Dolloff – Ser y Cosmos Essay 1: Holding a Position

Due dates: Rough Draft and Peer Review: Friday, February 17 in class; Final Draft due: Sunday,
March 5 17:00.

Format: Please use the MLA essay format that I have shared on D2L. 2.5 – 3 pages. Title is vital.

Sources: Only the sources used in this class are permitted. There is no reason to use the
internet for this paper, and Turnitin will be activated. Your work(s) cited should be only your
primary source, and you should include in-essay citations with last name of the author and page
number. For example: (Rorty 57)
Remember to use quotation marks around direct quotations and to avoid long or block
quotations. (Avoid plagiarism.)

Assignment: Please choose a major idea from one of our authors and exercise it. You may
choose someone we have already read or any author up through unit 3. I want you to agree or
disagree with the premise – this will be your thesis sentence. Cite passages from the text to
support your ideas. You must be able to explain what the author’s idea is, exactly, in your own
words – probably in the intro or first paragraph. Then you should organize the paragraphs
around your main points using strong topic sentences. You should consider how others might
disagree with your position, but I prefer that you not write a comparative analysis with another
of our authors. That will be for your next essay. You can bring in your general knowledge and
wisdom as well as evidence, examples, hypotheticals, or personal experiences.

Things to consider:
1. Please do not just summarize/paraphrase. Yes, I am asking for a brief description of the
author’s concept, but you can do that in your own words with your own examples.
2. Please be analytical and use critical thinking. Saying that something is “interesting” is
not very insightful. In addition, if you choose something like the premise that people
are born bad rather than good, don’t just start complaining about or giving us examples
of bad people. How does this author come to this stance? How does it fit in with his
overall outlook/philosophy in the reading? What are the implications or consequences
of this stance?