ESSAY 3: Hello New Friend Favor to your professor: It would be wonderful if you could format your paper in a weird way: 20 point font saved as a PDF file. This allows me to read your work on my drawing tablet which allows me to grade faster. (Don’t use this format in other classes. This is just for me : ) Overview The last essay started with your experience and then added some research. This essay is going to start with research and add some personal experience. A lot of popular non-fiction books are written this way. Goal of Assignment The goal of this assignment is to develop your research skills (which are going to be really important in college) and to develop your getting-to-know-different-kind-of-people skills. That’s really important for success in the workplace where you are expected to work with all different types of people. Attend an Event First you’ll pick a live online event or activity to attend. Places you can find live, online events include: Albany Public Library Allevents Corvallis Public Library Eventbrite Eventbrite Music Smithsonian Songkick (streaming concerts) Research Then you will research the people, activity, place, or content of this event. You will use your research to inform your experience, to increase your empathy, and to make you a gracious visitor in this new community. You can take a lot of different approaches to this assignment. Here are a few examples from past students. Student attended: An online gaming competition Student wrote about: How much is lost when gaming competitions are held online rather than in person Student attended: A body-positive, body-inclusive figure drawing class Student wrote about: Body shaming and the importance of having diverse body types represented in media Student attended: A class on raising indoor cactuses Student wrote about: How to raise indoor cactuses Student attended: A meditation class Student wrote about: Mindfulness as a treatment for depression Source Requirements At least two sources. Each must be 1000 words or more. Each must reference other research. Two sources must come from the LBCC library databases, book collection, or eBook Central. Note: A+ papers often use more than three sources. Citation You will include MLA or APA style citation and a bibliography. (Don’t worry. I’ll help you with that in class.) The Essay Then you will write an essay that includes your experience but draws heavily on research. You will write honestly about your group, place, and activity, but you will not criticize them. If there are multiple perspectives to share, you will share them equally and fairly. The reader should see you as an unbiased observer. Questions you might explore include: ● Why is this study of people, place, and activity important? ● What assumptions did I have going in? ● What was my experience like? ● What does academic research say about this group/place/activity? ● What should people outside this group/place/activity know about them/it? This essay can be more informative than point driven, but it’s still important that your reader knows why you included the information you did. Avoid the essay that simply presents a list of facts. Length Your essay should be around 1000 words. These are approximate word counts. It is better to turn in a tight, concise essay than an essay with fluff. It’s also okay to go over if you need to. Favor to your professor: It would be wonderful if you could format your paper in a weird way: 20 point font saved as a PDF file. This allows me to read your work on my drawing tablet which allows me to grade faster. (Don’t use this format in other classes. This is just for me : )