Powerful & Engaging Openers Questions Read the instructions for the Final Exam essay found HERE and reflect on a “big idea” about academic writing that you

Powerful & Engaging Openers Questions Read the instructions for the Final Exam essay found HERE and reflect on a “big idea” about academic writing that you have learned or thought more about over the course of the semester. Explain this big idea in your post.

Developing Claims

Main Claims, Zombie Claims, Reviving Zombie Claims

Powerful & Engaging Openers

Identify two items from the Essay Checklist that you’d like to work on for Essay Four and state why these stand out to you.
Identify one passage from the Valarie Kaur video that you find meaningful and –
Introduce this passage with a signal phrase that flows grammatically with the it, include the passage, and in your signal phrase, include the author’s name and profession/expertise.
After the passage, include an accurate MLA in-text citation, using either the paragraph or video timestamp format.
You’ll find the text of Kaur’s speech below the video if you choose to use the paragraph format.
Remember not to repeat the author’s last name in the citation if you’ve included it in the signal phrase.
Explain why this passage stands out to you.
link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/03/06/breathe-push-watch-this-sikh-activists-powerful-prayer-for-america/?utm_term=.07fab854a47f

4. Return to the Essay Four Draft submission page to read and make notes on the essays of the person who posted prior to you and to any other poster of your choice. Then, return HERE to include the peer reviews in your post.

