Final Paper Guidelines

English 101

For your final paper, you will be asked to write a 5-6 page paper (double-spaced, 12 point font)
on one of the following topics. The paper must be broken into two sections: the first (2 pages)
should be a report on what others are saying about the topic; the second (3-4 pages) should be
an argument that states what you think about the topic, explains your reasoning, and
demonstrates original thinking about the issue.

In the first section, you must quote at least two sources. These can be something as simple as
an online news article or as formal as published academic study. You should be able to find
whatever you need on the internet. While Wikipedia is a good source for general knowledge of a
topic, it (and other online encyclopedias) should not be used as one of your two sources here.
Rather, I want you to be able to name the author of the source you choose.

Topics: Please choose one of the following

1. How have digital technologies changed the way we experience music, concerts,
storytelling (literature, journalism, testimonials, etc.), film, and art? Feel free to
discuss any or all of these in your paper; what you focus on is up to you.

2. How has the coronavirus epidemic changed the way people think about work and the
economy, pollution and the environment, wealth and poverty? What lessons do you
think humanity will learn from this? Will it learn anything at all? What should it
learn, in your opinion?

3. Report on what people have written about one of the following and then make your
own argument about it:

a. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

b. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
c. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”

4. What constitutes happiness? Is it something that must be obtained from the world and
our interactions with other people, or is it simply a state of mind, a way of viewing
the world, a particular perspective? How do certain people, cultures, or religions think
about happiness in different ways? (Since the opposite of happiness is sadness, feel
free to write about sadness instead, if that makes more sense to you).

**A digital copy of this essay must be uploaded to Canvas by May 12th before midnight

**For citations, don’t worry about format. The first and last name of the author, name of the
article or book, where it was published and when is sufficient. For example:

1. Tara McKelvey, “Coronavirus: Two US town, two very different experiences.” BBC News,
April 2020.