Assignment Notes

Students have an assignment to complete that includes contacting a librarian. 

Assignment and essay prompt are below.

Dark-Herold is allowing student to pick just about anything as their "theory" that they are applying to humor, so I would just help them find a strong substantive article on the topic they have chosen and not worry about how  (or if) it fits in with humor.

Essay Four is now in play.  Like the previous assignment, do not worry about tying information in to humor.  Please note that she has changed up the requirement for scholary sources slightly.

Essay 2 Prompt:

Drawing from Pink and Gladwell, make a case for why Marita and KIPP students like her are successful. In essence, you have to look at their success from the perspective of both authors. How would Pink explain Marita’s success? What support from Gladwell’s Chapter 9 do you imagine Pink would use to support his view? How would Gladwell support KIPP students’ success? What one concept of his from Chapter 1 “The Matthew Effect” best clarifies in your mind the success of Marita and KIPP students? Then what support from Chapter 9 can you use from his article to prove your case?

“The Rise and Fall of Motivation 2.0” by Daniel Pink “

The Matthew Effect” by Malcolm Gladwell

“Marita’s Bargain” by Malcolm Gladwell

Essay Requirements:

• An Introduction paragraph that introduces readers to the topic in an interesting way and leads logically to a discussion of the authors and articles you will focus on. Provide readers who are not in this class with a brief summary that clarifies each author’s argument and gives them some clear insights on the main ideas discussed and meaning of key terms. Given the focus on KIPP Academy and Marita, you need to be sure to introduce both when summarizing Gladwell. Help readers get a clear sense of what authors discuss. Your introduction needs to end with a clearly stated thesis that identifies the two concepts the authors would propose that explain KIPP students’ success.
• Focused body paragraphs guided by clear topic sentences that show the thesis/ controlling idea of your essay. In your body paragraphs you will need to prove that the concept you’ve chosen is supported by evidence from the author’s text as well as details Gladwell gives about KIPP students and Marita. You are applying a concept from Pink and Gladwell and showing how evidence we have about KIPP students and Marita supports your claim. Work to organize your discussion in a logical way that flows and keeps the needs of your reader in mind. Be sure to clarify terms/concepts you use so an outside reader who hasn’t read the chapter will understand them. Use correct MLA citations when integrating the author through quote and/or paraphrase.
• Conclusion paragraph (full paragraph). In your conclusion, I want you to acknowledge the usefulness of viewing success from the lens of both authors and what they add to our understanding about student achievement. How do these authors work together to provide us with a deeper understanding of why students like Marita are successful? In addition, if you feel they have left something out of the equation or perhaps minimize something you feel is especially important, then here is where you can address this to give a richer view of the issue. You need to watch your tone as you do. You are joining the conversation with your own thoughtful observations. Be well reasoned in your approach.

DUE DATES:

First Draft/Peer Review of Essay Two due November 12, 2024 should be at least 3 pages long. Keep in mind that your final, revised essay needs to be a full 3.5 pages, but for your peer review draft, it may 3 pages). The revised final draft of Essay Two is due Monday, November 18, 2024

FORMAL REQUIREMENTS

The final version of your essay should be a minimum 3.5 full pages + a Works Cited page (so 5 total). You can write more, but it must meet the minimum length. Points will be deducted for essays that do not meet length requirements (when in correct MLA format, spacing, margins, and font). Format: MLA format----Times New Roman 12pt font, double space essay, no extra spaces between paragraphs, and have 1-inch margins—top, bottom, left, right. Make sure you have good ink quality.

special Note: Using outside research from the MJC databases, integrate two outside sources (scholarly or substantive) in the form of quotes into your essays. Also, make sure to quote the two authors from Unit Two at least once each.

Essay 3 revolves around answering a open ended happiness question (different than their practice) and  Krannzman is requiring that they find 3 non-scholarly articles. They can come from Gale Ebooks or EBSCOhost.  In the instructions that he sent me, which are attached, he says substantive sources.  Don’t worry about that. Any article 4 pages or more are fine.
 

Please feel free to direct students with questions to me. - Mike

Update Nov. 7 re: sources from Mike Leamy: 

Andrew got back to me this morning

• He is fine with students using  chapters of ebooks that they find in EBSCOhost, but usually discourages it because they tend to be too long.  I think the confusion comes from him telling them to go to EBSCOhost Databases, not eBook Collection: EBSCOhost for their initial search.  7 of the 13 students who reached out to me yesterday had all eBook sources.  I’m not sure what went wrong this semester with our instruction session, but something went wrong!
• He is fine with them using Gale eBooks,
• His instructions specifically mention Gale eBooks and EBSCOhost Databases, but he’s fine with them using Gale Databases as well.  He just wants them to limit their sources to non-scholarly. 

