Assignment Paper

Overview

This is directions and expectations for the First Paper – Rough Draft.

Objectives

Upon completing this chapter, students will be able to:

• Objective 1 Write the Rough Draft of the First Paper (Ritual)

• Objective 2 Read, understand, and implement the concepts found in Survival Chapter One

Reading

Read Chapter One in Survival. Read the following directions. Carefully.

Chapter Highlights

The basics of essay writing reviewed in Survival.

Assignments

First paper Rough Draft – “Ritual”

Reviewing the Basics of Writing a Persuasive Essay – Survival, Chapter 1 (Essay

Topic: Arguing for or against a Familiar Ritual)

In Survival, Chapter 1, you will be reviewing the essay writing skills you mastered in

College Writing I. The exercises in Chapter 1 take you step-by-step through the process of

writing your first argumentative essay for this course. Be sure to read this chapter

carefully, even though you may be familiar with most of the concepts the chapter

presents. This first essay is to be written on the topic of “Rituals” as described below:

Select a familiar ritual, and argue for or against the value it represents. . . . “for

OR against.” You may not take both sides; you may not remain neutral; you may

not just describe the ritual. Examples of “a ritual” include the high school prom,

Christmas gift giving, a fraternity initiation, a wedding, a bar mitzvah, a funeral

ceremony, a 4th of July celebration, etc.

Week # Two: First Paper (Ritual) Assignment

Bunker Hill Community College

Week # Two: First Paper (Ritual) Assignment

Remember that your essay is not to be simply a description of the ritual you have

chosen. It must also convince your audience (your classmates and your

instructor) that the ritual you describe IS or IS NOT valuable and that it DOES or

DOES NOT provide an important function or worth within the culture and for the

people who practice it. Important: stress the value or worth of the ritual.

Be sure to follow Survival’s step-by-step exercises for planning and drafting this first

persuasive essay. . . . PLANNING and drafting. You need to plan the structure of the

essay – just like an architect needs to plan the house he is building – before it gets built.

You do not need to submit the exercises, but your draft that is due by the end of the week

should reflect careful thesis planning (i.e., a “divided thesis”) a clear organizational

strategy, and well developed paragraphs. Specifically, your draft must include the

following:

• Five paragraphs, including an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a

conclusion.

• An engaging opening sentence at the beginning of your introduction. (See

Survival, pp. 27-28).

• A divided thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph. (See

Survival, pp. 19-21).

• Body paragraphs of at least eight sentences each, with clear Topic Sentence,

Primary Support Sentences and Secondary Support : This is important – and may be

the most difficult concept your are expected to employ. (See Survival pp.31-34).

• Sentences with details, facts, figures, examples. (See Survival, pp. 31-34).

• A conclusion that follow the guidelines provided on p. 35 in Survival.

One further requirement for this paper is that you incorporate information from at least

one secondary source. The easiest way to meet this requirement is to look up the

definition of the word “ritual” in a dictionary. Even though you may be able to define a

ritual in your own words, the dictionary is your “secondary” source of information. You may

quote the definition directly from the dictionary, but you must be careful to give credit to

the source by providing a “lead-in” to your quote AND a parenthetical citation. For

example, your “lead-in” might read like one of the following:

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, a ritual is defined as

“. . . . . . .”

Bunker Hill Community College

Week # Two: First Paper (Ritual) Assignment

or

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives the following definition of a

ritual: “. . . . . . . . . ”

You must also provide a “parenthetical citation” for each quotation, paraphrase, or

summary from secondary source material. Follow the guidelines in Hacker/Sommers text.

At the end of your paper you need to provide bibliographic information about the source

that you cited in your paper in a list of your “Works Cited.” For example, if your paper

includes a definition that you obtained from The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, you

would identify that source in a Works Cited page at the end of your paper. Your

bibliographic information about that source would begin with the term, “Ritual” and include

the dictionary title, the date of publication and/or date of electronic update, the date you

accessed the information, and the electronic address (url) enclosed in angle brackets.

More detailed information about citing sources and listing those sources in a

“works cited” page will be included in later assignments. But refer to

Hacker/Sommers text for a dictionary entry; follow the model’s order, format, and

information closely.

Two points to conclude: no submission should be a casual or careless effort, I should be

spending my time TEACHING you what you don’t know – not editing for things you already

know – but failed to do. (I will not be “correcting” your errors; editing/revision is your job).

Second, evidence the writing which is taught here – not what you brought with you – or

which you have read elsewhere; wonderful papers which do not evidence the concepts

taught here will likely receive an F for a grade. You are expected to evidence good thesis

statements, good topic sentences, and paragraphs developed with primary and secondary

support sentences.

Use Hacker/Sommes to learn how to document correctly – in citations AND on the Works

Cited page. This is your teaching tool for this, but if you have questions, please ask.

Submit your draft by the end of this week. I will be teaming you with a peer review partner

for paper exchange by early in Week 3. Be on time with this draft (to get full credit and full

advantage of your peer review). Make it your “best effort.”

First Paper – Assignment (to repeat the important concepts listed above)

Your draft (as described in more detail above) that is due by the end of the week should

Bunker Hill Community College

Week # Two: First Paper (Ritual) Assignment

reflect careful thesis planning (i.e., a “divided thesis”) a clear organizational strategy, and

well developed paragraphs. Specifically, your draft must include the following:

• Five paragraphs, including an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a

conclusion.

• An engaging opening sentence at the beginning of your introduction. (See

Survival, pp. 27-28).

• A divided thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph. (See

Survival, pp. 19-21).

• Body paragraphs of at least eight sentences each, with clear Topic Sentence,

Primary Support Sentences and Secondary Support : This is important – and may be

the most difficult concept your are expected to employ. (See Survival pp.31-34).

• Sentences with details, facts, figures, examples. (See Survival, pp. 31-34).

• A conclusion that follow the guidelines provided on p. 35 in Survival.
****Note:

these are all skills taught in ENG111 – all of them should be in evidence here; MAKE THAT

HAPPEN! I’m available for questions about what you may not know or remember; be

present – through email and chat sessions. Your “attendance” is monitored and counts

toward your participation grade.

One further requirement for this paper is that you incorporate information from at least

one secondary source. Document – using both a lead-in AND a parenthetical

citation.

Also, you must include a Works Cited page. Format correctly in the text and in the

Works Cited page.

Paper formatting should be seen as important. This formatting includes: your heading,

correct page numbering, a centered title, double spaced text, 5-space paragraph

indents, a separate, numbered Works Cited page, etc. Use the paper model in

Hacker/Sommers for a model and a guide.

Participation Guidelines:

Option 1: Please write the draft of this paper and submit as a file attachment (e.g. Word file)

using the Assignment tool. Click Upload a file to select the file you want to submit to your

instructor for grading