Common Writing Assignments

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/724/01/


The following sections outline the generally accepted structure for an academic argument paper. Keep in mind that these are guidelines and that your structure needs to be flexible enough to meet the requirements of your purpose and audience.
You may also use the following Purdue OWL resources to help you with your argument paper:

• Creating a Thesis Statement
• Establishing Arguments
• Organizing Your Argument
• Organizing Your Argument Slide Presentation
• Logic in Argumentative Writing
• Paragraphs and Paragraphing
• Transitions and Transitional Devices

Introduction

The introduction is the broad beginning of the paper that answers three important questions:

1. What is this?
2. Why am I reading it?
3. What do you want me to do?

You should answer these questions by doing the following:

1. Set the context –provide general information about the main idea, explaining the situation so the reader can make sense of the topic and the claims you make and support
2. State why the main idea is important –tell the reader why he or she should care and keep reading. Your goal is to create a compelling, clear, and convincing essay people will want to read and act upon
3. State your thesis/claim –compose a sentence or two stating the position you will support with logos (sound reasoning: induction, deduction), pathos (balanced emotional appeal), and ethos (author credibility).

For exploratory essays, your primary research question would replace your thesis statement so that the audience understands why you began your inquiry. An overview of the types of sources you explored might follow your research question.
If your argument paper is long, you may want to forecast how you will support your thesis by outlining the structure of your paper, the sources you will consider, and the opposition to your position. You can forecast your paper in many different ways depending on the type of paper you are writing. Your forecast could read something like this:

First, I will define key terms for my argument, and then I will provide some background of the situation. Next I will outline the important positions of the argument and explain why I support one of these positions. Lastly, I will consider opposing positions and discuss why these positions are outdated. I will conclude with some ideas for taking action and possible directions for future research.

When writing a research paper, you may need to use a more formal, less personal tone. Your forecast might read like this:

This paper begins by providing key terms for the argument before providing background of the situation. Next, important positions are outlined and supported. To provide a more thorough explanation of these important positions, opposing positions are discussed. The paper concludes with some ideas for taking action and possible directions for future research.

Ask your instructor about what tone you should use when providing a forecast for your paper.
These are very general examples, but by adding some details on your specific topic, a forecast will effectively outline the structure of your paper so your readers can more easily follow your ideas.

Thesis checklist

Your thesis is more than a general statement about your main idea. It needs to establish a clear position you will support with balanced proofs (logos, pathos, ethos). Use the checklist below to help you create a thesis.
This section is adapted from Writing with a Thesis: A Rhetoric Reader by David Skwire and Sarah Skwire:
Make sure you avoid the following when creating your thesis:

• A thesis is not a title: Homes and schools (title) vs. Parents ought to participate more in the education of their children (good thesis).
• A thesis is not an announcement of the subject: My subject is the incompetence of the Supreme Court vs. The Supreme Court made a mistake when it ruled in favor of George W. Bush in the 2000 election.
• A thesis is not a statement of absolute fact: Jane Austen is the author of Pride and Prejudice.
• A thesis is not the whole essay: A thesis is your main idea/claim/refutation/problem-solution expressed in a single sentence or a combination of sentences.
• Please note that according to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition, "A thesis statement is a single sentence that formulates both your topic and your point of view" (Gibaldi 42). However, if your paper is more complex and requires a thesis statement, your thesis may require a combination of sentences.

Make sure you follow these guidelines when creating your thesis:

• A good thesis is unified:
  
  • NOT: Detective stories are not a high form of literature, but people have always been fascinated by them, and many fine writers have experimented with them

(floppy). vs.

