University Level

– A persuasive essay in which you analyze the controversy and reflect on its larger stakes. Though you’ll first need to zoom in on the content and language of the arguments themselves, your larger goal is to zoom out to reflect on what this controversy reveals about the culture surrounding it. Remember, therefore, that you need to reach out to your audience and invite them in to this discussion: How could you hook your readers’ attention with vivid and specific anecdotal evidence at the start? When and what do you need to teach your readers to give them the appropriate background about your controversy? What vivid quotations will you want to include in your text to fuel your analysis and reflection? Where can you listen more closely to the various voices of the controversy and where do you need to highlight where you stand? How can you set up the dramatic arc of the essay to help the reader see your way of understanding the debate and to recognize how this debate reveals the need for a paradigm shift? Where do you need to be more forceful, or more speculative? These are the questions that should be in your thoughts as you work to show the movement of your mind.

Basic requirements:
-A catchy title
-A specific occasion for the controversy (what specific story could you use to ground the controversy?) and identification of the who, what, where, when, why, how details;
-Representation of both sides of the controversy, with anchoring voices from identified authorities on each side;
-Incorporation and analysis of the language of the controversy drawn from at least 4 newspaper, journal, or magazine articles;
-Use of at least 2 other sources to put the controversy in a larger context: at least one to provide a conceptual lens for reading the controversy and at least one more historical, artistic, literary, cinematic, or pop cultural source to help contextualize the controversy, draw an analogy, or illustrate the stakes;
-An original idea about what the controversy reveals about the culture surrounding it;
-A lively, engaging writing voice that welcomes in the reader;
-Proper MLA documentation, formatting, and Works Cited list

Big Brother is on Facebook is an example of a final draft I’m looking for.