Discussion Board 1: Silko: Yellow Woman and Beauty of Spirit
Instructions:
- From the McGraw Hill Reader, (12th edition) read Leslie Marmon Silko's essay, "Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit" on pp 310 - 317.
- Create a Microsoft Word or RTF doc and write an essay that is at least two full pages in response to the following topic question:
o Consider what you learned from reading this essay about traditional Pueblo culture. How does Pueblo culture contrast both explicitly and implicitly with Anglo (mainstream American) culture?
- You are specifically required to make use of some of Silko's ideas in support of your thinking but do not simply summarize or quote from the Silko essay.
- Only your ideas and ideas from the Silko essay are allowed in support of your response essay.
- You must internally cite all borrowed ideas and include a Work Cited page at the end of your work.
- Your essay must be double spaced throughout, 1 ½ pages min. but no more than 2 pages' max., and be at least an 11-point font size but not larger than 12-point font size.
Notes on Writing an Effective Essay:
- At a minimum, however, your essay must meet all of the following criteria:
* Thesis Statement says WHAT conclusion you come to and says WHY it's Important
o Come up with a thesis statement by answering the topic question asked directly.
o Say Specifically what you mean and say why what you are talking about is important to you.
* Develop the Body Paragraphs with Adequate Support
o To adequately support your thesis in the body, you must do more than provide examples.
o You must EXPLAIN how, why, or in what way the examples you use support the main idea with which you start.
o Developing (explaining) specific instances of your ideas using ideas from your ow experience greatly helps.
o Use the end of one paragraph to segue (transition) or continue your discussion.
o There can be more than one paragraph in support of a single main idea. Use as many paragraphs as you need to fully develop your thinking.
* Wrap up the Essay by Re-stating the Conclusion and one or two ideas from the body
o Paraphrase; do not simply repeat main idea.
o If there is more than one paragraph in support of the main idea,
- There must be MLA internal citations for all ideas borrowed from Silko's essay in support of your thinking.
- There must be an MLA Work Cited page entry at the end of the essay.
- For solid development, fully explain your ideas (examples) in support of the topic question. To do this, you need to remember to ask yourself questions that expand (flesh out) the ideas and examples you offer in support and, more important, use the answers to your questions to more fully develop your body paragraphs for the reader.
Discussion Board 2: Goodlad and Barry
Instructions:
- From the McGraw Hill Reader: Issues across the Disciplines (12th edition), carefully read both:
o Lauren Goodlad's "Why We Love Mad Men" (pp 436-9)
o Dave Barry's "Red, White, and Beer" (pp 452454)
- Write a 2 pages minimum - 3 pages maximum double spaced essay that carefully considers the following topic
* Television programming is a form of escapism that distorts the individual's concept of the actual society in which they (viewers) really live. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
DB Assignment Criteria (What your essay needs to do):
• Establish your own thesis position for or against the topic question above: whether television programming is a form of escapism and why it is or is not matters.
• Develop your own thinking about in the body, by explaining your own ideas as deeply as you can by fully developing one or two specific instances of your own ideas/examples.
• You must use (include) and discuss at least one idea from both of the above essays.
• DO NOT simply summarize or repeat ideas from the essays in your body.
• Make and explain connections between the ideas you select and your own thinking.
• Internally cite all borrowed ideas and include an MLA Work Cited page entry at the end of your essay.
• Double Space throughout. Font size no less than 11 point and no larger than 12 point
MLA Rules of Internal Citation and Work(s) Cited Requirements:
- The first time you internally cite, all that is needed is a brief identity of the source and the page number (if there is one) where the source is located. An example follows: (Barry 452). There is no punctuation between the identity of the source and the page number.
- Subsequent references to the same source made elsewhere in the document require only a page number in parenthesis, immediately following the borrowed idea. An example follows: (453).
• If the next time you cite the same source, there has been no new source cited between the first and next time you cite an already cited source, only page number(s) are required. The page number reference does not include "p" "pp" or "page" references written before the page number, only the page number itself.
- MLA Work Cited pages include sufficient information, allowing readers to locate the source
Discussion Board 3: Karen Armstrong & Salman Rushdie
Discussion Board (DB) is the very last DB activity; hopefully, the total DB experience has helped you this semester develop three very specific essay writing skills:
- How to write a thesis statement: WHAT (Conclusion) you come to about the topic and WHY that conclusion is important to you.
- How to flesh out and develop ideas in support of the thesis, both your own ideas and others in support of your own arguments, (avoiding the common writer's pitfall of merely summarizing) and
- How to properly use MLA style format to internally cite and create work(s) cited page entries for sources.
To complete DB, follow the directions below:
- First, from the McGraw Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines, 12th edition, carefully read both of the following essays:
o Salman Rushdie's "Not About Islam?" (pp 587-9)
o Karen Armstrong's "What's God Got to Do with it? (pp 565-8)
- Second, outside of BB, draft and revise a short essay (at least 2, no more than 3 full double spaced pages) in response to the following topic question:
o On the surface, it may appear as if these authors are having two entirely conversations, but one could ask if there might be some ideas in these two essays upon which both authors can mutually agree? Based on your own reading of Armstrong's essay, decide why or (why not) Armstrong would agree or disagree with Rushdie's observations about Islam.
o Do not merely summarize the contents of the essays. Discuss (explain) why you think Armstrong would either agree or disagree with Rushdie's observations, using and internally citing ideas from both essays in support of your thinking.
o Include a works cited page entry for both essays on or following the last page of your essay.
Final Reminder Regarding MLA Rules of Internal Citation and Work(s) Cited Rules:
- You must provide correct internal citations and a work cited page for all borrowed ideas in your essay response. Incorrect internal citations, work cited entries, and underdeveloped responses/posts will result in significant point reductions for this assignment.
- The first time you cite an idea, you can either work the identity of the source into the sentence and put the page number in parenthesis (123) before the period or put both in parenthesis immediately following your borrowed material. Example: (Armstrong 47).
- Generally, subsequent cites of the same source only require page numbers in parenthesis, immediately following the borrowed idea. Example: (49).
- However, if a new source is cited between the first and next cite of an already cited source, then the next time you cite the already cited source, you have to repeat its identity along with the page number. Example: (Armstrong 50).
- In MLA, there is no "p" "pp" or "page" written before the page number, only the page number itself.