•  
  • BETTER: Detective stories appeal to the basic human desire for thrills (concise).
• A good thesis is specific:
  
  • NOT: James Joyce’s Ulysses is very good. vs.
  • BETTER: James Joyce’s Ulysses helped create a new way for writers to deal with the unconscious.
• Try to be as specific as possible (without providing too much detail) when creating your thesis:
  
  • NOT: James Joyce’s Ulysses helped create a new way for writers to deal with the unconscious. vs.
  • BETTER: James Joyce’s Ulysses helped create a new way for writers to deal with the unconscious by utilizing the findings of Freudian psychology and introducing the techniques of literary stream-of-consciousness.

Quick Checklist:
_____ The thesis/claim follows the guidelines outlined above
_____ The thesis/claim matches the requirements and goals of the assignment
_____ The thesis/claim is clear and easily recognizable
_____ The thesis/claim seems supportable by good reasoning/data, emotional appeal

Comments on sample paper on Sherman Alexie novel

From all 3 sample papers I select #1, it's called "The Stupid Horse" . It very interesting how the author connected the story about the horse with Junior and his life. He/she did some exploring in there.  All the details in that short story are perfect examples of some different periods in Junior's life. From the beginning to the end. It is easy to read and understand, because it doesn't do the summery of the book, but rather analyzing the events in it. I like how it all fits in. I was surprised at how he/she expands the meaning of the story. And on my opinion it is well-developed sentences, I couldn't do better. What could be better? I wouldn't change a thing. It has the introduction, body paragraphs  and the conclusion. Well done.

Convince a young person to read Alexie's novel

to a 15 year old boy

Are you a fighter? Do you give up too easily? How do you like to be pick on? Or imagine never fitting in.
"The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian" by Sherman Alexie is a book for a teenage boys. It's actually banned book, because of the language the author used and because of the subjects he is talking about in there, unmentionable subjects. Even if you don't like to read, like many boys your age, that book has pretty funny cartoons all the way through, but it's not a children's book. It is easy to read. It's humorous and sad at the same time. You will be surprised.
That boy, Junior, had all kind of possible problems: physical, medical, social. He doesn't have any friends, except one, who also turned his back on him when Junior hoped he will understand him. He is really poor, majority of his people are alcoholics, including his parents, there is almost no hope for his people. Despite all of that he decided to change his life, he wanted to become someone, so he changed schools, because he knew that "(he) was smarter than 99 percent of the others, and not just smart for an Indian, okay? (He) was smart, period." He could do it! That book is talking about school problems, problems in a family, basketball or how to make a beautiful white girl fell in love with you. Junior didn't have a look of a fighter, but he sure was one!

The apostrophe and commas

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/621/1/

The apostrophe has three uses:

1. To form possessives of nouns
2. To show the omission of letters
3. To indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters

Forming Possessives of Nouns

To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:

           the boy's hat = the hat of the boy

           three days' journey = journey of three days

If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed!

room of the hotel = hotel room
door of the car = car door
leg of the table = table leg

Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules to create one.

• add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):

  the owner's car
  James's hat (James' hat is also acceptable. For plural, proper nouns that are possessive, use an apostrophe after the 's': "The Eggleses' presentation was good." The Eggleses are a husband and wife consultant team.)

• add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:

  the children's game
  the geese's honking

• add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:

  two cats' toys
  three friends' letters
  the countries' laws

• add 's to the end of compound words:

  my brother-in-law's money

• add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:

  Todd and Anne's apartment

Showing omission of letters

Apostrophes are used in contractions. A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. The apostrophe shows this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go. Here are some examples:
don't = do not
I'm = I am
he'll = he will
who's = who is
shouldn't = should not
didn't = did not
could've= could have (NOT "could of"!)
'60 = 1960

Forming plurals of lowercase letters

Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them). Here are some examples:
p's and q's = minding your p's and q's is a phrase believed to be taken from the early days of the printing press when letters were set in presses backwards so they would appear on the printed page correctly. Although the origins of this phrase are disputed, the expression was used commonly to mean, "Be careful, don't make a mistake." Today, the term also indicates maintaining politeness, possibly from "mind your pleases and thank-yous."

