ENGLISH 100

Spring 2023
Prof. Hande Gurses

Final Paper (20% of final grade)

Due Date: March 31st
1500 words

For this assignment you will pick a media that represents friendship and discuss the
representation following the process that is outlined below. You can choose anything that
interests you including a book, movie, TV show, advertisement, YouTube page, music video etc.
Your essay needs to include a thesis statement and needs to have developed arguments that are
supported by secondary sources. You should not merely state facts but instead develop your
arguments and try to convince the reader by using secondary sources as evidence. You are
required to use two scholarly resources. You may have other non-scholarly resources.

Process:
1- Pick your research material. A book that you like, a movie that you’ve seen etc. As
long as it has a representation of friendship you may pick anything. If you have
questions, please feel free to reach out to me to discuss your ideas. If there are too
many students with the same material, I will ask you to find a new topic.
2- Identify your thesis. What is the position that you will be defending in your essay?
What will you argue for in terms of the representation of friendship in this
material? In order to figure out what you wish to say on this topic, brainstorm a list
of what you already know on this subject, everything we discussed in class
regarding the different aspects of friendship. Maybe your material of choice reflects
an idea we discussed or is problematic in terms of one aspect of friendship that you
wish to discuss. Any questions please feel free to reach out.
3- Identify your supporting arguments. Once you have a main idea, how can you
support this idea?
4- Find your secondary sources. You will need those for your annotated bibliography
too. Use the information you find in your secondary sources to support your thesis
statement and your supporting arguments.

Your essay should include the following information:

1- Your story: explain how you came across this material? When did you first see it?
What captivated you about this? Discuss why it is relevant for you specifically.
2- Identify the problem that you found in this material in terms of its representation of
friendship. How did this lead to your thesis statement, your main argument?
3- Possible solutions: what are the possible ways of solving this problem that you
identified? What could be done differently?
4- Introduction, main body paragraphs where you develop and argue for your
positions (3-4 paragraphs), and a conclusion paragraph.
5- Use at least two direct quotations from your secondary sources.
 6- Include two scholarly resources in your bibliography.
7- Make sure to include your works cited/references section at the end. You do not
need an annotated bibliography for this, just a bibliography.

Note: Please remember that you will do brief in-class presentations for your papers.

TONE/AUDIENCE: Please write your research essay in the form of an academic essay which
will contain substantial summaries of your sources (including both paraphrase and direct
quotation), in-text citations, and argumentation/analysis. Your writing should be crafted in a
style that suits your audience.
FORMAT: Your introductory paragraph must include a thesis statement that clearly identifies
the specific purposes, goals, and methodology of your essay as a whole. After that, each
paragraph should address a different aspect of your broad research question and include
paraphrase and quotation.
STYLE/DOCUMENTATION: You may use either MLA or APA style for this assignment.
Just be scrupulous and consistent in whichever style you choose to work with, and make sure to
include a Works Cited (MLA) or References (APA) page at the end.

Evaluation: You will be graded based on the following:

-Thesis/Argument: The thesis needs to be clearly stated and precise. It encapsulates a point the
author wants to make about their research question.

-Use of textual evidence: Quotes need to be mostly well chosen and convincingly used to
support the paper's thesis. The paper should specify how each quote supports or advances the
main argument. The paper needs to show substantive, thoughtful, and often imaginative
engagement with the research question at hand. Feel free to include images, graphs if those are
your supporting resources.

-Structure/Organization: Paragraphs should be well constructed around a central point or idea,

and there needs to be (on the whole) smooth transitions between paragraphs. The paper as a
whole needs to be well constructed around its thesis. Each paragraph should clearly advance
the paper's argument. Ideally the argument should unfold persuasively, with no significant
logical gaps or leaps. The paper should have a creative and concise title.

-Language/Grammar/Style: The paper should demonstrate proper use of MLA/APA

formatting. The language of the paper should reveal the clarity of the argument, rather than
obscuring it. Almost all words need to be used appropriately with very few grammatical errors;
the paper needs to demonstrate careful editing and proofreading.