Instructions for formal essay number two: "Identifying with an Issue"

English 103 / Fall 2003 / Bill Stobb

In formal essay number one, you worked principally from your own observations in order to create an essay that represents your experience, your questions, and your knowledge.  In the second essay, I'll want to see you using research to make connections between your experience and a subject that has importance beyond your experience.   “Identifying with an Issue” is the title of the assignment, and in it, you should do just that—describe a part of your experience that connects with an issue in a way that you feel is important.  Create in your audience—through detailed descriptions, close observations, and analysis—a feeling of importance and a clear idea of the issue at hand.  Then take, in the essay, a reasonable position on the issue (not an over-stated position, but not a wishy-washy position, either).  Support that position with your own experience and by effectively analyzing your sources.

In order to show that there IS an issue here—that others have thought about this subject, question, or problem, and have questions about it like you do—you’ll need to conduct some research.  Once you've used descriptive observation to show your reasons for thinking about the issue, then show that you have become concerned enough about the issue to do some preliminary research.  Show two credible sources (in order of preference: books, journal articles, magazine articles, web materials from credible sources) that consider the issue from differing perspectives.  Summarize them.  Evaluate their claims.  Consider the merits and limitations of their distinct approaches.  Relate them to your experience with the issue.  An important note about sources: you don't want primarily informational sources for this paper—you want opinions or arguments.  You want sources that present a couple of different positions.  By including two sources with different positions, you clearly show that there's an issue to be debated.

Once you've done all that, you might conclude your essay with another brief, descriptive passage, designed to leave your reader thinking.  Or you might present some important questions that are yet to be answered.  If you feel like you've reached a solution to a problem, you might conclude by suggesting that solution, as long as you don't over-state.

Here are some qualities I'll want to see in the essay:

OBSERVATION:      how well does the essay use descriptive detail to help the reader understand and feel the importance of your experience?

PURPOSE:     is it clear that your descriptive observations are being shown for a reason?

SIGNIFICANCE:      does the essay establish a logical connection between your experience and an issue?  Is it clear that there IS an issue here?  Does the essay draw on prominent, reputable sources in order to show that the issue is important?

SUMMARY:  in describing sources, does the essay concisely and accurately present their substance?

RESPONSE:    once the sources have been summarized, do you show yourself questioning their claims, considering the underlying assumptions of the authors, and generally critiquing them in a fair but critical manner? 

ORGANIZATION / FORMAT / EDITING:   does the essay present its material with maximum effectiveness?  Is the essay neat, clear, error-free?  Is the essay ordered well, so that the progression from the beginning to end makes sense to its reader?