asked to write a critical essay on some point or idea discussed in the packet or suggested by it. Your essay should be clearly and significantly related to the packet material. There are many possibilities; you will need to develop your own topic. Your essay must make at least some use of all the articles in the packet, but it should not be a summary of the articles. Don’t plod through them paragraph by paragraph; instead, use them to develop your claim. You decide how to use them: some might be discussed in detail and others only mentioned briefly. You should, therefore, read the articles carefully and critically; think about and maybe discuss with others the ideas they contain. Here are some suggestions to help you focus your thinking: • What topics are common to all the readings? • Which issue or idea discussed in these articles do you find most interesting? • What evidence or support from your own experience could you use to develop your essay? • What evidence or support do the readings provide? In defining a FOCUS and DEVELOPING your ideas (see the attached Evaluation Standards for the meaning of these terms), you may want to consider these questions as well: • What social, political, or economic questions do you see raised by the articles? How do you respond to them? • What value questions do you see raised? How do you respond to them? Can you articulate an arguable claim about these questions? • Are there aesthetic or scientific dimensions to the issue that would be interesting to raise? • The sample outline below shows one way to structure an essay: • Paragraph 1: Introduction • Begin your introduction with a general statement to reveal your topic. • Then narrow the topic until you get to your main issue. State the • thesis (your position on the issue) in one clear sentence at the end of • the introduction. • Paragraph 2: Supporting point #1 • State the point clearly in your topic sentence • § Explain the point briefly to tell the reader what you mean • § Support the point with material from sources (quote or • paraphrase) or with something from your own experience • Paragraph 3: Supporting point #2 • § State the point clearly in your topic sentence • § Explain the point briefly to tell the reader what you mean • § Support the point with material from sources (quote or • paraphrase) or with something from your own experience • Paragraphs 4: Supporting point #3 • § State the point clearly in your topic sentence • § Explain the point briefly to tell the reader what you mean • § Support the point with material from sources (quote or • paraphrase) or with something from your own experience • 2 • Paragraph 5: Conclusion • Bring the discussion back to the thesis and wrap it up • The format shown above may seem simple, and it is! Still, it is quite • functional and will work with nearly any type of written piece from a • five-paragraph essay to a much longer research paper.
