English HW

Your first extra credit opportunity will involve responding to an article entitled "Above the Influence": How College Students Communicate About the Healthy Deviance of Alcohol Abstinence. This article is available in the EXTRA CREDIT READINGS folder on our Blackboard course page. 

After reading Above the Influence... you should write an essay in which you subject the content of the article to critical evaluation. Which claims do you agree with, and why? Which claims do you disagree with, and why? In what way might you expand upon, add to, or develop some of the arguments and/or concepts in this article? These questions are intended as helpful suggestions for framing a response to the reading. You are not required to address these particular questions if you don't want to. You must, however, offer a thoughtful and well-argued response to what you have read. 

Please offer reasons and evidence in support of the positions you are taking. In presenting your views, be sure to cite ideas in Above the Influence... that are relevant to your argument. Proper citation means clearly identifying concepts, and indicating the article pages on which they are introduced and described. 

Your essay must be a minimum of 1000 words long, typed and double-spaced. The paper should be submitted electronically to the JOURNALS section of our Blackboard course page. 

In grading submissions, the following criteria will be considered: topical relevance, coherence, and length. Topical relevance means the written work must clearly relate to the assignment. Coherence relates to the clarity of both the position being expressed and the writing. A clear position is one whose ideas mesh. Writing quality speaks to how well those ideas are communicated. Grammatical breakdowns, misspellings, inappropriate word choices, and improper punctuation interfere with effective communication. In order to evaluate what you say, it is necessary to understand what you say. [HELPFUL HINT: Careful proofreading can go a long way toward insuring that your ideas are clearly expressed.] Finally, students must meet the length requirement specified for the assignment.