Nita's mother constantly stressed minding one's p's and q's.

three Macintosh G4s = three of the Macintosh model G4

There are three G4s currently used in the writing classroom.

many &s = many ampersands

That printed page has too many &s on it.

the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969

The 1960s were a time of great social unrest.

The '60s were a time of great social unrest.

Don't use apostrophes for personal pronouns, the relative pronoun who, or for noun plurals.

Apostrophes should not be used with possessive pronouns because possessive pronouns already show possession—they don't need an apostrophe. His, her, its, my, yours, ours are all possessive pronouns. However, indefinite pronouns, such as one, anyone, other, no one, and anybody, can be made possessive. Here are some examples:

INCORRECT: his' book
CORRECT: his book
CORRECT: one's book
CORRECT: anybody's book

INCORRECT: Who's dog is this?
CORRECT: Whose dog is this?

INCORRECT: The group made it's decision.
CORRECT: The group made its decision.

(Note: Its and it's are not the same thing. It's is a contraction for "it is" and its is a possessive pronoun meaning "belonging to it." It's raining out = it is raining out. A simple way to remember this rule is the fact that you don't use an apostrophe for the possessive his or hers, so don't do it with its!)

INCORRECT: a friend of yours'
CORRECT: a friend of yours
INCORRECT: She waited for three hours' to get her ticket.
CORRECT: She waited for three hours to get her ticket.

Proofreading for apostrophes

A good time to proofread is when you have finished writing the paper. Try the following strategies to proofread for apostrophes:

• If you tend to leave out apostrophes, check every word that ends in -s or -es to see if it needs an apostrophe.
• If you put in too many apostrophes, check every apostrophe to see if you can justify it with a rule for using apostrophes.

Current state of affairs for Native Americans

http://www.american-indians.net/today.htm

Today there are more than half a million Indians in the United States and millions more elsewhere in the Americas. Still trying to cope with adjustment to white civilization, they are in all stages of development, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated. In the United States, they still speak more than 100 different languages. Economically they range from pauperism to affluence. A few have made money from oil and other natural sources found on their lands, but many thousands live at near-starvation levels. Some are educated and completely assimilated in white society; many live in nearly complete isolation from non-Indian Americans. Relocation programs have taken hundreds of Indians to work in cities; thousands of others cling to the security of their reservations, hoping to gain education and assistance necessary to develop the resources of their lands and become self-sustaining. Generally, the Indians are still proud of their traditions and heritage, and many of them resist giving them up or allowing them to be submerged or corrupted by white civilization. But Indians generally also recognize that their standards of living must be raised. Without giving up their unique cultural heritage, they have organized into tribal councils to try to help the federal government settle on long-range programs of education, health services, vocational training, resource planning, and financial credit that will assist them to solutions of the problems that have beset them for so many sad decades.

Nowadays, there exist about 300 federal reservations in the United States, with a total of 52,017,551 acres held in trust by the federal government, the large majority west of the Mississippi. There are also 21 state reservations, most of these in the East. Some reservations are restricted to one tribe, others are jointly held. Some reservation land is owned, rented and occupied by non-Indians. The largest reservation is held by the Navajo tribe. Although the reservations are sovereign nations, the People are also considered U.S. citizens.

Indians are free to live anywhere

 

 

 

 

http://www.bia.gov/FAQs/

What is a federal Indian reservation?In the United States there are three types of reserved federal lands:  military, public, and Indian.  A federal Indian reservation is an area of land reserved for a tribe or tribes under treaty or other agreement with the United States, executive order, or federal statute or administrative action as permanent tribal homelands, and where the federal government holds title to the land in trust on behalf of the tribe

P.S. There are all sort of FAQs, that might be interesting...

