Personal Response Essay

Total Value — 5%

Due Date: 09/04/08

General Guidelines:

• Page count: 3 full pages minimum to 4 full pages maximum, plus an additional page, which is the works cited page. If your paper falls short of the minimum required page count the grade will certainly suffer.
• Make certain that the essay has a thesis.
• Use MLA Style Guidelines.
• Use the formatting guidelines established during class lectures.
• Remember to title your essay in the form of a two part title. The two parts should be separated by a colon, and neither part should read “personal response essay.”
• Remember: this assignment is an argumentative essay, so it must have a strong thesis, which means that you must take a stand on the issue in your thesis.

Background:

• Students are writing about some of the issues that surround the USA’s policy regarding waterboarding.
1. On March 8, 2008, CNN published the article, “Bush Vetoes Bill Banning Waterboarding.”
2. The article is available online @ http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/08/bush.torture.ap/index.html

Prompt:

• Students are to quote and paraphrase from the CNN article, using both in-text citations and corresponding works cited page citations.
• Students must locate at least one and no more than two credible outside sources and quote and paraphrase from them, using both in-text citations and corresponding works cited page citations.
• Students are to devise their own thesis and argument over an issue related to these articles.

Further Information:

· I have deliberately chosen the CNN article because it is accessible to students only in HTML format, which will require everyone to work with the in-text citation documentation method for HTML sources that will be taught during class. The corresponding works cited page citation should follow example 48 on p.38 of your Rasmussen book because CNN is available with just an Internet connection, and requires no subscription service, such as ProQuest.

· Make certain to pay very close attention to lecture 2, so as to compose your paper in the proper prose style.

Criteria That Determines a Valid Outside Source: (we will go over this at length during class)

• Despite the fact that I have chosen an article from CNN as our primary source for this paper, for your outside source you cannot use newspapers, magazines, websites, or any web-related material that can be reached with just an Internet connection. In other words, you must use the OSU library interface to use databases to which the OSU library subscribes.
• Your outside source must be an article from a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, and the article must have the equivalent of a works cited section at the end, which might also be titled as one of the following: references, bibliography, sources cited, and so on. Alternatively, there may be no such section at the end, but the article might be footnoted throughout, which is also acceptable if the footnotes give the publication information that is typically found in a works cited citation.
• The article must be a minimum of five pages in length, or it will be considered invalid.
• Do not use articles from anonymous authors, or they will be considered invalid.

Other Important Points:

• In the final draft of your paper, quote from the CNN magazine article, plus the outside source(s), and use appropriate in-text citations and corresponding works cited page citations.
• I have included an example works cited page citation below.
• You are required to have at least two—perhaps three—citations on your works cited page, as follows: the CNN magazine article, and one or two outside sources.
• You are required to turn in your paper in a pocket folder, along with printed copies of your outside sources. There is no need to turn in a copy of the CNN magazine article. Failure to negotiate this properly will cost points. Do not turn in your project as a mass of papers stapled together, nor should it be in a three-ring binder or anything other than a pocket folder.

Example citation for an article in a magazine:

“Bush Vetoes Bill Banning Waterboarding.” CNN. 8 Mar. 2008. 19 Aug. 2008 <http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/08/bush.torture.ap/index.html>.

How to turn in this essay: a paper copy is due during class on the due date. Additionally, an electronic copy is due, prior to the beginning of class, on the due date, and it must be turned in to TurnItIn.com as a MS Word doc or docx file. Use the TurnItIn.com “file upload” method on the submit screen. You will be instructed during class about how to create a TurnItIn.com account, and how to turn in your work. Your essays will be considered late until both the paper copy and the electronic copies are turned in. All other rules for late work, as delineated in section six of the course syllabus, also apply. Moreover, your electronic turn-in must be an exact duplicate of the paper copy. In other words, no further corrections or revisions will be accepted. Also, if the electronic and paper copies do not match up it will have a negative impact on the assignment’s grade.

Another important point:

Remember that MLA Style Guidelines are a critically important element of this course, and if you negotiate them at an exceedingly low skill level this paper will receive an unsatisfactory grade at best.

Due Date: 09/04/08