The Best Plans for Change

In-Class Essay: Saturday, December 19 from 9:30 to 12:30 in Room 476 of the Mission Campus

Assignment:

Choose one major proposed change to the way society works found in either Affluenza or Ecotopia or in both.  Write an essay in which you either agree, disagree, or partly agree and partly disagree that the proposed change would be good for society.  Use the patterns and ideas in Chapter 4 of They Say I Say to structure your argument.  You do not need to do outside research unless you want to; this essay is about expressing your own opinion.  However, if you make a statement, you should back it up with solid reasoning and real-life examples or imagined examples that seem probable.  If you agree with the proposed change, you still need to come up with something new and different to say than what is in the reading.  See They Say I Say.

Requirements:

• At least three full body paragraphs, introduction, and conclusion.
• At least two pages long.
• At least two quotations or paraphrases from Affluenza or Ecotopia.
• Use sentence patterns from They Say I Say.
• Introduce and explain quotations and paraphrases using the PIE method.
• Include a thesis statement, introduction, conclusion, and at least three body paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting evidence.

As you know, this will be an in-class essay, but you are encouraged to prepare and bring your prewriting materials. However, you may not bring anything with more than two sentences in a row that end up in your essay. You will turn in any materials you use on the test. Also, you will not have internet access or any form of access to electronic data during the exam. Internet will be turned off. At the end, though, you can email yourself a copy of the exam.

Bring the following to the exam:

• Affluenza, the Ecotopia handout, They Say I Say, and Rules for Writers
• Your outline (topic sentences, thesis, and quotations or other supporting details)
• Your notes (no more than 2 sentences in a row that end up in the essay)
• A dictionary (optional)

I encourage you to prepare for this exam as thoroughly as possible by revising your outline, by visiting the Writing Lab, and, if you are nervous about in-class writing, by practicing writing out the essay under time pressure at home. (You just can't bring that practice essay with you to the real exam.)

Grammar, word choice, and formatting do count for in-class essays (though not quite as much as for out of class essays). Do your best in the time you have. Good luck! See me with questions.