WORLD LITERATURE APRIL 8 TH

1. WORLD LITERATUREAPRIL 8TH Think, pair, share: In Hamlet, Shakespeare makes subtle statements about ethical issues (i.e.: whether or not revenge is justified, whether or not it is ethical for a widower to marry an in-law, whether or not it’s acceptable for a friend to “spy” on another friend, whether it is ethical to give a holy funeral for suicide). What is an ethical issue that is debated in today’s society that you feel strongly about? If you were to write a play about this issue, what would you be trying to convince your audience of? Would you have proof to persuade your audience to side with you?

2. REMINDERS • Last day that I’ll take any March late work (for half-off) = Wednesday.

3. STANDARDS Reading 3.7: Relate literary works to themes and issues of the area.

4. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • For your next English portfolio piece, you will be writing a… PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY! Follow along on the Persuasive Research Paper packet.

5. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Writing Situation: As you enter the adult world, you will find yourself in several situations in which you must defend your ethical beliefs. You not only need to take a stand on one side of an ethical dilemma, but you must be prepared to defend your beliefs with specific rationale for why you believe what you do.

6. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Writing Directions: In a 3-5 page essay (MLA format), write a well-organized, thoroughly developed, persuasive essay in which you convince your audience of your position on an ethical issue. You must have at least five different resources of research listed in your essay, one of which must be a non-electronic resource.

7. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Research Information: Before you sit down to write, you will need to spend a significant amount of time researching the ethical issue of your choice. You should spend a few hours each week researching. Here are the research requirements and regulations:

8. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • You must use at least one non-electronic resource (book, magazine, scholarly journal, or newspaper article).

9. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • All electronic resources must be credible. • If the website gives credit to other sources of information in a professional, correct way, it may be better than websites that have no citations for where it received its information. • Credible organizations (i.e. universities, professional study groups, corporate organizations, etc.)—present facts. Use professional judgment for what counts as “credible” sources. • Non-credible resources: Wikipedia, blogs, religious organizations, and websites on which people can type a question and anybody can answer • Type your topic into a Google search followed by :EDU; you’ll receive material published by universities—the most credible information.

10. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • You may also use: interviews, television news reports, movies and encyclopedias (see “The Owl at Purdue” website for how to properly site these)

11. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • The school library may have excellent information. Also, consider: • Public libraries • RCC library • UCR libraries. • I can give you information about UCR if you’re interested in researching there. It’s a good way to get familiar with the research resources at colleges

12. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Important research requirement: BRING FLASHCARDS!!! • When researching, information overload is common, which makes it tough to figure out how to organize your information into a paper. • Write down 1-2 sentences of information on one side, and the MLA bibliographic (or “Works Cited”) information on the backside of the card. • Then, put flashcards in order by paragraph. Use each flashcard as one of your three pieces of evidence needed in each body paragraph.

13. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Organization: Here’s the organization format that you will be required to follow in your essay:

14. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Introduction: • Hook: Give a catching statement, thought-provoking question, or startling scenario that grabs your readers’ attention and that connects with the ethical issue that you will be dealing with. Do not yet state the exact issue. • Explanation: Explain your hook by discussing why you asked that question, presented that scenario, or gave that statement. • Bridge: Connect your hook to your thesis in a clear way. • Thesis (last sentence of your introduction): Clearly state how your audience should view the ethical issue (don’t use “I”/”me” statements).

15. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • First body paragraph: Argument • Topic sentence: State the first factualreason why others should agree with your position (a reason you can prove in the rest of the paragraph). • Explain: Explain or expand upon your topic sentence. • Evidence: Provide a piece of evidence from your research that supports your reasoning. (Make sure to lead into all quotes with an introduction, to put quotation marks around words that are not yours and to include an in-text citation afterwards that shows where your research came from). • Explain: Explain how research proves the reason that you stated in topic sentence. • Evidence: Provide a second piece of research evidence to support your topic sentence. (Don’t forget lead in to quote, quotation marks and in-text citation.) • Explain: Explain how research proves the reason that you stated in topic sentence. • A third piece of evidence and explanation will make the body paragraph stronger. • Wrap-up: Explain how your research proves your thesis.

16. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Second body paragraph: Same as first body paragraph with a different “reason”.

17. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Third body paragraph: Counterargument • Topic sentence: What major reason might people have to disagree with you? • Explain: Explain/expand upon topic sentence. • Counterargument 1: Give one reason for why this opposing argument is false • Evidence: Provide research evidence to support your first counterargument • Counterargument 2: Give a second reason for why the opposing argument is false • Evidence: Provide research evidence to support your second counterargument • Counterargument 3: To make your defense stronger, provide a third reason why this reason is false and research evidence to support your counterargument. • Wrap-up: Connect this body paragraph to your thesis.

18. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Conclusion. • Restate your thesis (in different words) • Review: Review the main points that you made in this essay. • Apply what you talk about in this essay to the outside world • Why is it important that others be aware of this information? • What final statement or thought would you like to leave your reader to ponder?

19. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY Please review the grading information and writing reminders on your own before, during and after writing the essay. Turning it in: The essay will be turned in two ways: 1) Print out a copy for me on the due date 2) Submit the paper to “turnitin.com” to safeguard you against accusations of plagiarism.

20. PERSUASIVE RESEARCH ESSAY • Deadlines: The final essay will be due MONDAY, April 29. Minor due dates include: • April 9th: On a blank piece of paper, write the ethical issue you’re researching and the position you will take on it. • April 15th: Five research flashcards due (You must bring to class at least five flashcards or some other written form of researched information. Information must be more than one sentence in length and must be something that you are actually considering entering into your research paper.) • April 22nd: Works Cited Page due (You must submit a sample “Works Cited” page with at least two resources that you’ll be using—at least that’s a non-electronic source).