 

 

 

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/American_Indians_Today/Current_problems

Today there are only 52 million acres left from the original American Indian homeland of the about 6.1 billion acres that form North America and this trust land is mostly of inferior quality: the BIA took an investigation about the erosion on American Indian tribes land and considered the state of 12 million acres crucially, 17 million gravely, 24 million gently affected as to that. So for many Native Americans there is no possibility to make a living by farming without the use of chemicals and in some reservations commercial hunting and fishing are prohibited.
Furthermore the lack of infrastructure (e.g., often no electricity, telephones or Internet connectivity) makes life difficult in the reservations and these drawbacks and the insufficient or partly missing links to the traffic system keep most foreign industry from installing sites in the reservations. The bad conditions complicate the foundation of American Indian businesses like casinos and tourism for some tribes, too, because they are not within easy reach from the next big city and the potential customers.
Considering these circumstances, it is not surprising that the rates of unemployment are between 50 and 70% (in some reservations they are higher than 80%), and that the American Indians have the lowest average income in the USA.

Furthermore the reservation schools have the highest rate of teacher turnover and they often lack the means for school supply and sufficient staff. Even those Native Americans students who could attend secondary education are inhibited by bureaucracy and the great distances to the universities.
This lack of formal education fuels other social problems like unemployment, poverty, teenage pregnancy, criminality and drug abuse and it forces the Native Americans to accept badly paid jobs. Therefore an improve of their life standards is not easy since they are also inhibited by the costs for food (which in reservations are absurdly enough higher than outside the reservations) and the financial burdens especially on City Indians, such as high rents and taxes (which they have to pay in full amount, unlike the Native Americans in the reservations).
As a result there are 24 to 25% of all American Indians who live below the poverty line and in the reservations the figure sometimes exceeds 40% of the residents. Especially poverty among children is an urgent problem, because for example in the Pine Ridge reservation (South Dakota) 46% of the American Indian children are considered poor, which is higher than the poverty rate among adults.

Social challenges[edit]

In the reservations but also outside the Native Americans have to deal with further worrying social developments: of all ethnic groups in the USA the American Indians have the

• highest rate of school drop outs (about 54%),
• highest rate of child mortality,
• highest rate of suicide
• highest rate of teenage suicide ( 18.5 per 100,000),
• highest rate of teenage pregnancy,
• lowest life expectancy ( 55 years)

Drug abuse and alcoholism have become mass problems among the American Indians (in some reservations eight families out of ten have problems with alcoholism) and unfortunately among their children, too. For those the confrontation with unemployment, environmental destruction, the decay of the reservations and the lack of positive future prospects and leisure time activities to distract them situation, are probably hard to bear.
Caused or at least promoted by drug abuse, there is a lot of crime in the reservations and outside of which the American Indians (especially children) are victims and offenders (especially young adults) at the same rate: Domestic violence, rape, child abuse and child neglect are reported to take place very often in the reservations, with the estimated number of unknown cases being very high.
Furthermore in the recent years gang violence in the reservations has increased, fueled by weak law enforcement, youth unemployment and the lack of activities for young Indians and with the results of vandalism, theft, assaults (also sexual) and street fights.

Guantanamo Bay.
Is it a good idea to shut down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay? Or is it better to keep it there for now? In his first year president Obama said that Guantanamo Bay prison will be closed no later than one year. Now, after many days since then, we see the reality, it's easier said than done. If Guantanamo Bay needs to be closed, where all the prisoners will go? What country will be willing to take them? Those prisoners, detainees, are criminals and to simply let them go, set them free, would be unfair to all the members of the families, who died on Sep. 11 and to all other people who got hurt by them! On the other hand, why did USA had to spend so much money on these guys all those years? It's expensive! Their dangerous actions were against not just America, but against many other countries, then why is USA have to deal with it alone? Maybe something should have been done long time ago! Those prisoners should be brought to justice! They have to answer for what they did.  But if a prisoner is a terrorist, he will go back to it, once he gets his freedom. There always will be more wars, more terrorist attacks. "Closing is important, but largely symbolic."