Today in class we will write a short essay. Students were to bring in an essay question to address today. We will focus on integrating sources and proper MLA documentation.

See Hacker pages 464-479, 480-490. For Works Cited page or Bibliography see 59b (490-532).

Prompt

In a three paragraph essay, address your question. Include a citation in each paragraph: 1 free paraphrase; 1 short direct citation and 1 block quote.

Each paragraph should be minimally 4 sentences of original writing not including the citation. Make sure the citation is properly introduced, connected to the discourse that proceeds it and leads into the next idea.

Students should in the introduction acknowledge the conversation they are entering, seek to foster empathy in their audience for their topic, and employ a few of these strategies: agree or disagree; agree and disagree; plant a naysayer within the text.

Perhaps students can look at how Wise does this so well and then try one of these strategies in each paragraph.

Templates for Disagreeing, with reasons:

X is mistaken because she overlooks recent fossil discoveries in the South.

X's claim that _____________ rests upon the questionable assumption that ____________.

I disagree with x's view that ____________ becasue, as a recent research has shown, __________.

X contradicts herself/can't have it both ways. On the one hand, she argues __________. On the other hand, she also says_____________.

By focusing on ___________, X overlooks the deeper problem of ____________.

 Agree--but with a Difference

I agree that diversity in the student body is educationally valuable because my experience at Central University confirms it.

X is surely right about ___________ because, as she may not be aware, recent studies have shown that _________.

X's theory of ___________ is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of _________.

Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know that it basically boils down to _______.

I agree that __________, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe ___________.

If group X is right that ___________, as I think they are, then we need to reassess that popular assumption that _______________.



Templates for Agreeing and Disagreeing Simultaneously Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept his overriding assumption that religion is no longer a major force today.

Although I disagree with much that X says, I fully endorse his final conclusion that __________.

Though I concede that ___________, I still insist that ___________.

X is right that _____________, I still insist that _____________.

X is right that ________, but she seems on dubious ground when she claims that __________.

Whereas X provides ample evidence that ___________, Y and Z's research on ________ and ________ convinces me that _____________instead.

I am of two minds about X's claim that _________. On the one hand, I agree that ________. Onthe other hand, I am not sure if ___________.

My feelings on the issue are mixed.  I do support X's position that _________., but I find Y's argument about _____________ and Z's research on __________ to be equally persuasive.

(From They Say Second Edition.)