Despite the busy Libguide, the key here is to KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Students doing prompts 1 or 2 will be well served finding a basic topic overview or two  on their social issue and then using one of the linked sources to their banned book of choice for that part. 

Students choosing prompt 3 will be fine using sources linked on the guide in the Banned Books box. There are two sources on each book. 

For the research paper on For Profit Education, students are required to use four sources provided to them in Canvas as well as find:

2 additional  articles that are at least 5 pages of text, have a relevance of the last 5 years, and were acquired from the MJC Library database in regard to For-Profit education.

Here's the LibGuide for the assignment. The videos on using EBSCO is custom-made for this assignment.

--Olga

Essay for which they are doing an Annotated Bib: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h0YQtrAQOD2wF9RNhk49qc5tva2vL74ivVkEwnssGjI/edit

Research Proposal Assignment Proposal, due Apr 2. Students should have already watched class videos and read class readings on the achievement gap.

Unit 3: Research Proposal (Narrow Focus)

Your research is going to focus on looking at a specific group you’ve identified as having an achievement gap when it comes to college completion and success or educational success in general. Note: you can focus on K-12 or college age students. Your goal is to explore research on this group and identify some of the barriers that researchers point to as primary reasons for achievement gaps we see. You will also be exploring possible solutions noted to help reduce or eliminate the gaps. For this proposal, I want you to narrow your focus. You can’t look at all groups. There are vast amounts of information available, so narrowing your focus will narrow your search and help you focus your time and energy looking at material that applies to only the specific group you have identified.

I would like you to write a paragraph (typed) identifying the group you are interested in researching and explain why this group interests you in particular. If you are torn between two groups, you can explain why and what these groups are.

Your Proposal needs to be approved by me; let me see MLA format and at least half a page.

Research Paper

English 100, Essay 4
Examining a Problem and Proposing a Reasonable Solution

Context: We started this research assignment by looking at data from the central valley that shows that there are  achievement gaps” between groups of students who successfully move from high school graduation and college degree to better economic standing and career options. Over the past few weeks, each of you has been doing research on a particular group to better understand who they are and where they come from, barriers they face in achieving their educational and career goals, and possible solutions that caring people have offered up as a means to better close the achievement gaps. In this last out-of-class essay, you will have the opportunity to share that information and what you’ve learned through the
research process as it relates to the “disadvantaged” group you’ve studied and student success as a whole.
 

Prompt: In your essay, provide readers with a clear sense of who your group is, 2 or 3 of the major barriers they face when it comes to academic achievement and why (causes), and 1 or 2 solutions that appeal to you as true, viable, reasonable solutions that could help close the achievement gap for the population you researched. (Note: Your thesis needs to address barriers and solutions)

Focus on the Following as you Write:
· Identify and describe your group in detail and give readers good background information to help them better understand who this group is and why they are more likely to have achievement gaps. What are the gaps?
· Address why readers should care about this group and their achievement gaps. Address why it matters--how it impacts individuals and society as a whole.
· Explain 2 to 3 barriers that seem to be the most significant factors that contribute to the achievement gaps identified. In what ways are they creating roadblocks to students’ success?
· Discuss 1 to 2 solutions identified in your research that look promising for closing the achievement gap for your group studied. What is the solution and in what ways has it proven to be successful in closing achievement gaps?
· Conclude with what might happen if this barrier is not addressed. What are the possible consequence of not dealing with this issue or ignoring it or continuing the way we are currently going?
 

Things to Keep in Mind:
· Your essay should have a clearly stated thesis that will guide your discussion and keep you and readers focused.
· Your essay should have multiple fully developed body paragraphs with clear topic sentences.
· Organization of ideas .should be clear and logical. Use transitions to help readers move through the information and points you are sharing. Be reader-based in your approach.
· You are using the research you’ve done in your annotated bib, but you are not summarizing and evaluating it. Instead, you are now explaining specific barriers or solutions identified in research to outside readers and including specific evidence and information from your sources that help clarify problem or solution. Why is it a problem? How is it contributing to achievement gap? Why does a solution look promising? Who is using it and has it proven successful in closing achievement gaps—i.e. keeping students in school so they can accomplish their goals?

· You need to use at least 6 outside sources. 1 can be from a popular source, and 5 must be either substantive or scholarly sources. If you use articles not included in your annotated bib, you need to include copies with your submitted essay.
· All sources need to be integrated well with signal phrases, appropriate in-text citations and page numbers, introductions to sources done correctly—quotations for article titles, italics for databases, websites, names of journals. This is important since you will be using multiple sources in your essay. Help readers know who you are citing.
 

Requirement:
· Minimum of 6 full pages in MLA format + a Works Cited page. Maximum is 8 pages + Work Cited.
· Minimum of 6 researched sources; maximum of 8.