Short Essay 500 to 750 words

​“Responsibility to yourself means that you don’t fall for shallow and easy solutions–predigested books and ideas, weekend encounters guaranteed to change your life, taking ‘gut’ courses instead of ones you know will challenge you, bluffing at school and life instead of doing solid work, marrying early as an escape from real decisions, getting pregnant as an evasion of already existing problems. It means that you refuse to sell your talents and aspirations short, simply to avoid conflict and confrontation.”

​--- Adrienne Rich

(source: http://apps.npr.org/commencement/speech/adrienne-rich-douglass-college-1977/

Links to an external site.

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Directions​: Write a well-developed essay in which you, 1) ​briefly​ explain the meaning of the passage in your introduction; and then, 2) state whether you agree or disagree with Rich’s position in your thesis, before supporting your response with examples and arguments from societal observations in the body of the essay. Take some time to plan what you’re going to write, so what you produce is clear and organized by the time you turn it in.

Do NOT write in first-person singular style (i.e., no “I” statements, etc.). You may use first-person collective terms (“we”, “us”, “our”, etc.), however.

Please write between 500-750 words. Spell-check, grammar-check, and proofread your work before submitting, while providing ​a​ ​title​ to your assignment(s), always.

Tips:

1. Keep your essay formal and academic in tone. This is not a conversation: It's an argument you're making to defend an opinion;

2. Use specific examples from the quote above to illustrate your points effectively;

3. Make sure you have a strong thesis and conclusion to create a balanced framework for your ideas;

4. Proofread! Run spell-check and grammar-check tools on all writings you turn in for this course.