Each peer review MUST include: ONE strength and TWO areas for improvement. Comments should be specific and refer to passages in your peers’ essays. For areas of improvement, make suggestions about how the writer might address each issues. Each peer review should be 100-125 words long. Final Exam Course Reflection Essay
The final exam will be a 3-4 page, MLA-formatted course reflection with in-text citations. In this
essay, you will reflect on what you’ve learned in this course and what you’ll take with you into
more advanced study and your professional lives. Your last Roll Call Post was designed to help you
get started.
Begin with a “Big Idea”: Your Main Claim
By now, you know that whenever we write academically, we have to begin with a main claim or a
strong organizing main idea. These “big ideas” focus our essays.
For the Final Exam Essay, you’ll begin by doing some brainstorming and analysis to arrive at a “big
idea” that the course has introduced you to or helped you think more about with respect to strong
academic writing. Scroll through each week of the course and look through the Course Materials
module to find an idea that interests you.
Main Claim Examples
o Words shape our worlds.
o There is danger in a single story.
o Academic argumentation is like a dinner party.
o Accurate citation and formatting establish an author’s credibility.
There are many others. To arrive at one, ask yourself:
o What is a large over-arching theme raised in any of our texts or materials (for example, in
They Say/I Say, A Rulebook for Arguments, the “Argument Dinner Party Series,”
Chimamanda Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story,” or Neil Postman’s, “World
Weavers/World Makers”) that interests me?
o Or, what is a big idea I’ve developed on my own as a participant in the course?
Subclaims
As always, to help your reader better understand your main claim and what it means to you, you’ll
need to break it down by providing specific examples of skills, concepts, and/or attitudes you’ve
learned, developed, or appreciated in this course that relate to your main claim. Each of these skills,
concepts, or attitudes will be the basis for your subclaims and body paragraphs.
Subclaims Examples
If you want to argue that citation and formatting establish an author’s credibility, for example,
you might defend the following subclaims:
o
o
o
o
o
SC1: Credibility is essential to an academic writer.
SC2: Accurate citation which we’ve worked on in class helps to establish credibility.
SC3: The accurate and careful paper formatting we’ve practiced likewise helps to establish
credibility.
SC4: Accurate citation and formatting should not be considered less important than other
aspects of academic writing.
CONCLUSION: I will use these skills in later classes/in professional life by…
Essay Structure & Requirements
This essay will comprise the following elements, which are very familiar to you.
An Introductory Paragraph
The introductory paragraph will provide necessary context for your main claim. It should draw
the reader in with an engaging opening. This essay is not argumentative, so you don’t need to
introduce authors at this stage or present opposing sides, but you may choose to introduce one
or more authors if they help you provide necessary context for your main claim. Mostly, you’ll
want your readers to understand why this big idea is important in strong academic writing. The
introductory paragraph will logically lead to and include your main claim.
Body
In the body of the essay, you’ll support a minimum of THREE subclaims. Each body paragraph
should begin with a subclaim.
EACH subclaim must be supported by a minimum of ONE CITATION (direct quotation or
paraphrase with an accurate in-text citation) from our class materials (no outside sources).
Overall, the essay MUST include FOUR different authors or sources.
Conclusion
In your conclusion, you’ll examine how the big idea of the essay and the related skills, concepts,
or attitudes will help you in your later classes and/or professional lives,
Sources
o You are required to use a minimum of FOUR DIFFERENT sources in the essay from this course
(not outside materials) and a minimum of ONE citation in EACH body paragraph.
o Your sources may include any of the materials found in the “Course Materials” module or any
other materials we’ve used during the semester to develop our academic writing.
o Outside sources are not to be used for this essay. The only exception would be a single
inspirational or philosophical quotation that relates to the big idea you are focusing on.
In-Text Citations are Required (A Works Cited list is not required.)
Accurate in-text citations are REQUIRED. If a source does not have an author, you may just use
the title or an abbreviated version of it in quotation marks, for example: (“In-Text Cheat Sheet”).
Accurate MLA Formatting
The essay must be accurately MLA formatted to demonstrate that you’ve acquired this skill in the
course.
Checklist
You must go through the checklist items to ensure that you’ve accomplished each. Remember that
each item represents an essential academic skill.
Essential Skills Checklist
The following checklist will help you focus on skills to develop for your academic writing toolkit.
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Essay Content
The essay includes a focused and debatable main claim.
Each body paragrap begins with a subclaim that supports the main claim. In all, all subclaims fully support the
main claim.
Resources
Subclaims are defended with evidence, well-reasoned explanation and each relates back to the main claim.
The essay includes an introduction that begins with an effective essay opener, provides necessary context,
including positions in the debate, and leads logically to the main claim.
The essay includes a definition of key terms, as necessary.
The essay includes an effective counterargument from an actual source and a rebuttal.
The essay essay is concluded with a take-away thought/thoughts for the reader.
In all, the essay is coherent (it is focused on one primary point: the main claim), is logical, clear, concise, and
meets the minimum page count.
The essay includes a Works Cited page on its own page at the end of the essay, with the title centered, and
the entries correctly formatted and arranged alphabetically.
Purdue WC Sample
MLA Paper Formatting
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
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FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
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FALSE
Double spaced, 1” margins, Times New Roman 12-point font, name and page in header, four-line heading,
indent 1st line of all paragraphs 1/2″. There are no extra spaces between paragraphs.
