Background Readings:
? Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. (Listen to short audio of the letter.)
? Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell (Map of Burma–Myanmar)
? The United Fruit Company by Pablo Neruda
? Dreams by Langston Hughes
? Ethics website and discussion
? POEM: Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
Assignment:
Write a persuasive essay. Examine a significant ethical/social/political issue and take a position on it. Argue your position powerfully by researching both sides and supporting your position with sevidence.
Thesis Statement: Your thesis statement will assert and justify a specific argument for change.
Evidence:
Use one or more quotes from the essays you have read, if relevant, as well as at least three references (quotes or paraphrases) from outside sources obtained through your Library research. Your essay should include a rebuttal of opposing arguments. In other words, describe the opposite point of view and explain why it is flawed or wrong. Notes: Since this is an argumentative essay, do not use “I” in this essay unless, in addition to your research, your evidence includes a personal anecdote. I would not recommend a personal anecdote.
Questions to Consider:
1. What is ethics? Whose ethical standards do we follow? Who decides what is right and wrong?
2. What makes your topic an ethical question? What makes a question “ethical?” (Instead of political)
3. What is the source of the pro/con position? (Is it based on religion, concepts of social good, etc.?)
4. What steps need to be taken to realize your proposed solution?
5. How would the world be a better place if others adopted your point of view?
Requirements: MLA compliance. See below and check off when done:
4-6 pages
12 point font (Must be sans-serif font: Arial or Calibri). 1-inch margins on all sides.
Left margin justified
Full name, class, professor, assignment, and date in left hand corner (1.15 or 1.5 spacing)
Page number in right hand corner
Title Centered, unbolded, first letter of each content word capitalized
Double space entire essay (NO space between paragraphs)
Indent five spaces for paragraph
Works Cited list and in-text citations correctly formatted
