USE PLAIN AND SIMPLE ENGLISH!!
Do not use overly fancy language
CHOOSE A TOPIC
For our essay, choose a chapter or passage that we read for class from the Hebrew Bible, Dhammapada, New Testament, or Essential Koran to analyze.
Please don’t choose your chapter or passage randomly. Consider whether the chapter interests and inspires you. Is it inspiring based on your reading of the chapter, commentary you have read or looked up anew
this will be a four-paragraph academic essay
draft of a thesis statement (see below in REQUIREMENTS AND STRUCTURE)
an outline of the main points of your essay, which should map to the essay’s body paragraphs. Include a quotation you would use to prove each of your points.
list sources you may use as if listed on a Works Cited page
Your essay will be at least four paragraphs long (an intro paragraph, two body paragraphs, and an outro paragraph). This should be about two and a half pages in MLA Format (see CCSF Library and MLA Citation Resources) but in any case must be at least two full pages in length. Most of the value of the essay comes from the body paragraphs’ content and evidence, so long intros and outros with skimpy body paragraphs is not the way.
Include a thesis statement at the end of your intro paragraph and develop your thesis in unified body paragraphs.
The thesis should be specific and focus on the chapter you are choosing, not general points about the religion or even the whole work we are reading. It should map to the points in the body paragraphs. You may make some reference to other chapters of the work you chose, but the main point of each body paragraph (and thus the thesis) should be about your chapter or passage.
See SENSE OF AUDIENCE below for guidance on the introductory paragraph.
The subjects of your body paragraphs should form the main sub points in your Prewriting, which is due before the essay. They can, of course, change after you do your prewriting since it is meant to be a work in progress.
Each body paragraph should make a specific point in its topic sentence, which should generally be the first sentence of the body paragraph.
To develop your body paragraphs, use the guiding principles that we have been using for Discussions.
Your essay doesn’t need to discuss every point made in the chapter.
An effective thesis statement mapping to the two body paragraphs’ points might read something like this: “Chapter X focuses on practical advice for rulership and shows a distinct criticism of Confucian thought.” Remember that thesis statements make specific claims up front to then be proven later by the body paragraphs. They should not say something vague like “Chapter X has two interesting points as we will see below”.
All body paragraphs should have direct quotes in quotation marks to support the topic sentence’s point. Use in-text citations with the translator or author last name and the page number (if available) or chapter number should be used. Anything from the Hebrew Bible, Dhammapada, New Testament, or Essential Koran should be cited by chapter and verse. There’s no need to note which translation (like NIV or NKJ for New International Version or New King James version) because the translation you used will be listed on your Works Cited page.
ESSAY SOURCES and WORKS CITED PAGE
You must quote from at least one commentary (also known as a secondary source).
These are often already provided for you as part of the course’s reading, so you shouldn’t have to go looking for them. However, if you want to use another source, you may if it is a legitimate, academic source that make specific commentary on your chapter.
Light research sources which are legitimate such as Wikipedia or Britannica may be used to provide evidence of general points but do not count towards this requirement.
Avoid sources that offer ready-made essays or whose academic credentials are too low (eCheat, About.com, and BookRags are only a few examples).
Avoid opinionated or religiously inappropriate sources (such as Christian-based commentary about Jewish Biblical subjects).
If you’re writing about Islam, remember that certain websites pose as unbiased sources of information but are actually Islamophobic front for spreading anti-Islam propaganda, including The Religion of PeaceLinks to an external site. and WikiIslamLinks to an external site.. Take a look with your critical thinking hat on if you like, but avoid them completely in writing your essay.
For review of formatting the essay and how to do citations, see CCSF Library and MLA Citation Resources
APPROACH and SENSE OF AUDIENCE
Heed the maxim that “writing is rewriting”
Sense of audience is important in writing, especially in the intro paragraph.
Write for a general audience who needs you to give context to your writing, so introduce the and the chapter before your thesis statement. Imagine someone outside of this class is reading your essay. If you assume your instructor is your reader, you may be thinking, “Oh, he’s the teacher, he already knows all this” then your essay will be missing internal consistency.
Avoid “I” and “you” statements. Material that reads something like “Oh, I was considering writing about Chapter 3, but then I read some more and settled on Chapter 10” is fine for prewriting, but should be edited out in the revision process. State your positions as facts rather than using phrases like “I am not sure, but I think…” or “As you can see…”
avoid plagiarism and Artificial Intelligence tools. Penalties for either kind of academic honesty will stick — the instructor will not accept resubmissions of such work.
