Description: In this essay you will develop one of your Connections Assignments into a short paper in which you teach your reader something new (and interesting!) based on connections you make between the course concepts / readings and one of the THINGS you have connected to in response to the weekly connections prompts. (For example, the first connections assignment asked you to connect to an article from The Counter. In that case, the article was the THING.)

Learning Goal: I’m working on a literature writing question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Learning Goal: I’m working on a social science writing question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
We could discuss some of the BIG IDEAS after you bid the question.

Please let me know if you need more information or sources

Description: In this essay you will develop one of your Connections Assignments into a short paper in which you teach your reader something new (and interesting!) based on connections you make between the course concepts / readings and one of the THINGS you have connected to in response to the weekly connections prompts. (For example, the first connections assignment asked you to connect to an article from The Counter. In that case, the article was the THING.)

Purpose:

• To give you a chance to delve more deeply into the concepts and topics that are most interesting to you
• To develop the skill of applying course concepts and readings to the stuff of everyday life
• To develop your writing skills through a phased process that includes an opportunity to revise based on feedback (from the course grader) on your first draft.

The assignment is also an opportunity for us to assess your writing skill development and your ability to understand, synthesize and critically apply course concepts and readings.

Audience: Imagine you are writing a paper a relative or friend who is really interested in what you have to say but does not know anything about the topic. You have to explain everything very clearly because they have no familiarity with the terms, concepts or ideas you are working with. The organization and writing should be clear but does not need to be formal. At the same time, you should avoid being overly casual (for example, no slang.)

Task: Write a paper that explores connections between course concepts and a THING of your choice.

Building from a connections assignment you have already done*, identify the Big Ideas from the course that you want to put into conversation with the THING. Use the same prompts we use each week to explore the connections (see below) but develop them further and present your ideas in writing. (* You may also find a different item and / or develop new connections if you prefer.)

• What kind of lens, insights or perspectives do Big Ideas from the reading provide for thinking critically about the thing you are connecting to? If we look at what you found through the lens of these Big Ideas, how do we see it differently than if we did not have this lens?
• How does the thing you found illustrate or illuminate Big Ideas from the course readings? (Be sure to connect to Big Ideas, Main Arguments and Key Points rather than minor sub-points or random factoids.)
• Does this example contradict, challenge or expand the readings or ideas we have talked about in any way?

Here are examples of the kinds of connections you might focus your paper on:

• Describe how you used to understand the thing you found in a particular way, then show how the readings help you to understand this thing differently.
• Show how the thing you found raises a question, which gets answered in some way by the readings.
• Show how the thing you found demonstrates some of the ideas in the readings and / or challenges or complicates some of the ideas in the readings. (A paper focusing only on how the thing you found is an example of something described in the reading is not going to be as strong as one that also looks at points of tension or friction or disagreement between the two.)
• Show how one idea gets played out differently in three different contexts: the thing you found, reading 1 and reading 2.

Details:

• Your essay should make well developed connections between the THING and Big Ideas from at least 2 scholarly course readings. You can include additional concepts from lectures or other course material (such as videos or “Flimsy Plastic Knives…” which is not a scholarly reading).
• While the prompt is open ended, the task of this paper is actually quite narrow and specific. Try to avoid making grand – but vague – statements or arguments. The points you make should come directly out of the connections you are exploring.
• It’s very important that you clearly introduce the Big Ideas you are connecting to, stating where the ideas come from (cite the article) and explaining them in a way that will make sense to someone from outside of this class.
• You may need to learn a little bit more about the thing you are connecting to so that you can develop strong, relevant connections and introduce the thing you are connecting to a reader who is totally unfamiliar with it. Note, however, that this is not a research project and the essay should not be too descriptive. The point of the paper is to explore and develop connections to course concepts. An essay that spends too much time describing the thing you are connecting to rather than developing the connections will not be successful. No more than ¼ of the paper should be description.
• Your essay should cohere around a guiding idea, or main point which you should describe in the introduction. I am not looking for a formal thesis statement, but you do need something that says “here is what this essay is about and this is why it matters” (i.e. what is important, meaningful, relevant, exciting about the connection you are making?) and you need to follow that up with a series of paragraphs that clearly and logically support the guiding idea or main point.
• Your essay should be 800 – 1,000 words, and use standard formatting.
• https://thecounter.org/george-floyd-michael-thomps…