The questions — which you can preview here — will ask you to do the following. (This is NOT the quiz, only a help for your preparation.)
Identify the broad topic you have derived from themes, issue, and ideas raised Everything I Never Told You or The Sixth Extinction. Remember, you may not write about either of the books themselves, which you have already written about. Use the books as a springboard to find your own topic.
State your focused topic. Your topic’s scope should be appropriate for a 1250-1800 word paper. It must lend itself to investigation, discovery, analysis, and argument — not simple “reportage.”
State the working thesis in the 3-part structure I explain in the Research Module; this structure helps you develop content with depth and a strong argument. Your final thesis doesn’t have to follow the three part structure.
“So What?” Show your topic’s purpose, importance and relevance to your audience.
Write a paragraph on issues, evidence, obstacles, points related to your research.
English 101 –
Topics for Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Required Length: 750 words
Essay Due:
Revision Due:
GENERAL GUIDELINES
1. The paper must be wholly original to you. Do not consult any secondary source, such as the Internet. Everything I Never Told You is your primary source and must be cited in a work-cited page.
2. Use MLA format. (See the video on MLA format in the Introductory Module.) Give your paper an original title related to your thesis. In the opening of your paper, give the title of the book and the author’s full name. In subsequent references to the author, use only her last name.
3. Use at least 4 relevant quotations to support your analysis. The quotations should be integrated into the flow of your paper. Also cite additional specific examples from the text. Use correct MLA style including in-text documentation and a works cited entry for Everything I Never Told You. (You can use Son of Citation machine if you need assistance formatting the work-cited entry.)
4. Your 250- word cover letter, describing your writing process, should be uploaded as a separate document. (See the instructions for the cover letter.)
5. Record your word count at the bottom of the essay and the cover letter
TOPICS
Choose ONE of the following topics based on Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You. Do not respond to the topic questions “point by point.” Rather, develop a unifying thesis that you can develop fully in the course of your essay. Also, avoid writing a summary in response to the topic; this essay requires textual analysis.
1. James and Marilyn were unlikely partners, especially during the era when they married. Why does Marilyn marry James (especially considering her ambitions), and why does James marry Marilyn?What issues does each spouse bring to the marriage? How do these issues act in opposition to each other? Why do James and Marilyn stay together after Lydia’s death and James’s infidelity?
2. The very first line of Everything I Never Told You states that Lydia,the protagonist, is dead. In the narrative, however, Lydia emerges through flashback.Write a character analysis of Lydia, analyzing how she develops as a result of her relationship with her parents and her position in the family constellation. Given all that has happened to her and her state of mind, is Lydia’s suicide accidental, or is it actually intentional? In the end, do you see Lydia’s death as inevitable?
3. James and Marilyn are destructive to their children. James is cruel and insensitive to Nath. He dotes on Lydia, but constantly pressures Lydia to be “popular.” Marilyn constantly pressures Lydia to succeed in science classes despite Lydia’s lack of talent and inclination. Choose one character: Marilyn or James. Why does that characterfail as a parent? How does (or does not) the novel portray this character as sympathetic – fallible, forgivable, and just human — despite failing as a parent?
4. The marriage of James Lee and Marilyn creates an intersection for exploring themes of race, gender, and inter-racial families. Celeste Ng examines these themes in the context of conservative, Midwestern America in the mid twentieth century. The novel’s action ranges from the 1950’s to the 1970’s, when expressions of racism and sexism were overt and even acceptable behavior. Choose one character from the novel and analyze how that character was affected, or even molded, by living in an oppressive social environment.
5. The novel portrays a family whose members are unable (or unwilling) to communicate with each other. What key moments, images or events have you found when a character should have spoken and did not? Aside from Lydia’s death, what are the results of “everything” they never told each other?
English 101 –
Topics for Essay 2 (based onThe Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert)
Required Length: 750 words (+ or – 50)
TOPICS
Choose ONE of the following topics based on Elizabeth’s Kolbert The Sixth Extinction. Do not respond to the topic questions “point by point.” Instead, develop a unifying thesis that you can develop fully in the course of your essay. (For information on writing your thesis, review Writing Analytically, 147-60 & 175-9.) Organize your points into an organic whole, and remember to use transitions that effectively connect your ideas. Avoid writing a summary in response to the topic; this essay requires textual analysis.
Take notes as you work on your paper, so you will write a better cover letter. Before submission, check your paper to correct any sentence, grammar, or spelling errors. Use a handbook to help you.
1. Choose one of the following subjects.
• Panamanian golden frog
• Great auk
• Ammonites
• Coral reefs
• Brown bat
• Sumatran rhino
• Neanderthal
What is the nature and condition of your subject? Make your analysis
thorough, specific, and focused on the subject’s unique situation in time and place.
In your discussion, assess the role of human activity and long-term consequences.
Link your discussion to Kolbert’s central arguments in The Sixth Extinction.
2. According to Kolbert, this year (2106) scientists will vote on whether to designate a new epoch — beginning anywhere from the Industrial Revolution to post-WW II –called the “Anthropocene,” in consequence of massive human interference that will affect our planet formillions of years. For this paper, review what human-driven changes Kolbert examines. Using evidence that she provides, analyze oneof these human-driven changes, for instance its causes and motivations; then, evaluate and respond to the strength of Kolbert’s conclusions.
3. As smart as humansare, we resist absorbing disruptive information.But, eventually, the crisis engendered by the disruption must force us toward recognition, i.e.a “paradigm shift.” This pattern of resistance (to the point of tragedy) followed by accepting a new reality is a recurrent pattern even in literature. The patterngreets great scientific discoveries. (Remember when the earth was flat?) Based on your reading of The Sixth Extinction,what paradigm shift has the science that studies extinction brought about? Is it urgent for humans to embrace this paradigm shift? Why or why not? Be specific.
4. Write an overall analysis of Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction that draws from the following:
• Author’s thesis, conclusions, solutions
• Methods of argument (induction, deduction) – give examples
• Research (consider end-notes and bibliography along with the text) – give examples
• Arrangement of the chapters and content
• Purpose (consider audience as part of purpose)
Organize your points into a thesis-driven, organized, and interesting paper.
Incorporate your own reflections.
5. Kolbert begins the book with an epigraph from E.O. Wilson that reads“…[I]n the instant of achieving self-understanding in the mind of man, life has doomed its most beautiful creation.” What qualities do humans possess that have caused and still cause extinctions — even of our close Neanderthal “relatives” — but mayfinally serve the cause of preservation? What are scientists and others doing to stem mass extinctions of non-human species? Are these efforts sufficient? Base your paper on the text of The Sixth Extinction.
Instructions
Do not consult any secondary source, such as the Internet. The Sixth Extinction is your primary source and must be cited in a work-cited page. Note: If you consult a secondary source, the paper will incur point deductions or fail.
Use MLA format. (See the video on MLA format in the Introductory Module.)
An original title related to the paper’s thesis is required.
The opening paragraph must include the book title (italicized) and the author’s full name. In subsequent references to the author, use only her last name.
Use at least four relevant quotations that support your analysis. Integrate quotations into the flow of your paper. Also cite additional specific examples from the text. Quotations and textual reference require in-text documentation according to MLA style requirements. (You can use Son of Citation Machine if you need assistance formatting the work-cited entry.)
Your 250-word cover letter, describing your writing process, should be uploaded as a separate document. (See the instructions for the cover letter.)
Record the paper’s word count at the bottom of the essay and also the cover letter