Essay Assignments | Online Homework Help

DIRECTIONS:

For your third and final essay, you will select ONE of the questions offered below and write a 3-4 page essay (double-spaced, typed in Times New Roman font or similar, with 1 inch margins on all sides of the page) or roughly 1200 words.  Direct quotation, own words

This paper is an analytical exercise in which you will be required to explain a particular part of or argument in the text. As such, your essays need to be carefully written and contain the following:

• an introduction to the question you will be answering and to how you will answer it, including a strong thesis statement;
• clearly delineated paragraphs in which you tackle every part of your thesis statement and offer an explanation of the relevant parts of the text you are discussing, including quotes from the text that are introduced, explained, and integrated into the overall arguments of the text;
• strong transitions between sentences and paragraphs that lead your reader through the paper; and
• a strong conclusion that summarizes the content of the paper and leaves the reader with a sense of closure. Essays will be graded on grammar, structure, engagement with the text, and quality of argumentation.

You are not required to consult any sources other than the texts provided for you in class, which must be appropriately cited. If you do choose to use external resources, however, you must not only cite your sources within the text but also include a full bibliography of all materials at the end of your essay. As for citation style, you may choose whichever one you prefer or are most familiar with. All I ask is that you clearly identify the texts you are referring to and which part of the text you are basing your argument on or citing from, and that you are consistent throughout.

This assignment will be due no later than Thursday, June 13, by 6 p.m. via the Dropbox option on D2L. Late and emailed papers will not be accepted.

ESSAY QUESTIONS:

Choose one of the following questions and answer it in essay format (3-4 pages double-spaced or roughly 1200 words).

Question 3, Eli Clare’s “The Mountain” and/or “Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies”

In the long-standing opposition between reason and affect or emotion, which maps onto the distinction between ‘mind’ and ‘body’, the latter (body) is on the side of affect. To be affected is to no longer be objective; it is to become irrational or have one’s judgment compromised. The body, where the latter is understood as different from and, in many ways, as opposed to the mind, is dismissed as a valuable source of information: it is the head that leads to knowledge, whereas the body (tied our passions, material needs, and emotions) gets in the way. Eli Clare’s writing challenges both of these dichotomies: for him, the body includes the mind; and such a body (mind included) can be, and often is a source of information. Following the arguments provided by Clare in “The Mountain” and/or “Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies,” explain the role of the body (which includes the mind) in our knowledge of ourselves and of the world. In what ways are bodies stolen and how are they reclaimed? What is the risk of forgetting about our bodies, their lived experiences, and their needs? And, conversely, what do we gain from thinking about, and taking seriously our bodies, their lived experiences, and their needs?

REGARDING GENDER-NEUTRAL LANGUAGE AND AUTHOR’S NAMES: Remember that we no longer use male language as a default: that the male pronoun ‘he’ is no longer used to refer to a general, unknown individual and that ‘mankind’ is no longer the name we use to identify humanity as a whole. If you are discussing an abstract person whose gender is either unknown or irrelevant, or if you are discussing humanity at large make sure that you use gender neutral pronouns. Simply put, your language ought to be as inclusive and exclusive as you mean it to be. As for the authors you may be discussing in this paper, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, and María Lugones use female pronouns (she/her/hers). Eli Clare uses male pronouns (he/him/his).

Additionally, as a matter of etiquette and respect, we do not refer to authors by their first name alone. For example, when referring to Sara Ahmed, we will use her full name, especially the first time she is mentioned (e.g. “In her text, The Cultural Politics of Emotion, Sara Ahmed argues that…”) and, subsequently, her last name (e.g. “As Ahmed writes, …”) but never just her first name (e.g. “Sara argues that…”).

Papers that fail to use gender neutral language or fail to address authors appropriately will be marked down.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: I expect the work you submit to be your own, just as I expect that every part of your work that is informed by or taken from another author will be clearly identified as belonging to someone other than yourself. Buying or downloading papers; copying sections of books or articles or “copying and pasting” from online sources without proper citation; failing to properly identify and credit quotations or ideas taken from others, fabricating sources, or using false citations; as well as receiving unauthorized assistance from another person or submitting the same work for more than one course without permission from the instructor (i.e. self-plagiarism) are all forms of academic dishonesty that will lead to failure of the assignment and the course. If you are unsure about what does or does not constitute plagiarism or if you are struggling to fulfill an assignment, please contact me for assistance.

GRADING RUBRIC:

OVERALL GRADE DESCRIPTION: