1. You need to complete this task in strict accordance with the detailed Requirements/Guidelines.

Dr. Hromadka English 1005 Louisiana State University

EXPLORATORY ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

For this assignment, you will write an essay that identifies and describes a topic of interest to you. You will continue to develop this topic over the course of the semester, eventually writing an argumentative essay that uses relevant details from outside sources to support a thesis. However, this exploratory essay should not be designed to prove a point or support a specific position. Your job in this assignment is to explain the topic, some of the problems or questions associated with this topic, and to describe the process of your thinking about and researching this topic. This essay should have 900 words and should cite five outside sources, of which three must be academic. As always, essays that do not meet the minimum requirements of the assignment will not receive a passing grade. Lists of references or works cited do not count toward the word minimum.

IMPORTANT RESOURCES FOR THIS ESSAY:

• The sample essays by Cameron Carroll, “Zombie Film Scholarship: A Review of the Literature” (uploaded) and Kent Ansen, “Should the United States Establish Mandatory Public Service for Young Adults?” (uploaded) exemplify several techniques that will be useful for this assignment. I will assign other readings from our textbook to help you think about how best to complete this assignment; be sure that you are up-to-date on the readings I have assigned.

• When you conduct the research necessary for this essay, you may consider using Google, especially for non-academic sources. For academic sources, you should begin to familiarize yourself with the databases available on the LSU libraries website (www.lib.lsu.edu).

• Part 7 of your textbook (beginning on p. 477) provides important information about locating and selecting appropriate sources for a research project.

• Chapter 53 (beginning on p. 544) explains the rationale and basic procedure for citing outside sources in an academic essay. Chapter 54 (beginning on page 548) provides an extensive guide to using the MLA style for citing sources.

We will discuss all of the foregoing information in class, but you should spend some time studying these sections of your textbook so that you will be prepared to ask questions and address problems in your own writing in the areas of organization, research, and documentation.

FORMAT REQUIREMENTS:

For this assignment, you may use either the MLA style to format your essays and to cite outside sources. The essay should follow all of the other format requirements outlined in the syllabus under the heading “Format for Written Work.” As a reminder, essays should be typed and double- spaced. Use the Times New Roman font, 12 point size. Papers should have one-inch

margins, top, bottom, left, and right. Use left alignment. The first line of every paragraph should be indented. The list of references or works cited should be included on a separate page at the end of the essay. Staple all of the pages of your essay together in the upper left corner. I will not accept unstapled essays.

TURNITIN:

You will also be required to submit the final draft of this essay electronically through Turnitin. A link to the submission manager will be posted on the course Moodle page. Documents submitted to Turnitin will be used as backups and to identify potential problems with identifying and incorporating information from outside sources. Your essay must still be submitted on paper at the beginning of class on the due date. Submission to Turnitin does not substitute for submitting a paper copy of your assignment on time. If you do not submit to Turnitin, your final grade on this project will be zero.