Assignment #1: To Take or Not to Take a Vaccine?
Brief Argument Paper of 1000-1250 words
English 102 in Spring 2022
Professor Billy Clem
For this first writing assignment in English 102, the student must write a formal paper of 1000 to 1250 words about taking or not taking a vaccine for potential inoculation against COVID-19.
This writing assignment presents many options for the student: the student may choose to write that vaccination should be required of everyone or that vaccination must be an individual choice and not required of everyone. The student may choose to write about why he, she, or they has or has not taken the vaccine. The student may propose another topic/idea to the instructor through Waubonsee e-mail for this assignment (the student must do so immediately for approval), and the idea/topic must be about vaccination and COVID-19 and requires instructor approval.
This paper demands not just opinion and/or personal experience; it also requires a bit of research to support your thesis. The student should find at least two sources to write her, his, or their brief-argument paper of 1000-1250 words about vaccination, and the student must cite these sources both in the paper’s text and in a Works Cited page using the MLA Documentation system appropriately and correctly.
All sources must be found in Waubonsee’s library databases, which is easily accessible from the Todd Library’s homepage. Students cannot use sources from Google without the instructor’s express approval of each source, and approval for such sources is highly unlikely (in other words, the student should use the library databases to gather credible sources).
Students should read and use information from WM Chapters 5, 6, 9, 13, and 16. Students must also read and use information about MLA from Chapter 12; students should pay particular attention to pgs. 266-285 for such information, including the sample MLA paper. Students may also use OWL: the Online Writing Lab of Purdue University (found on google) for information about current MLA.
After the student thinks through ideas and does some research, she, he, or they should draft a paper, revise the paper, revise it again, and, then, visit with a tutor in the tutoring center and/or visit the instructor’s office hours. The student must make sure that she, he, or they composes a paper that is formatted, structured, and organized well (do not write a five–paragraph essay!) and that is written with correct grammar and punctuation.
Again, the paper, a brief-argument, is formal, and it is worth 100 points, so the student must compose and complete her, his, or their excellent, good, or average writing assignment to earn a passing grade. The paper is due by or before noon on Friday, 11 February to the Canvas Module
for Assignment #1. The student should consult the schedule on the syllabus and/or in Canvas for any additional information and should feel free to reach out to me via e-mail and/or phone and/or office hours and/or a Zoom appointment to address questions and concerns about the assignment and its requirements.