Major Paper

English 1101

 

DIRECTIONS

 

  • Choose one of the two options below. Only one (ONE) of these two options can earn credit for the Major Paper. Once the mandatory rough draft is submitted for one of these two papers, the other paper will become ineligible for credit. Both papers will be discussed in detail beforehand throughout the semester.
     
  • Option 1: The Process Paper:
  • Through adhering to the rules of the Process Paper, focus on a simple manual task to complete this Process Paper:

    instruct your reader in 2nd person singular how to do something (how to perform a simple manual task with a specific, replicable, guaranteed, successful end result), the smaller the better; DO NOT write about washing anything, being cool, preparing any food, succeeding in college, anything to do with cars or machines, mechanical devices, phones, apps, anything to do with sports, anything to do with electronics, applying any beauty products, technological processes, study methods, changing car oil or car tires, planting a garden, photography, job interviews, baby showers, swimming, composing anything, perfecting a technique, dancing, etc.; the smaller the scope the better, so focus on a small manual task if nothing else comes to mind; imagine that you are trying to have someone follow your steps while you have that person on the phone (if the person does anything unprompted or pauses unsure about what to do, the directions need to clarify these steps)
     

  • Option 2: The Definition Paper

  • Through adhering to the rules of the Definition Paper, present an extended personal definition of the term of your choice. Your essay must have a strong personal take on the definition. Consider these possibilities:
     a) choose a document or ritual that is a significant part of your religious or cultural heritage
    b)     define through a personal lens an abstract term, for example, stubbornness, security, courage, fear, anger
    c) define a medical condition through a personal lens: Down syndrome, autism, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, ADHD
    d)     choose a term that is central to one of your courses, for instance, behaviorism, authority, naturalism
    e)     assume your audience might be from a culture that is not familiar with modern American pastimes; write a definition essay for this audience in which you describe the form and function of a Frisbee, a Barbie doll, an action figure, a parade, a video game, etc.
    f)     in your opinion, what qualifies someone other than yourself as a hero (a real person you personally know)?
    Ask yourself the following questions: Why am I defining this term? Why is this term important to me? What is my connection to this term? What does this term mean to me? Flesh out three characteristics of the defined term, one per argument paragraph.
     
  • Make sure that your thesis is underlined, in italics or in bold print.
  • This assignment MUST be 500-600 words (5 ¶s in a mature font).
  • The opening paragraph will have two sentences, one of which is the thesis statement.
  • The concluding paragraph will have one or two sentences.
  • No title page is necessary, but title your essay in an original manner.

  • Include a brief heading with your name, assignment, date, course and word count in the upper left corner.

    •
  • This is to be your own, original work, without referring to any outside sources or resources.
  • Consulting any outside sources or resources might result in forfeiting credit for this assignment.
  • To be eligible for credit, the completed assignment MUST meet all of the above conditions. If any requirement from the prompt is not met, the assignment will be ineligible for credit. 
  • The mandatory rough draft must be submitted through the D2L Brightspace assignments dropbox under Rough Major Paper by the deadline for the final draft to earn credit.
  • Feedback on the rough draft will be available online.
  • Submit your final version through the D2L Brightspace assignments dropbox under Major Paper by the due date.
  • If the Process Paper is submitted, the Definition Paper will not be completed. Likewise, if the Definition Paper is submitted, the Process Paper will not be completed.

  • Detailed feedback about the submitted paper will be provided in D2L.

  • The content of the paper will be graded based on its organization, thesis, paragraph structure, quality of arguments, analysis strength and lack of summary. Each type (not each occurrence) of major grammatical errors (e.g., run-on, pronoun-antecedent agreement, fragment, misplaced modifier, parallelism, verb form, subject-verb agreement, 3 x spelling errors) will equal a deduction of 10 points.

  • As always, if you have any questions, please utilize the D2L forum.