Friday, Feb. 24th, 2012

Greetings:

Below you will find three major items:
1. Out of class essay assignment #2, which was assigned in class today, Friday, the 24th of February. If you happened to be absent today, you will need to consult a fellow student for notes. There is a lot of important information that was discussed that is NOT on the prompt.

2. Handout on Notecards and Bibliography Cards, which was distributed and discussed in class today, Feb. 24th. Again, if you were absent today, you will need to consult a fellow student as to how to fill out the blank spaces.

3. Packet #4 (due to be read by Wednesday, Feb. 29)

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English 1A, Sections 7 & 9
Spring 2012
Course Theme: The Significance of Home
Instructor: C. Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #2 (worth 200 points total)

Assigned: Friday, Feb. 24th
ROUGH DRAFT: If you wish to have me review a rough draft of this assignment, please submit it to me NO LATER than Wednesday, March 14
Due: Monday, March 26
(YOU HAVE FOUR WEEKS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AND WRITE YOUR ESSAY…PLAN YOUR TIME ACCORDINGLY)

• Essay must follow MLA format exactly.
• Essay must be typed and double spaced.
• Thesis statement must be underlined.
• Do not write a formulaic five paragraph essay.
• Essay must have a minimum of five sources on the Works Cited page. You are welcome to use the Internet for sources, but at least one of your sources cannot be found on the Internet (for example, use a book, watch a film, conduct an interview, etc.)
• You may certainly utilize the Wikipedia website to gain background information and to locate reference sites, but you may not use it as one of your documented sources on the Works Cited page.
• You must submit the essay as instructed in class—please record the requirements during the discussion.


Essay Prompt:

• For this essay, you will first select a group of people from another culture/country that you are genuinely interested in finding out more about.
• You will then conduct research in order to discover and then write about at least three significant ways in which someone from this culture/country must adapt to life in the United States.
• You will then begin by writing a thesis that is assertive and debatable.

For example, imagine that you selected the adaptation of the Hmong once they arrive in the US. After conducting some research, you decide to present information on male and female roles in marriage, religious practices and diet as the three areas of adjustment you feel are most significant and would make the most interesting reading.

Your thesis might read something like the following:

Hundreds of Hmong people immigrate to the United States every year and face many difficult challenges, particularly in the areas of religious practices, changes in diet and male/female roles within a marriage.

There are several ways to approach this topic and make it your OWN. The prompt can be interpreted in various different ways, as we discussed at length today in class.
(An essay that asks you to address a topic such as this one would be difficult to complete in less than five or six pages, approximately.)
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MLA Research Documentation—English 1A—Prof. Fraga

Bibliography Cards: 3 x 5
Note Cards: 4 x 6

Sample Bibliography Card:
1. Record reference exactly as it would appear on your Works Cited page.
2. Remember, these cards are for your use; write legibly. This will save you so much time later when you are ready to type your Works Cited page.









Sample Note Card:
1. A note card without a source line is useless.
2. You need not record anything at the top except for the info. that will go in the in-text citation.
3. One idea or fact per card.
4. To further help you organize your essay, you may want to note the section in the essay where the information may appear. Put this in the upper right hand corner of the note card.







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PACKET #4

1. "War Revisited"
by Nick Miller and Kel Munger
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/war-revisited/content?oid=928683

2. "Boots to Books: The Rough Road from Combat to College" (this is a video approx. 14 minutes in length)
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=8c310eacfeb08aba2e7f1e29411543e9