four page essay

our first essay will be based upon Richard Paul and Linda Elder's "Essential Intellectual Traits," the list of eight critical-thinking qualities that we looked at in the module one/week two assigned reading "Intellectual Virtues." To review the list of traits and their definitions, click here. Writing this essay will give you a chance to examine your strongest and weakest intellectual traits, and to identify the trait(s) that you consider to have been most crucial in making sense of the past twelve months. THE PROMPT Based on your reading of Paul and Elder's "Essential Intellectual Traits," write a unified, coherent, fully supported essay (minimum 1200 words, 6 paragraphs), in which you complete each of the following tasks. a) Select ONE trait that you consider to be among your strongest. After clearly defining the trait, provide at least one concrete, specific, detailed example from your past experience that shows how this trait helped you to make a decision, solve a problem, or resolve a conflict or source of confusion in your life. b) Examine ONE trait that you consider to be among your weakest. After defining the trait, provide at least one concrete, specific, detailed example from your past experience that shows how a weakness regarding this trait hindered you in trying to make a decision, solve a problem, or resolve a conflict or source of confusion in your life. c) Identify ONE trait that has helped you make sense of the tumultuous events of the past twelve months (roughly March 2020 to March 2021). To do this, you should focus on just ONE of the many challenging and often interrelated issues that have challenged us: the pandemic, the economy, racial injustice, socioeconomic inequality, the post-election chaos, the Capitol riot, etc. Once you've selected a trait and an issue to focus on, you should consider exploring one or two, but certainly not all, of the following questions: How has this trait helped you to think the issue through, to at least begin to figure things out? How has this virtue helped you put the issue in perspective, better defend your position, or better understand viewpoints different from yours? How, in short, has this intellectual attribute helped you salvage at least a few stray scraps of wisdom, hope, or truth from the bed of that broken-down cluster-truck of information, misinformation, and disinformation that has caused such a massive, year-long traffic jam in our collective American psyche? d) Finally, identify ONE trait that you would like people (yourself, perhaps, included) to keep in mind as they debate the issue you addressed in task c above. Consider one or two, but certainly not all, of the following questions: How, in your opinion, has this trait been abused or ignored? How could this virtue help raise the level of debate and help us find collective clarity? How could this cognitive attitude help protect us from the inaccuracies, distortions, distractions, and divisions – all the angst and anger – that threaten to exacerbate rather than alleviate our national predicament? How, in other words, could this intellectual attribute help us reach consensus and achieve the goal of true critical thinking: reasonable solutions to real problems? NOTES ON THE PROMPT There's a lot to think about here, which gives you a lot to write about. Here's some advice. The DON'Ts: -- Do not mention all eight of the traits on Paul and Elder's list. Just focus on the traits you choose to write about. -- Do not respond specifically and directly to all of the bulleted questions listed in tasks c and d. The questions are meant simply as springboards to discussion. Feel free to respond to just one or two of them – or none of them, as long as you're in the ballpark. -- Though it wouldn't hurt, you do not necessarily need to persuade your audience to agree with you on whatever controversial issue you choose to address in tasks c and d. This is not an argument essay. We will write a formal, fully researched argument essay later in the semester. The DOs: -- For each trait that you choose to focus on in tasks a through d, you do need to provide a clear definition the first time you use it. No point using a term your reader might not fully understand. Define the trait primarily in your own words, supplemented by the exact wording (in quotes) used by Paul and Elder. -- In defining your terms by partially quoting from Paul and Elder's list, you do need to use proper MLA format, as learned in English 1A, for in-text citations and a Works Cited page. Because you will need to cite the source of the traits and definitions, your Works Cited page will have at least one entry, and it will look like this (with double-spacing and hanging indent, but no colored font): Paul, Richard and Linda Elder. Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools, 7th ed. The Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2016. It's possible, of course, that you will refer in your essay to additional sources. Research is not required for this assignment, but in responding to tasks c and d you might find it helpful. If so, be sure to use reliable sources and to cite them in appropriate MLA style. -- You do need to use 3-part essay structure – beginning, middle, end: Introductory Paragraph with lead-in or "hook" (e.g., anecdote, question, quotation, broad statement, etc.), general background (e.g., concept of "Essential Intellectual Traits)," and thesis statement (e.g., these traits are important/helpful…why/how… etc.); Several Body Paragraphs with focused topic sentences and concrete, specific details, examples, definitions, and/or quotations supporting your points; Concluding Paragraph with restatement of thesis and final thought. DEADLINE Minimum 1200-word, 6-paragraph essay due as an uploaded file right here on this page by 11:59 pm Sunday, March 14th. To upload your essay, click on SUBMIT ASSIGNMENT at the top of this page. The submission box will open toward the bottom of the page. RUBRIC Your essay will be evaluated according to the 5 criteria in the rubric located at the very bottom of this page. Each criterion will be marked either + (good), √ (satisfactory), or -- (needs improvement). Note 1: An essay that is off-topic or that fails to reach minimum length will be scored a D or F. Not 2: Although we are early in the semester and have not yet specifically addressed issues of Clarity & Correctness (Criterion 5), college-level competence in basic grammar and sentence structure is assumed.