Final Essay: Time to Argue & Make Connections

Final Essay: Time to Argue & Make Connections

Write an essay that takes up this question – “What might the literate arts be said to be good for?”—and that takes it up with these two essays, Miller’s “The Dark Night of the Soul” and Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire”, as your initial points of reference, also feel free to use Orfi’s essay “Merced”. What does each say? How might they be said to speak to each other? And, finally, where are you in this? Where are you, and people like you, the group from whom you feel prepared to speak? You, too, have been and will continue to be expected to take courses in reading and writing, to read, write, and talk in “critical and self-reflective ways.” Where are you in this conversation? For instance, as a student of the sciences, how does the study of literature and writing fit within the knowledge needed to be successful in your field of study? You will need to bolster your claims with at least five additional scholarly sources (this means no Wikipedia or encyclopedias).

Specifics:

• 5-6 pages (full pages, not 4 pages, and two lines onto the 5th page)
• 12 point Times New Roman Font
• 1-inch margins throughout
• Double spaced
• MLA format in-text citations and Works Cited page. The Works Cited page does not count towards the final 5-6 page length
• Please use present tense
• This essay requires that you use at least 5 credible sources to bolster your thesis. Credible sources are those found in the library databases, etc. Wikipedia, Britannica, and other encyclopedias will not be counted towards your number of sources. With that said, feel free to be creative, i.e. you can use film, television, artwork, music, or dance as your potential sources
• Source: Ways of Reading- Bartholomae & Petrosky these all reveal insight about the discourse community they exist within.
• Use rhetorical appeals to support your claims (pathos, logos, ethos)  
• Must be thesis-driven, that is to say, you need to make a claim and then prove it.

Some General Guidelines for a Persuasive Essay:

• State your thesis clearly (usually at the end of your introduction). In your introduction, be careful to avoid alienating readers who may be in initial disagreement with your views.
• Strike a reasonable tone.
• Develop your arguments with as much specific and relevant evidence as possible.
• Refute opposing arguments-demonstrate/explain why they are less weighty than your own arguments.
• Where possible, build common ground with readers who may not be inclined to agree with you.
• Avoid common mistakes in reasoning.