MLA In-Text Citations
Period is placed after the citation, not after the quotation.
Author’s last name is not repeated in the citation if it’s already stated in the sentence.
Formats to Work On
Last Name/Page Number Format: Signal, “Quote” (Name #).
Last Name/Paragraph Number Format: Signal, ,”Quote,” (Name, par. #). Or (par. #). (Small p in par.)
Last Name/Video Timestamp Format: Signal, “Quote” (Name 00:00:00-00:00:00).
Citation or Direct Quote Found in Another Author’s Text
Example for paraphrase and paragraph number: Signal, Citation (Wood ctd. in Lee, par. 12).
Example for quotation and page number: Signal, “Quote” (Wood qtd. in Lee 8).
Last names not repeated: According to Wood, “Quote” (qtd. in Lee 8).
No Known Author
Use One-Three Words of Title: Signal, “Quote” (“Masked Wrestlers,” par. 3).
Two Authors of Same Work
Ex: Signal, “Quote” (Wood and Lee, par. 8).
Two Authors of Different Works Cited in Same Sentence
Ex: Signal, “Quote” (Wood, par. 8; Lee 78).
Introducing Authors
Introduce authors with their professions and first and last names the first time they are referred to and only
their last names thereafter.
Refer to an author’s words and ideas in the present tense (argues, not argued).
Embedding Quotations, Paraphrases and Summaries
Use a signal phrase with every quotation to guide the reader.
Include an in-text citation after every quotation, paraphrase, or summary.
Follow every quotation, paraphrase, or summary with an explanation.
Use rhetorically accurate verbs in signal phrases. Avoid using, “says” and “mentions.” The first is too general;
the second is too casual.
Embed quotations so they flow grammatically with your text.
Academic Conventions and Tone
Imagine addressing respected authorities, not besties.
Edit out instances of “you.”
Avoid using rhetorical questions. Answer the questions, instead and make declarative statements.
Use “for example” instead of “etc.”
Grammar and Mechanics
Common Title Issues
Capitalize the first letters in all key words in titles.
Place the titles of “Short Works” in “quotation marks,” and the titles of Large Works in Italics .
Short work titles include the titles of web pages, journal articles, newspaper articles, book chapters, blog
pages, songs, essays, and poems
Large work titles include the titles of whole web sites, whole journals, whole newspapers (New York
Times ), whole books, hosting sites like YouTube , whole albums, and collections of essays, and volumes
(books) of poetry.
FALSE
FALSE
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FALSE
Common Punctuation Issues
Place commas and periods INSIDE of quotation marks when they are next to each other. 🙂
Use ellipses ONLY in the … MIDDLE of quotations when words are removed (don’t use at the beginning or
ends).
Use [square brackets] to make minor changes so that quotations flow with your writing grammatically.
Use single quotation marks when a quotation or title is located inside other quotation marks. According to the
author, “The best song by Bon Jovi is ‘Living on a Prayer’” (Larson, par 1).
Common Grammar Issues
Purdue Sample
For more formatting
examples, visit Purdue
OWL’s site by clicking
here.
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
FALSE
Make sure the number of any pronoun and what it refers to agree in number (singular/plural).
Make sure nouns and verbs agree in number (singular/plural).
Revise fragments so each is a complete sentence.
Separate fused sentences (where two or more complete come together without punctuation) in one of the
following ways:
• Create two sentences with a period and capitalization.
• Place a colon or semi-colon between the two thoughts.
• Add a comma and a conjunction (for/and/nor/but/or/yet/so).
Sanders 1
Lea Sanders
Professor Larson
ENGL 124
4 April 2019
Immigration Policy Change
Today the United States of America is debating over a controversial topic that has
been going on for centuries: immigration. In 2016, The Census Bureau reported “57.5
million Latinos liv[ing] in the United States, accounting for 17.8% of the entire population”
and out of those many were not here legally (ctd. in Gonzalez, 47). A lot of controversy has
surrounded the topic of immigration, especially for those immigrating across the
U.S.-Mexico border. Anyone who is seen as Hispanic or Latino is immediately looked upon
as a bad person due to the harsh stereotypes depicted onto them within the last few decades,
and especially within the last few presidential terms. Many people have been coming into the
country in search for something and a lot of those people have decided to stay. Some of these
people become citizens, but others don’t find it as easy to obtain citizenship because of the
stricter laws set for those wanting to come into the country. Before the United States even
became its own country, people from Europe have moved across the Atlantic Ocean just to
get here in search of freedom and a new beginning. Many of the Americans today have
ancestors who were once immigrants too. ​What people don’t think about are how successful
and how much of a positive influence these people can have. Many people don’t know it, but
Sanders 2
there are plenty of accomplished celebrities that everyone loves who were once in the United
States illegally at some point, some of them didn’t even attain citizenship until well after they
became famous. One example is Jose Hernandez, a hispanic man who went “from migrant
farmworker to NASA astronaut” (​Herreria, 15). He spent much of his childhood going back
and forth between doing farmwork in California and going back to Mexico to live with his
family and he didn’t learn to speak english until twelve years old, but through hardwork and
perseverance he became an engineer and an astronaut.​ Unfortunately, many Americans don’t
want immigrants coming into this country even if they are just like their ancestors in search
for something better. Some of these anti-immigration people believe that immigrants hurt
this country in some way or another and don’t want them to gain citizenship even if they
haven’t done anything wrong. But actually, the United States should create an immigration
policy that lets immigrants already here have an easier way to gain citizenship due to the
social and economic benefits.
Some Americans today tend to believe that people who come to the United States
illegally are bad people and letting them in will have bad consequences. One of the beliefs
they have is that immigrants don’t assimilate to the American culture very well. This can
actually be seen as a good thing because when people come from other countries, they bring
with them their own traditions and values which makes for a more diverse culture in
America. This is termed as a “melting pot”, a metaphor for which a society is filled with
