Essay Units

Unit 1     Unit 2     Unit 3     Unit 4

Supplemental Reading Links and Handouts

Unit 1 – The Short Persuasive Argument

• Unit 1 Essay Assignment Handout

• "Cherries" Assignment

• Lucien Stryk, "Cherries" (with my footnotes)

• Supplemental Information for "Cherries"

• "Cherries" Powerpoint (PDF)

• "Cherries" Example

• MLA Documentation PowerPoint  (PDF or DOC of slides to print out)

• Essay Development Packet

• Writing the Academic Essay

  • PowerPoint Presentation (PDF and DOC versions)

• The Rhetorical Triangle

• "Analyzing a Text" - from the Norton Field Guide to Writing

• John Donne, Meditation XVII

  • Luminarium page on Donne

  • Longman Biography page on Donne

  • SparkNotes page on Donne

• Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"

  • SparkNotes discussion on the poem

  • SparkNotes overview of Frost

  • "Modern American Poetry" collection of critical comments

UNIT TWO: NIXON AND LOGICAL FALLACIES

• Unit Two Essay Handout: Argument Analysis  REVISED VERSION

• Sample Student Essay (Annotated with my comments and suggested rewrites)

• Video Lectures on Unit 2

  • Historical Overview

  • Part 1

  • Part 2

  • Part 3

  • Part 4

• Sample: Argument Analysis Essay on Hitler

• Logical Fallacies Handlist (L. Kip Wheeler)

• Logical Fallacies by Type

• Logical Fallacies Study Guide

• "Propaganda: How Not to Be Bamboozled" (Donna Woolfolk Cross) - Required Reading

• US News and Report Article on speech

• Encyclopedia of Television News: "Checker's Speech"

• The events surrounding the Checker's Speech

• "The Speech that Made Nixon's Dog Famous"

• Richard Nixon: "Checker's Speech" (text)

• Video: Nixon's "Checker's Speech"

  • Part 1

  • Part 2

Plato's "Allegory of the Cave"

• Essay Assignment Handout

• Plato: "Allegory of the Cave" from The Republic

• Plato Lecture Notes and Online Links

• Video Lectures:

  • Essay Overview (4:12 minutes)

  • Allegory Part 1: What Is the Cave? (2:16 minutes)

  • Allegory Part 2: Waking Up in the Dark (5:11 minutes)

  • Allegory Part 3: Leaving the Cave (1:16 minutes)

  • Allegory Part 4: How Are We Educated? (2:52 minutes)

  • Allegory Part 5: The Return to the Cave (3:23 minutes)

  • Allegory Part 6: Leading the Republic (5:11 minutes)

  • Allegory Part 7: Contexts for the Essay (1:25 minutes)

• Plato Context Assignment

• Plato: Relativism and Society Definitions Worksheet

• Plato: Summary Worksheet

• Plato: Summary

• Plato: Notes by Gorman

• Plato: wiseGEEK Summary

• Wikipedia entry for "Allegory of the Cave"

• Wikipedia entry for "The Socratic Method"

• Wikipedia entry for "Relativism"

• "Relativism" - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• "Cognitive Relativism"

• "Aesthetic Relativism"

• "Truth" - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

• The World of Being and the World of Becoming

• Spark Notes: Plato

FREE CHOICE TOPIC

• Essay Assignment Handout (PDF version)

• Paper Proposal Handout (PDF version)

• John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" Links:

  • "On Liberty" Drastically Abridged (Ian Johnston) (DOC and PDF)

  • Lecture Notes on Mill's "On Liberty" (Ian Johnston)

  • Wikipedia entry for John Stuart Mill

  • Wikipedia entry for "On Liberty"

  • Spark Notes: "On Liberty" (DOC version) (PDF version)

  • Grade Saver: "On Liberty" Summary & Analysis

• Paradigm's Writing Argumentation

• Review Handouts on Writing:

  • MLA Documentation PowerPoint  (PDF or DOC of slides to print out)

  • Essay Development Packet

  • Writing the Academic Essay - NEW!!!

    • PowerPoint Presentation (PDF and DOC versions)

  • The Rhetorical Triangle

  • "Argument" - University of North Carolina Handout - Supplemental Reading

• Argument Essay Topics (suggestions) - Links to sources about current events

John Stuart Mill and liberty

• Assignment Handout

• Links about "On Liberty"

  • "On Liberty" from Bartleby.com

  • "On Liberty" Drastically Abridged (Ian Johnston)

  • Lecture Notes on Mill's "On Liberty" (Ian Johnston)

  • Wikipedia entry for John Stuart Mill

  • Wikipedia entry for "On Liberty"

  • Spark Notes: "On Liberty" (formatted *.doc version)

  • Grade Saver: "On Liberty" Summary & Analysis

• James Bovard, "Free Speech Zones"

• Linda Monk's Analysis of the Bill of Rights

• Melvin Urofsky, Rights of the People: Individual Freedom & the Bill of Rights

• Sample Introduction and Historical Background (McBride)

LITERACY

• Essay Assignment Handout

• "Literacy and the Politics of Education" by C. H. Knoblauch

• Literacy in General

  • Literacy

  • National Center for Education Statistics

  • National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy

  • National Institute for Literacy

  • Literacy Facts at a Glance

• Critical Literacy

  • Critical Literacy and Resurrection

  • Critical Literacy

  • Critical Literacy (2)

  • Reading the Word/Reading the World

  • Developing Critical Literacy (from Oprah)

• Functional Literacy

  • Functional Literacy

  • How Educated are We: Functional Literacy and Educational Attainment

  • Our Space: Functional Literacy

  • Adult Education - Funtional Literacy and Life Skills Program for State and Local Prisoners (from 1993-94 report)

• Cultural  Literacy

  • Cultural Literacy

  • Introduction to the 1st edition of the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy

• Supplemental Essays by Ullman and Hartnett

   

Time Capsule

• Essay Assignment Handout

• Sample Essay: "A Moment for All Time: Star Trek and the Twentieth Century"

• How to Research

• Interesting Links

  • dMarie Time Capsule

  • Wikipedia entry on "Time Capsule"

  • Blog Entry: What I Would Put in a Time Capsule