Description:

Write a minimum 1300-word expository essaynot including the Works Citedabout the topic of your choice. I have one condition on choosing your own topic. You may not write about what I consider the Big 6: legalization of marijuana, capital punishment, abortion, legal drinking age, gun control, and the lottery. The expository essay centers on explaining, rather than simply describing something or narrating an event. Strong expository essays explain why something is as it is or how something comes about. For your expository essay, you will explain why or how a topic of your choice came about. Think of it in terms of cause and effect. Learning Goals: The purposes of the assignment are: 1. To examine the multiple sides of an argument for the topic of your choice 2. To consider questions of voice, audience, and purpose 3. To analyze the cause and effect and/or comparison and contrast as well as provide definitions and examples when researching and writing about your topic. 4. To identify strategies of development and then use them also in your own writing 5. To move toward an academic writing style. Process: 1. Brainstorm a topic that interests you. Some of the most interesting papers I have read include topics that people were really interested in. If you like sports, choose something related to sports. For example, you could present the major issues of the NFL labor dispute and explain how and why they came about. If youre stuck on choosing a topic, browse media sites such as CNN.com, FoxNews.com, Slate.com and BBC.com. Also, refer to ideas at the end of this handout or come by my office hours if you have questions about a particular topic you have in mind. Since this is an expository essay, you will be explaining the issue and not taking a stance on it. In other words, if you chose the topic of childhood obesity in the United States, you would present research that has already been done out there you could

explain how government agencies have combatted the issue as well as what non- profits have done, etc. When you go to write the argumentative essay later in the semester, you could argue that the non-profit organizations have done a better job in preventing childhood obesity than the government or vice-versa. 2. As a first step in writing your expository essay, you will develop a thesis statement that is logically sound (remember our enthymeme discussion in class). An expository thesis explains something. For example: The Unites States has two major issues in education, which include high drop out rates in high school and lack of funding for public universities. (Premise) A: The United States has a high drop out rate in high school and lacks of funding for public universities. (Premise) B: A country that has high drop out rates in high schools and lacks funding for public universities has two major issues in education. (Conclusion) C: The Unites States has two major issues in education, which include high drop out rates in high school and lack of funding for public universities. In this situation, you could write an expository essay explaining what these issues (and other underlying issues) are as well as postulating how and why they came about based on your research. 3. Delve into sources either online or in print to research your topic. Keep track of where you got your sources, and create a Works Cited Page. Go to the library, library web site or go online to Google Scholar to conduct your research. Stay organized and focused on your thesis! 4. Start writing your paper in Google Docs. You will probably start off with a rough outline, then it will evolve into something more substantial as you provide more explanation and description to your paper. The First Draft is due on September 6. 5. Exchange papers with TWO partners in class on Tuesday, September 6, and fill out a peer review form for each peers paper (I will hand these out during class). 6. Having reread your paper and reflected on the feedback from your peer review partners and instructor, begin to revise your essay into a sharp, persuasive analysis.

7. If you wish, visit the Writing Center in University Hall in plenty of time before the due date, September 20. While there, address any concerns about your paper with a tutor. Remember to bring PPQ: your PAPER, a PEN, and plenty of QUESTIONS. Format: The completed rhetorical analysis should be in MLA format, according to the most recent guidelines in your Little Brown Compact Handbook and The Purdue Owl (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/). It should be a minimum of 1300 words in length not including the title page and Works Cited, typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and a header that includes your last name and the page number (headers should not appear on the first page). In addition, please include a creative and relevant title (in other words, do not simply label your paper Expository Essay or Paper 1). Grade Breakdown: This grade is worth 30% of your overall final grade for the course. Failure to turn in a first draft will result in 50 points taken from the final draft. First draft (worth 50% of the paper) due: In Google Docs by the beginning of class on Tuesday, September 6 Final draft (worth 50% of the paper) due in Google Docs by the beginning of class on Tuesday, September 20 Examples of topics: [You are in no way limited to this list. In fact, these ideas are really broad and require extensive narrowing down. This is just to get you started. ] The 2012 presidential campaign Social media and new technologies in the classroom The CSI Effect in courtrooms Color theory in brand identities and advertising The psychology of parenting techniques The issues of GM (genetically modified) food Authorship controversies (Shakespeare, Capote, etc.) Racial otherness in literature/pop culture The elements of a film genre (camp, film noir, apocalyptic, melodrama, etc.) Sexuality in advertising Gender roles in the workplace A literary movement (Romanticism, Victorian, Modernism, Postcolonialism, etc.) Actor Network Theory Birth Order theory The glorification of combat in popular movies and television series. Issues surrounding NCAA procedures for violations
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