multiple types of people that blend together. The variety of multiple cultures within the
country is very favorable according to many americans and the “melting pot” adds cultures to
Sanders 3
the country and makes it more interesting and desirable (Edsall, 3). And While there are
people who might oppose these cultures because they are different from their own, one poll
found that many people do think immigrants add to American culture when they come into
the country (Edsall, 18). This demonstrates that immigrants who don’t conform completely
to “American” culture add to it. With these different views from other parts of the world
comes a rather helpful advantage in prospering as a country as shown by “a recent national
survey [that] found that more than two-thirds of Americans said they thought immigrants
improved U.S. culture with new ideas” (West, 16). These new ideas can contribute to a lot of
what makes America successful in various industries. For example, the entertainment
industry; “The internationalization of arts and culture has led to an influx of talented
directors and performers from abroad” including Salma Hayek, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jim
Carrey, and Dan Aykroyd (West, 18). These popular and well known people are proof that
immigrants add something extra to the culture of the country. This is why we should allow
people wanting to enter have a chance at obtaining citizenship instead of trying to chase them
off and try to risk their lives to come in illegally anyway.
Another social aspect to show why immigrants already here should get citizenship is
because they want something that U.S. citizens already have, peace of mind. People in the
United States know how valuable family can be and wouldn’t even want to think of how
horrible it would feel to be separated from them. They also would hate it if they couldn’t
express their freedom or practice their rights as citizens, but the people who oppose
immigration don’t understand that “people move not only to gain better economic conditions,
Sanders 4
but to reunite with families, seek freedom of political expression, or escape poor personal
circumstances” (West, 4). Normally, people tend to stay close to home because that’s where
they grew up and feel safe, but people wanting to come to the United States might be coming
to get a better life or they might have to leave because the place they used to call “home” is
no longer a safe place for them to be which means that many people who are undocumented
didn’t come here because they wanted to (Patler, 107). For example, Patler explains how an
immigrant named Julio M. “barely knows his family in Honduras…Also, there is a lot of
crime in Honduras and his family is scared for his safety” (107). Because Julio doesn’t know
anyone that he could reach out to if he were to be deported, he wouldn’t be able to live on his
own in a country he has never really lived in before. On top of that, the country e would be
deported to is known for being very dangerous right now and it would not be ethical to leave
him in a place that is potentially harmful to his well being. Some non citizens might cross the
border when they are grown adults and they are seeking a better life for their family and with
them they bring the ones they love including their small and young children. These young
children, who can be ages anywhere from teenagers to infants, didn’t come to the United
States by choice and are “innocent children who were brought to the United States through
no fault of their own”, therefore they should not be blamed for their legal status (Patler, 100).
Because of the past and current immigration policies, it has become hard for people from less
developed countries to better their lives or run to a safe place. Unfortunately, because it is so
hard to get in, undocumented immigrants have resorted to difficult and unsafe methods of
travel that cost them valuable things like their health, families, and even their own lives. For
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those that do make it across the U.S.-Mexico border it is still a game of chance on whether or
not they get to keep these important things. When the border patrol sends undocumented
immigrants through the deportation process, they often end up separating those who are there
with family no matter how many or how old. It almost seems like common sense that “family
members should be removed together and not separated”, but that is not the case with the
current immigration policies, and that is one of the many reasons why it needs to be changed.
One of the most popular claims heard by those that oppose immigration into the
United States, aimed especially towards those from Hispanic countries such as Mexico, is
that when immigrants come into the country they take away jobs that could have been given
to Americans. Many people claim that immigrants take away jobs that should go to people
who have American citizenship even though the jobs that immigrants usually do are the hard
and laborious ones that a lot of Americans wouldn’t want to do in the first place. They claim
that immigrants hurt the economy just by being here and doing laborious jobs that most
people wouldn’t want to do and “critics fear that foreigners take jobs that otherwise would go
to Americans or reduce wage gains through increased job competition” which would affect
the economy in a negative way. Trump believes that immigrants only come to the United
States and believes that they are “selling drugs all over the place and they’re killing people all
over the place” as well as taking jobs from the American people suggesting that immigrants,
especially the ones coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, should not be allowed to become
citizens (Eells, par. 11). Studies show that, “in terms of work, 35 percent of Trump voters
Sanders 6
say immigrants take jobs from Americans, compared with 24 percent of all voters” who think
differently (Edsall, 4).
Many non citizen immigrants contribute to society in various ways. For example, an
immigrant named Herta L. had been active in her community by spending her time doing
different things such as “volunteering at homeless shelters, summer day camps, and tutoring
programs, in addition to a lot of other things” and makes a difference in their society (Patler,
106). There are a number of people who spend their time doing modest and viable activities
just like Herta that even some American citizens wouldn’t spend their time doing. It should
go without saying that someone who helps their community in anyway should be given a
chance to make an appeal for their citizenship.
It’s understa…
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