Does being a certified medical assistant make you better prepared to be a nurse?

Unit 2 Considering Connections Essay Assignment Guidelines
At the end of Unit 2 (Module 6), you will create an essay that considers connections
between two communities/subcultures. You must offer evidence from your own
experience and from our sources for this unit. You must include the following elements
in your compare-and-contrast essay:
• In the introduction of your essay, help your audience understand that
you’re going to be looking at how memberships in
subcultures/communities do or may impact your identity or sense of self.
• Be sure to end your introduction with a thesis statement that prepares
your audience for the ideas you’ll be exploring.
• (Remember — it’s often a LOT easier to write your introduction & thesis
statement after you write the rest of your essay!)
• In the body of your essay, offer a rich description of both
subcultures/communities AND analyze the connections between two
subcultures/communities that are compelling to you – one that you are or
have been a member of and one that you think you might like to get into in
the future.
• You can compare/contrast the basic similarities & differences between
these two subcultures/communities.
• You will also need to explain how these subcultures are connected in your
life. Check out the questions & examples below to jumpstart your thinking,
but feel free to go beyond them:
▪ ‘Positive’ Connections?
▪ Does membership in one of them mean you’re more
prepared for membership in the other?
▪ (Example: If you’re a member of the Certified Nurse’s
Assistants subculture, you’re learning plenty that will
help you when you become a member of the
Registered Nurses subculture.)
▪ Do both of them have the same values at heart?
▪ (Example: Preschool teachers value play as learning,
and generally, kindergarten teachers do, too).
▪ Does membership in one of them offer more freedom than
the other?
▪ (Example: in fast-food work subcultures, employees
have to wear uniforms every day, but in most
professional subcultures, folks can choose their own
outfits.)
▪ ‘Challenging’ Connections?
▪ Does membership in one subculture/community train you
into habits that you’d have to unlearn in the other?
▪ (Example: In the restaurant industry, people often
work late into the night and sleep late into the day, but
in construction management, people have to be up at
the crack of dawn to get to work.)
▪ Do these two communities/subcultures have different
values?
▪ (Example: In competitive sports, winning is the most
important thing, but in education, developing learners
is more important.)
▪ Does one subculture/community offer you less freedom than
the other?
▪ (Example: When we’re part of the college student
subculture, we’re encouraged to question and push
back against new ideas, but when we’re part of the
employees’ subculture, we’re expected to follow our
managers’ orders.)
• In the conclusion of your essay, analyze how membership in these
two subcultures/communities does or may impact your identity or sense of
self.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
• School communities/subcultures (classes, grade levels, whole schools, etc.)
• Sports and activity-based communities/subcultures (clubs, teams, activist
organizations, etc.)
• Spiritual communities/subcultures (worship communities, youth groups, etc.)
• Identity communities/subcultures (gender, sexual orientation, race, etc.)
• Professional or career subcultures
• Representation subcultures (fashion, tattoos, piercings, etc.)
Requirements
• Length: 5-7 pages (1500-2000 words) double spaced, 12pt font (Arial, Times
New Roman, etc.), Works Cited or References page
• Evidence: You must offer evidence from the source below (direct quote[s]).
• Sources (from this unit):
• Who We Are Connected To Is A Part of Who We Are
Reference: Who We’re Connected To Is A Part of Who We Are. Washtenaw
Community
College. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lIkP5ObNkd4EYZny9TdkVxmLXbq8a
Pr/view?usp=share_link. Accessed day month year.
• Essay Examples:
• Academic Essay Example: Life After High School
• Personal Essay Example: The Identity Pie: What Makes Us Who We
Are
• Style Format: MLA or APA format
• WCC Writing Center Guide: MLA Formatting
• WCC Writing Center Guide: APA Formatting
Remember, you don’t need to win an argument here; you just need to show what you
think and why you think it.
Note about Unit Essays
In this course, you will draft and receive feedback on your writing throughout the
semester. The submission and feedback loop looks like this:
• Submit a Peer Review Rough Draft of your essay that will be read and
responded to by your classmates.
• Revise your essay based on your peer’s feedback.
• Submit the Final Unit Draft that will be read and responded to by your instructor,
who will award points for your work.
• Revise your essay into a Final Portfolio Draft for your ENG 111 Portfolio at the
end of the course, which will be evaluated on all elements of the rubric, including
surface polish, etc.