Overview of Assignment: Write a persuasive/analytical essay in which you analyze

Overview of Assignment: Write a persuasive/analytical essay in which you analyze two
assigned articles and a third related article that you find on your own related to: poverty; fair
wages; cost of living in America; job security; work ethic; immigrants and employment
opportunities; job perks; employment incentives; relationships with co-workers; the field
of sanitation workers; guaranteed income; low income; economic insecurity; income
inequality; child poverty; unemployment; poverty line; income inequality; national income
and public child care; national income and housing; and national health care
or any other larger cultural issue you identify. [You will likely use one of the sources you located
for your annotated bibliography assignment].
Prompt: In an analytical/persuasive essay, identify, summarize, analyze, and evaluate one of
the two reading selections assigned making a value judgment about which is the more effective
article. In order to accomplish this, you will need to briefly summarize and introduce both
articles towards the beginning of your paper. You will ultimately be focusing on just one,
however. You may define “effective” as you see fit, but you must support your reasoning. Make
sure that you identify the thesis in the article that you have chosen to discuss and then analyze
the author’s use of logic, detail, and/or technique.
Note: Do not merely summarize the article in detail and then tell why you do or do not agree
with the author’s thesis. This assignment requires that you take a close look at how the article is
written. The emphasis of your discussion will be on one of the articles as this is not intended to
be a comparison/contrast essay.
Required Reading: Read the following two articles, and I would strongly suggest printing
them out so you can annotate them.
“Guaranteed Income Can Solve U.S. Poverty” by Mary King on pp. 396-399
“Clean Sweep” by Ryan Kohls pp. 915-919
Research Component: Find another article on a related topic such as employment issues; fair
wage, poverty; cost of living [see the more complete list of topics above] from the FGC catalog
and/or databases and include at least two citations from this article in your essay. You will
probably have already located a source through your work on the annotated bibliography
assignment. Note: You cannot earn above a “C” on this assignment if you do not incorporate
citations from one outside source that you find on your own.
Complete Column Notes Suggestion:
On a second or third read of each article, take notes in an
organized way as a way to comprehend what you read and to later be able to use information
from the article to support what you are writing. You can label the columns with each article
title. Then you can construct categories such as “thesis,” “hook,” “important details,” “good lines
from the texts” etc. This would give you a visual of each article and an outline of sorts. From
this, you might be able to determine which article you think is stronger.
Discussion Post and/or journal assignment: Complete the related journal entry or discussion
post before starting your essay as you will have a chance to summarize and reflect on the content
of the articles before you formulate your ideas for the essay.
Length: Your essay should be at least 5 paragraphs, around 1,000 words
**Note: “This assignment is one you will want to save on a USB drive for the future course SLS
2370 Personal Academic and Career Engagement (PACE). You will potentially use this
assignment to highlight skills obtained throughout your degree path in your e-Portfolio.”
Suggested Format:
Paragraph #1: As always, try to grab your readers’ attention in your opening lines, and then
make some general statements commenting on your experience or ideas regarding income
inequality, poverty, cost of living in America, economic insecurity or a related issue. Refer to the
two articles by providing lead-ins and summaries of each. As your last sentence, provide a
thesis statement that reflects your value judgment about which article is more effective.
Paragraphs #2-4: In your body paragraphs you should support three aspects of your thesis
statement (which will most likely be the reasons for why you think the way you do—the
“effectiveness traits” I discussed in the video.). Within these paragraphs you will be
discussing—analyzing—comparing/contrasting—and evaluating the essay you believe is the
most effective. Remember the “rule of three” which is a guideline for how much evidence you
need to support a major point. For example, if you write that you think one author uses engaging
real-life experience in his or her piece, then you should support that idea with three examples of
times the author employed that technique.
Paragraph #5: Wrap up your evaluation of the article and offer your views on the wider topic
of the effects and consequences of income inequality, poverty, fair wages, guaranteed income or
a related larger issue and how these have affected you as a reader and us as a culture as discussed
in these articles?
Other Considerations: a) Your point of view will mostly be third person, but I encourage you
to use first person in paragraphs #1 and #5
b) you will need to support what you say with references to the articles in the form of one
summary OR paraphrase [which you are required to do in the first paragraph], one short
direct quotation, one long direct quotation from the textbook article you find most
effective, and two citations from the article you found in the FGC databases [total of 5
citations].
c)Remember to use in-text citation properly which will include lead-ins, frames (where needed),
and parenthetical documentation. See Chapter 28 [pp. 548-560] for a review of in-text citation.
d) You will need to include a Works Cited page in correct MLA format which lists the three
articles (the two assigned by me and the one you found on your own). See Chapter 30 [pp. 583-
607] for Works Cited models and there is a sample Works Cited page on p. 624.
e) This essay is not intended to be a comparison/contrast essay. Keep your discussion focused
on one of the articles once you have introduced both of them in your introduction.
Grading: I will use the essay rubric to grade your essay, and the essay counts as one of your
essays in the 40% category of “Final Essays.” Specifically, I will be looking at your
introduction and thesis, the organization of your ideas (use of transitions), your supporting
details, your use of source material using the correct format, your conclusion, usage and
mechanics, and sentence structure
Will attach the previously submitted annotated bibliography, mla format