OPTIONAL EXTRA CREDIT ESSAY [30 points (3% of overall grade)—all or nothing. All assignment requirements must be met to receive credit. If you submit this assignment but do not meet length, formatting, and content requirements, you will receive 0 points.]
DUE DATE:
Wednesday, August 3 at NOON (no extensions. Anything submitted after this date FOR ANY REASON will not be graded.)
WRITING PROMPT:
This I believe. This essay is not about religious beliefs; it is about personal ones. What is a ritual, an idea, a personal philosophy, something important that you do that you now have come to believe in and why?
For instance, a student once wrote an essay in which he explained that he believed in chips and salsa. What he meant was that he believed in the importance of the ritual of sitting at a table with his family, eating chips and salsa and discussing each other’s days—asking each other valuable questions about what they were concerned about, excited about, ways that they were trying to make healthy changes in their lives, and other details about their lives. In other words, his belief was that the ritual of snacking together on chips and salsa once a week had strengthened his family by helping them know, understand, respect, and appreciate each other more intimately.
GUIDELINES:
- Formatting: MLA
- Sources: Do not use!
- Point-of-View: First-person perspective. Use first person pronouns (I, me, my, myself, mine we, us, our, ours, ourselves).
- Formality: Mostly formal. Although you’re allowed to use first-person, the other conventions of formal academic writing should be observed.
- Length requirement: Minimum of 5 paragraphs. Body paragraphs use PIE for development to meet the guidelines of 8-19 typed lines of text. The intro and conclusion should contain 6-12 lines of typed text.
- Minimum word count: 600. There is no maximum word count.
- File types: Submit as a .docx or PDF file ONLY.
- Points: When you submit, Blackboard says the assignment is worth 0 points because it is not a required assignment, but it’s worth 30 points for students who submit it.
WRITING INSTRUCTIONS:
Introduction/Thesis:
Identify the belief (be creative). Give the audience some context about your personal belief. What was life like before you had it? How has the belief changed you? What events in your life precipitated this belief? The thesis sentence should indicate what you believe in and three reasons you believe in it (the reasons can, perhaps, focus on three ways in which this belief has benefitted you). Each body paragraph will develop one of the reasons from the thesis in turn. (Your first reason should correspond to your first body paragraph, and so on).
Body paragraphs:
Use PIE to develop your points about the reason you hold this belief. The POINT is one of the reasons for the belief you’ve established in the thesis sentence. ILLUSTRATE the point by providing examples from your life of lessons you have learned, epiphanies you have experienced, or positive changes you have made because of this belief. EXPLAIN the significance of those experiences and why they reinforce this belief for you.
Conclusion:
Sum up your points. Restate the thesis (not verbatim!), and analyze the significance of this belief. Why does it matter? What difference has it made? You may also look to the future: how will your life continue to improve because of this belief?
