Is American protest literature still effective today, or has its time in America passed? You must use (quote) and cite specific American protest literature to persuasively defend your arguable thesis. Support must be drawn from at least 3 of the movements of the textbook.
It must be an arguable claim, which means you will need to dig a bit for that claim. An example – many students claim for Prompt #1 that American protest literature matters today because it tells us about the people/history of America past. Yet, when you think about that answer, of course it does. That answer is not arguable; it is simply a statement of fact.
You need an argument that you prove to the reader.
Instead, ask (Socratic) questions where the answer(s) to those Socratic questions may well be arguable claims, or begin to lead you to an arguable claim.
For example: would your life be any different today if you did not know about American protest literature? HOW? WHY? For each prompt, ask/answer Socratic questions until they (eventually) take you into arguable territory. Be specific in asking and answering these Socratic questions, working to an arguable response.
Each prompt requires a very thoughtful, well-reasoned response that goes well-beyond straightforward statements of fact or surface-level observation. This is an argument – you are proving your answer/claim.
You need to be very specific in supporting your (specific and argumentative) thesis claim. Your claim must be non-obvious and academically arguable. That means you must provide specific textual support (i.e. short quotes, not general summary statements or allusions to texts), for the specific claims you make, and you must have strong warrants (clear, persuasive, logical explanations) of that support, making it directly relevant to and supportive of your thesis claim.
Write for an audience who disagrees with your position.
use specific evidence and logical reasoning (i.e. logical warrants) to persuade
Support your claim using specific literature from at least two (3) of the movements in the textbook we covered.
For supporting evidence, choose from all works in our textbook (assigned/unassigned) and class handouts/readings. You must have support from at least 2 distinct protest movements.
Do not block quote any support – use short quotes.
No outside sources(i.e. sources that are not a textbook reading or a handout reading) without my pre-approval.
You need strong essay organization.
You must properly cite and document (MLA) every source you use.
Your voice must be primary in your essay. Make sure that you are doing the proving with support you use, not just letting sources speak for you. This means strong logical explanations of that specific support (i.e. logical warrants)
Details matter, including MLA essay format, proper in-text citations and a Works Cited (MLA), proper/polished grammar, punctuation, organization, sentence construction, etc. Your mastery of (ENG111/112) compositional skills must be evident.
All sources must be from the textbook, which I can provide.