Essay 1 at a Glance
In this essay, we are taking the leap into using the concepts from one text to analyze the ideas in another text. We will continue to work on carefully reading and understanding the texts, but this time, we’ll be choosing solid, specific examples to illustrate the connections we make from text to text and explaining these analytical connections to our readers.
Main Goals of Essay 1
⇒ Focus your essay on a solid thesis statement that makes a claim and states the reasons for that claim (your “because” statement).
⇒ Provide effective and developed support (reasons and examples) for your claim with ideas from the texts.
⇒ Critically analyze the degree to which you believe family plays a role in one’s success, using theories about family discussed in the readings.
⇒ Create organized paragraphs that focus on one main point and divide your argument into manageable chunks for your readers
Texts for Essay 1
⇒ “Same But Different” by By Siddhartha Mukherjee
⇒ “The Science of Success” by David Dobbs
⇒ “The Stories that Bind Us” by Bruce Fielder
⇒ “The Other Wes Moore” Chapter 1 only
⇒ “Do Parents Really Matter?” by Malcom Gladwell
Essay 1 Prompt
For this assignment, you will argue the extent to which you believe family influences one’s ability to be successful. Using the articles about the family influence on, and internal drivers for, success, please think about how much of an influence family and other factors might have on our ability to be successful. This means you will need to analyze family narrative, individual relationships with family, genetics, and the relationship between family structure and one’s ability to develop the personality traits needed for success.
Your essay should:
- Include a strong thesis claim and reasons in support of this claim.
- Include details, examples, and quotations from the texts to help you develop your argument.
- Talk about complexities—for example, can their be multiple factors that determine one’s ability to be successful?
- Use your critical voice to explain WHY you’ve reached your conclusions about the relationship between family and success.
- Be written in 3rd person only
You should write your essay for people who are NOT in this class and are not familiar with the readings. This means you need to summarize key ideas, define any terms that might be unfamiliar, and choose short quotations from the readings to help your reader get a sense of what the authors are talking about. This includes: Any ideas you apply from the articles, such as family narrative, “intergenerational self,” “gene-environment interactions,” “orchid” hypothesis, etc. (Please note: these are only examples. There are many more ideas to choose from).
MUST BE FOUR PAGES! Make sure to use at least three of the five readings in the unit. Failure to do so will result in a lower grade.
Rubric
1. Draw the reader in gradually: https://www.thoughtco.com/writing-a-hook-for-your-essay-1856994Links to an external site.. This is how your introduction will be graded.
2. Assertion: (the “topic sentence” or main point) Assertions are like mini-thesis statements that explain what the body paragraph will be about, and make a specific point. They are not summaries or general statements. These are usually only one sentence.
3. Example: (the “concrete detail”) The example is just as it sounds. It is the evidence that you will use to support your assertion. Examples can be direct quotes or a brief paraphrase of the text you are using. Remember to always cite your sources and introduce your quotations with signal phrases, such as, “According to…” Also remember that your example cannot make your point for you, and will need to be explained.
4. Explanation: (the “commentary” or “analysis”) The explanation will show the reader how the example supports the assertion. This is your analysis. If you are using a long example, make sure to explain all of it. The explanation section should be about twice as long as your example and should make up a majority of your paragraph. This is where you argue your point in detail.
5. Significance: (the “relevance” to the paper) The significance of the paragraph explains how everything you just proved in your specific example is still related back to the overall thesis of your paper. You do not have to refer to your whole thesis, but rather the most relevant part of it. This is usually about one to two sentences.
6. The paper uses proper MLA formatting, work cited, and in-text citations.
7. Thinking: The paper stays on focus, using a clear thesis to develop an argument.
8. Proofreading: Does the author edit and revise their work?
Main Rubric (1)CriteriaRatings