Campus Essay-10%
Your task is to write a two to three-page, double-spaced essay that respectfully identifies, details, explains, and critiques any event that takes place on Campus. Mind you, the operative word in that last sentence is respectfully. In regards to events that you can attend, you’re more than welcome to attend any academic or student-related event on campus: Hispanic Heritage Month Event, Student Government Meeting, any club meeting, a student activities presenter (such as the hypnotist who is coming this week or the game of bingo that will be taking place one night), the talent show, intramural, EOP/CSTEP/TRIO event, or any other event that you can think of. If you’re not sure if the event will be acceptable, please feel free to contact me, and I will let you know my professional opinion. Here are some questions you may want to address: What is the event, who sponsored it, how was the event, what message was conveyed, what did you take away from the event, how could the event be better or more well attended, or …?
If for some reason you don’t feel comfortable attending an event on campus, then you’re more than welcome to do a getting to know you piece by interviewing any professor or staff member on campus. Your essay is of the same length as the other paper option. More importantly, you need to ask questions to the interviewee that you think other students and employees at DCC would find interesting. For example, you can ask about the person’s educational background, where he or she works, favorite part about his or her job, how did he or she get to this point professionally, what were the hardest obstacles to overcome to get this position and in this position. If you want help in creating your questions, please feel free to see or contact me.
Narrative Essay-7.5%
In class this week, you watched Trevor Noah: African American. After watching his comedy special, it becomes obvious that throughout the course of your life you have been in environments where persons were not of the same race or ethnicity as yourself. Therefore, your task is to write a three-page essay about a particular situation from your life where you’ve been impacted by race relations or where you’ve been made aware of racial tensions or differences that existed (and may still exist). You need to explain what happened, why you think it happened, how it affected your life, and what you learned (if anything), or what you would do differently if given the same opportunity. Answering these questions should help you to create a strong, developable, and provable thesis. Lastly, whether echoed throughout your essay or in your last paragraph, your current view on race relations should be explained.
Supports for completing your narrative essay: Examples of a A-, B, and C+ papers; video on how to write a narrative essay
Compare and Contrast Essay-7.5%
Your task is to write a three-page, double-spaced compare and contrast essay comparing and contrasting a medical/healthcare experience that you or a family member/loved one experienced with a medical/healthcare experience from Medical Apartheid. Your essay must include at least three parenthetical citations, along with a Works Cited page. Your parenthetical citations will contain direct quotes from Medical Apartheid. In comparing and contrasting your, or your loved one’s, experiences to Medical Apartheid, you must reveal what the medical/healthcare experience is, what were the similarities/differences between your provided experience and that of Medical Apartheid, how has the experience affected both the individuals and communities (can be a family attitude toward the healthcare industry), what are the implications of those attitudes for generational healthcare outcomes, and (most importantly) what new insight did you gain from comparing and contrasting the experiences from Medical Apartheid to your own? Specifically, what did you learn about race, class, justice, healthcare, identity, Covid, or any power-related theme you may want to explore? For example, did you learn that the parallels in between familial medical mistreatment/misdiagnosis reveal that healthcare facilities are not safe spaces for certain people or groups, or the intersectionality of being Black and a woman exposes Black women to medical oppression that isn’t experienced by most women or Black men, or inequitable gendered healthcare differences reveal sexism is more systemic or oppressive than racism, or …? These are just a few examples to help you critically compare and contrast your experiences to those in Medical Apartheid.
In revealing the similarities and differences, please remember to not just merely state what is the same and what is different, for doing so does not display your critical thinking abilities. Also, DO NOT write anything to the effect of, “Our lives are similar in some ways yet different in others.” Yes, almost any two things in life are similar in some ways yet different in others. However, what do these similarities and/or differences reveal that is new or interesting to the reader? Answering this last question will help you develop an effective thesis statement. Please feel free to see me if you want help.
Supports for completing your compare and contrast essay: How to write a compare and contrast essay; an example of an A compare and contrast essay; and a video on how to write a compare and contrast essay.
Analysis Essay-7.5%
During class this week, Harriet Washington’s, Medical Apartheid, was introduced, discussed, and reviewed . Now, you need to choose a quotation(s) or a point of emphasis from the text, and you need to analyze a quote(s) or point of emphasis in an attempt to prove something new or interesting to me (the reader) about the intersections of race and healthcare in a three-page essay (four including your works cited page). For example, does analyzing the intersections of race and healthcare reveal that Black/white discrepancies in infant mortality rates are a result of medical racism, poor prenatal care by Black mothers, or …? These examples should help you in developing an effective and developable thesis statement. Please feel free to contact me if you want help.
Supports for completing your analysis essay: Example of framing an analysis essay;an example of analyzing a quote in an analysis essay; and a video on how to write an analysis essay.
Argument Essay-7.5%
Your task is to write a FOUR-page argument essay that interrogates the intersections of Covid, healthcare, and race. Specifically, you must frame an argument that explains the racial discrepancies in Covid contraction and mortality rates. You must choose to address a theme raised in the Covid or healthcare readings in your argument, as we already discussed and practiced in class. The following question may help you frame your argument and create an effective thesis statement: What race-based themes have developed in healthcare and Covid? How can these themes be approached to frame an argument? How does Washington operationalize the relationship between the medical industry and Black folx? In other words, what does the author provide the history of medical racism as a vehicle for? What does Covid potentially reveal about race or US healthcare? How has Covid metonymized, or magnified, racism? These examples should help you in writing a substantive argument paper. Remember, you must have at least one parenthetical citation on every page. Finally, you should really think about historicizing your paper. Please feel free to contact me if you want help.
Supports for completing your argument essay: How to write an argument essay; an example of framing and historicizing an argument essay;
Research Paper-25%
Your task is to write a six to eight-page research paper (seven to nine pages including your Works Cited page) on the topic that we’ve previously agreed on. Moreover, I MUST approve your thesis statement or research question before you start your assignment.
Supports for research paper: Help with ideas for framing your research paper through a social justice or critical theory lens; an example of an A research paper; a video on how to write a research paper; and a video on how to properly cite a research paper in MLA format.
Final Exam-20%
The final exam will be provided at the end of the semester, but it will be based upon our class readings.
Journal/Discussion Question Responses-15%
Please make sure to post your weekly responses in the Assignment Dropbox in your ENG 101 Blackboard Course Shell. Your responses are to be from 100-350 words. PLEASE DO NOT EXCEED 350 WORDS. Your responses are an exercise in practicing pith. In other words, I’m asking you to say as much as possible by using as few words as possible. Doing so will help you produce substantive, incisive writing. Your responses are due weekly by Sunday at 11:59 pm.
