Synthesis essay
ahmd54
essay_1_prompt_know_thyself.docx
Prompt for Essay 1: Know thyself: My Sexual Worldview
5 PAGE ESSAY
The PURPOSE of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to think, as slowly and as deeply as you can, about what you believe to be true about human sexuality.
According to Bloom’s taxonomy of learning skills, to analyze is to “determine how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure.” In this case, the overall structure you are analyzing is you. The parts you will be working with are:
• The parts of your world view relating to sex/uality
• Your current way of life regarding sexual relationships and activity
• Your current norms or rules for sexual behavior
• Your hopes or expectations for sexual relationships in the future
The steps you will take include
• Applying what Benjamin writes about world view to your own sexual beliefs and norms or “rules” (about 1/3 of what you write should directly refer to the article)
• Describing the sources of your sexual beliefs and norms, i.e. family, friends, teachers, church, or media, etc. Be specific about what ideas came from which source
• Analyzing how the sexual norms that you live by follow logically or coherently from your personal world view
Note: Be sure to define what “sex” means to you. For example, does it refer only to sexual intercourse or to other sexual acts such as oral sex? Does any act involving human genitalia constitute sex?
Requirements & CONVENTIONS
• Follow all the rules of good essay writing, e.g. be sure to include a global thesis or claim statement in your introduction
• Be sure I can hear your voice coming through every paragraph. Use first person narration and third person where appropriate. Never use second person in academic writing unless you mean to address the reader personally.
• If you spend adequate time organizing your thoughts, you should be able to do a good job in 5 pages, double-spaced
• Be sure to use MLA or Chicago style rules consistently
• Remember to attach it as a .doc or. docx. Do NOT save as “Pages” or PDF or TextEdit.
• Make your last name the first word in the file name, followed by
WV 1 201610. E.G. Jones WV 1 201610
Hints for clear, Logical writing
In the best of all possible worlds, I would be able to let each of you take the floor in every class session and wax eloquently upon your views. But we don’t have the luxury of the time to do this. So I regard everything you write as your half of a conversation with me. I need to know what you think, know, understand, and believe in order to guide class conversations and research into areas that will be most interesting and useful to you as you learn to develop your own moral reasoning skills.
You need to know what you think and why you think it before you can converse about your ideas with others. One way to achieve both these goals is for you to explain your thinking to me in writing. Everything you write, from VT posts to formal essays, is an opportunity to articulate your own personal opinions regarding ideas that are fundamental to our class study.
I expect all of your writing from posts to the research paper to be well-organized, coherent, and consistent expressions of your thinking. It is vitally important that you (1) explain the reasons why you think as you do and (2) define the words you use so that their meaning is clear to me. You should give me the clearest representation of your deepest thought in every essay.
Here are some examples of common pits students fall into and how to avoid them.
Unacceptable statement of personal opinion
Please note that it is not the opinion that I am calling wrong (although there is such a thing as a wrong or bad opinion). What is wrong is the way the opinion is explained, or rather, not explained.
“I don’t think gay men and lesbians should be allowed to marry legally because I disapprove of gay marriage.”
This is wrong for at least three reasons:
• In logical terms, the conclusion is only a restatement of the premise in slightly different words. It is the same error as defining a word by the word itself.
• No reason for the opinion is given. It doesn’t tell me anything about your underlying assumptions or how you reasoned to your conclusions.
• It doesn’t provide an opening to further conversation.
Here is an acceptable statement of this opinion:
“I don’t believe gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry legally because the purpose of marriage is reproduction and homosexual relations are not procreative.”
This is good because:
• I now know what you think marriage is for and how that applies to gay marriage.
I can follow up with new questions that will deepen our discussion, for instance:
• Do you think there are other purposes for marriage besides procreation? If so, what are they and can any of them stand alone as sufficient reason to marry or must they always be combined with procreation?
• If procreation is essential for a legal marriage, does this mean you think marriage should be illegal for post-menopausal women, infertile persons, or those who cannot afford to have or simply do not want to have children?
• Do you know of any U.S. laws that made a marriage license dependent upon a promise to procreate?
• Can adoption help fulfill the role of procreation in marriage? Etc.
Whenever possible try to anticipate the next step in the conversation and address those questions up front. That is, if you think of the questions I list in #2 above, go ahead and address them as part of your statement on gay marriage. Beat me to the punch. Then I can move ahead with even deeper questions. This will promote the healthiest, most productive class conversations. We will all learn much more quickly this way.
Regarding the definition of terms
Bear in mind that you and I come from different generations, sub-cultures, and educational backgrounds. You also differ from your classmates in various ways. So we may not use the same vocabulary. Failing to define key terms can make your reasoning seem fallacious when it is not. For instance, let’s say you write, “Marriage is sacred” but don’t define what you mean by sacred. Then further down the essay you write, “The church shouldn’t have a say about which couples the state allows to marry.” I think ‘sacred’ is a patently religious term. Something that is sacred is of or for God. So churches have every right to recommend policy about it. Therefore I judge your thinking as contradictory and sloppy. But I once had a student who is an atheist explain that she thinks ‘sacred’ means “close to the heart.” This was not a religious notion to her. Since she defined it the first time she used it in a paper, I understood her and did not fault her for a lack of coherence or consistency. Don’t let me think you are less intelligent than you are.
In short, don’t ever assume that classmates or i think as you do – explain yourself!!!!
A Word about words
Ethics requires the utmost clarity of thought and expression, so word choice and meaning matter vitally. Here are some key words that we will use constantly throughout the semester and that you may need for your essay. They are all commonly used; but, I find people tend to mean different things by them. This is how we will use them in this course. If you come across other words with multiple or shifting meanings as you read, think, and write, please let me know.
COHABITATION – We will only use “cohabitation” to refer to people living together and engaging in sexual activity together on an on-going basis. It will not be used to describe non-sexual roommates.
SINGLE - Your generation uses the word “single” very differently than my generation and those before me. When those over 45 or 50 say, “single” we mean, “not married.” When you say, “single,” you mean “not in an exclusive relationship,” and/or “free to pursue romantic or sexual involvement.” You might be dating, cohabiting, or married when you are not “single.”
Unless you tell me otherwise, I will use your generation’s definition throughout this course. So, if you are “not single,” describe the relationship you are in – married, cohabitating, engaged, or dating one person exclusively.
PREMARITAL - We will use “premarital” to refer to sex between persons who have made an explicit commitment to marry each other whether or not they are officially engaged.
NONMARITAL – We will use “non-marital” to refer to any sex between persons who are not married to each other and have no intention of marrying or committing exclusively to each other at the time of the sexual encounter. This would include, for instance, hooking up, friends with benefits, sexual cohabitation without or prior to an official engagement, adultery, etc.
