response to a reading essay

ESSAY #4

RESPONSE TO READINGS

ASSIGNMENT:

You must write a five-paragraph essay in response to one of the following assignments:

A. Read “So What’s So Bad about Being So-So” by Lisa Wilson Strick (pages 212-14). You

must quote passages from this essay in your paper. Answer the following question: Has the drive to be perfect taken much of the fun out of recreation? The thesis to your paper should be a one-sentence answer to that question. Be certain to provide three examples to support your answer. Write a paragraph about each example.

B. Read “Salvation” by Langston Hughes (pages 360-69). You must quote passages from this

essay in your paper. Answer the following question: Should adults pressure children to make life-changing decisions? The thesis to your paper should be a one-sentence answer to that question. Be certain to provide three examples to support your answer. Write a paragraph about each example.

GUIDELINES:

1. You are not writing to me, the instructor. You are writing to someone who has not read nor has ever even heard of the essay you read. Be CERTAIN that before you quote from the essay, you mention the name of the essay (title in quotation marks) and the author’s name.

2. Your introduction must have a thesis statement and an essay map. Your thesis and essay map should be the last sentence or the last two sentences of your introduction. The thesis should be a one-sentence answer to one of the assignment questions above. The map should list three reasons why you believe what you said you believe in your thesis. Do not forget that your introduction needs a lead-in before the thesis and map. To create a few sentences before your thesis, use the strategies suggested on pages 83-86 in the Steps textbook. In other words, your introduction should be at least four or five sentences long with the thesis and map making up the last one or two sentences.

3. Each of the three middle paragraphs should be devoted to one of your three points in your essay map.

4. Organize your three points. Create a pattern, such as least important to most important, most familiar to least familiar, least interesting to most interesting, first in time to last in time, etc.

5. You must do more than merely list your reasons; you must explain them and prove that they are good reasons. You must supply evidence from what you read and from real life to support the fact that each reason is a good reason. Find examples that prove what you are saying is true.

6. Be sure to have a conclusion, one that does not repeat your thesis word-for-word. You should summarize your main points and explain what someone may gain from understanding what you have just told them in your paper. For suggestions about how to write a conclusion, see pages 88-91 in the Steps textbook.

7. Don’t forget to write a good, attention-getting title. The title of your essay should NOT be the title of the essay you read. The title of your essay needs to convey the main point you are making in your paper.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:

1. The essay must be at least 500 words in length.

2. You must quote words and statements from one of the two essays you were assigned to read. You must quote from the essay that is included with your assignment question above . THE QUOTATIONS MUST BE IN YOUR SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH PARAGRAPHS. Put quotation marks around copied words. At the end of those copied words, document the quotation by putting the author’s last name and a page number or page numbers in parentheses. If you copy information but rewrite it totally in your own words, then you must still document that information by putting the author’s last name and a page number or page numbers in parentheses at the end of that information.

BAD EXAMPLES:

I would not respond with violence because I might seriously hurt Tyler, and I do not wish to live the rest of my life with the knowledge that I was responsible for having seriously hurt someone else. “Then I felt something detach itself from my soul, departing, rising, vanishing; and I said to God: It’s up to You now” (189).

“Then I felt something detach itself from my soul, departing, rising, vanishing; and I said to God: It’s up to You now” (189). Like Dubus, I fear that something would happen to my own soul if I were to hurt or kill someone. I also hope that I have the faith Dubus has to allow God to handle what is going to happen in life.

GOOD EXAMPLE:

I would not respond with violence because I might seriously hurt Tyler, and I do not wish to live the rest of my life with the knowledge that I was responsible for having seriously hurt someone else. I am reminded of Andre Dubus and his essay “Giving Up the Gun.” Dubus carried a gun around for protection, but one day he thought about what would happen if he actually killed someone. As he thought about being responsible for taking someone’s life, he wrote, “Then I felt something detach itself from my soul, departing, rising, vanishing; and I said to God: It’s up to You now” (189). Like Dubus, I fear that something would happen to my own soul if I were to hurt or kill someone. I also hope that I have the faith Dubus has to allow God to handle what is going to happen in life.

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3. Re-read the essay. As you read, search for material to quote--look for words and ideas that back you up. Look for words and ideas from the writer that will support the arguments you wish to make. On the other hand, you may also want to look for words and ideas with which you do NOT agree so that you can quote these in your paper and challenge them.

4. You must include a Works Cited page at the end of your paper, and this Works Cited page must be done exactly as the MLA guidelines stipulate.