At the beginning of this project, in Two Key Questions about Standard Written English (5.1), you were asked these questions:
Does the requirement that students write in Standard Written English make it harder for students who have grown up using a different version of English to succeed in college writing courses?
If colleges don’t help students learn to write in Standard Written English, will it be harder for them to succeed in the American workplace?
Throughout this project, you have read, discussed, and written about the issues raised by these questions and explored some of the possible solutions to them. Now it is your turn to express and support your position on this topic.
Assignment. For this assignment, you will write a college essay—three to four pages long—that is suitable for a course in education, political science, social sciences, or even English. In your essay, you will argue for one of the following positions.
Students should be required to write essays in college courses that conform to the conventions of Standard Written English.
Students should be allowed to write college essays making use of the version of English they are comfortable with.
A position of your choice on the issue of acceptable language in college essays that is different from either of the first two options.
Option. This project has primarily focused on language and power issues as they affect African American students. If you would like to include in your essay a discussion of how these issues affect other groups—Hispanic students, Appalachian students, students from working-class backgrounds, students for whom English is a second language, students who speak a World English, students who speak a Pidgin or Creole—that would be fine too.
Documentation. Your instructor will provide specific requirements about including quotations, citations, and the documentation style to use. Be sure to provide appropriate citations for any words you quote, paraphrase, or summarize from readings in this project or articles that you have found through your research and to include a works cited list or list of references at the end of your essay. If you need to review how to provide this documentation, refer to MLA Documentation (Topic 23) or APA Documentation (Topic 24).
When you do include quotations, paraphrases, or summaries to support your argument, you need to tie them together, explain their relationships with each other, and express your conclusions about them (see Synthesis [22.14]).
Documentation Style Builder
Your instructor would like you to follow MLA style guidelines for this assignment. Certain elements of MLA require additional page headers or sections. As you draft, you can use buttons in the side panel to add page numbering and Works Cited sections to your draft.
Source Check
Source Checks allow you to check your drafts for potential plagiarism prior to (if enabled) and during submission. Source Check reports show you possible types of plagiarism that might be present in your work, paired with content that will help you evaluate and fix any problems.
Add Documents to the Database
Edit
Draft(s) will not be added to the database.
Identify Similarity Types
• Exact Match: Contains identical language to sources on the web or in the database
• Close Wording: Uses nearly identical wording (e.g.; “slow” becomes “slowly”)
• Close Structure: Maintains close sentence structure with synonyms replacing original text
Exclude from Source Check
• Quoted material
Report Frequency
• Student may run up to 2 reports per draft until due date
What’s Included in Source Check Report?
• Similarity Analysis
• Flagged Material
• Source Matches
• Recommended Resources
Final Rubric
Researched argument
Falls Below Expectations
Nearly Meets Expectations
Meets Expectations
Exceeds Expectations
Thesis
Missing an arguable thesis
Introduces a vague or broad thesis
Introduces an arguable thesis that needs more focus
Introduces a focused, arguable thesis
Claims
Lacks sufficient claims to support thesis
Introduces claims that do not all support the thesis
Introduces relevant claims that need further development
Claims clearly relate to thesis
Evidence
Limited or no evidence
Evidence does not support claim
Evidence supports claim
Evidence supports claims and is well-chosen
Integration of sources
Sources are missing from the body of the essay
Some references to sources appear in the essay but are not integrated clearly
Sources are integrated accurately but signal phrases are missing or inadequate
Sources are integrated accurately (in MLA style) and effectively (with signal phrases)
Documentation and Formatting
Citations and formatting are in the assigned style
Citations and formatting are not in the assigned style
Inconsistent citations and/or formatting
Most citations and formatting are in the assigned style
Accurate style applied to all citations and formatting
Draft 1
Start Draft 1
Review Type Instructor Review
Revision Plan Required
Source Check 2 Source Check(s) allowed during drafting | 1 Source Check at draft submission
Draft Goals
Ideas/Content
Reason and Support
Style/Voice
Thesis
Audience Awareness
Writing Instructions
For this assignment, you are going to write a proposal to the English Department. Think about the audience for this assignment. What kind of writing is likely to be effective with them? In this essay, you are going to take a position on the difficult question of the place of Standard Written English in college essays. You may want to check out Alex’s Paper (14.7), Thinking Deeply (14.8), and Thinking Broadly (14.9). As you begin work on this assignment come up with a carefully-thought-out position. That position, that stand, will be your thesis. Make sure your thesis is clearly stated and doesn’t change in the course of the essay. Also, make sure that everything in the paper supports that thesis.
Writing Reflection Questions
Agree/Disagree PollI know the criteria that will be used for giving me feedback.
Free ResponseThe most challenging part of this assignment was…
Free ResponseThe primary argument I’m making is…
Final Paper
Review Type Instructor Review
Source Check 1 Source Check at draft submission
You will be able to view and start this draft once you’ve received and viewcixed feedback on Draft 1
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