You are making an argument about gamification in education and relation to flight simulator in a 10 full-page minimum essay (to the bottom of the 10th page and not including the Works Cited page- sorry!), backing it up with 7 academic sources minimum.
The following checklist, as well as the grading rubric found on the final draft instructions of this essay, will help you stay on track and make sure you don’t skip any requirements.
Checklist:
Introduction: Gives the background of the topic but not the history of video games, not generalities or stories or metaphors. A good intro gives a decent paragraph or two explaining what your topic is, what the general conversation is about, what your issue about it is, and ends with a thesis statement- one or two sentences that state what your argument is. All of this should be descriptive enough that if your reader knows nothing about your topic, they feel they have a handle on it now. By the end of the introduction, the reader should have enough information to know the basics of your topic, what the point of your essay is going to be and what to expect you to be proving to them for the rest of the essay. Thesis: This should be one to two sentences that states your argument and are the last two sentence at the end of your introduction. It should be arguable (someone might disagree with it) and answer “so what?”(Why is this important for your audience to know?) Transitions: You should have transitions between your ideas. I’m mostly referring to paragraph to paragraph. But really the same goes sentence to sentence. Body- Order: It should have a clear order. Remember your Research Proposal? That should guide you to the order you are going to talk about your subtopics. It’s totally okay when you need to change that order or add or subtract something, but do it on purpose. It should always be clear why something comes next. You shouldn’t be jumping back and forth between ideas or getting off topic because of something that just occurred to you. By this draft, that should all be cleaned up and rearranged. Body- Tying to Thesis: Each idea has to tie back to your thesis. Keep reminding the reader what the point of all this is as you go. If it doesn’t tie to the thesis, then get rid of it for this essay. Save it for a different one you might write in the future. And remember to only bring up enough of a topic to make your point. You don’t need the whole history of gaming in order to make a point about arcades, for example.
Sources: Include your sources in a helpful way. Paraphrasing is better than quoting because it shows you understand what your sources are saying if you are able to explain them. Using quotes is okay if the way they used a phrase is unique in some way, but don’t pick quotes that say something everyone already knows or would say themselves and don’t use obnoxiously long quotes to fill space and expect the reader to figure out why they are there.
Use a quote/paraphrase sandwich: Introduce the source. Why is the author, journal, etc. important or why do they have authority on the subject and why did they talk about their topic? Then use your paraphrase or quote. Then explain how it helps prove or even goes against your argument (in order for you to then show why you still think you’re right even though you looked at other views).
But make sure your essay doesn’t end up being just introductions to sources all the way through. It should be your ideas that make up most of the essay with sources to just give you a little support.
Sources may MUST be from the SUU database, be 5 years old or less, be cited properly in-text and in your Works Cited, and include the urls in the Works Cited.
Storytelling: Your own experiences are fine, but only tell enough to make your point; don’t get caught up in unrelated details here either. You also should explain how your own experience ties back to your thesis as well.
Conclusion: It shouldn’t just repeat your intro but also doesn’t suddenly start a new argument. Now that you’ve clued your reader in to the problem, what do you want to leave them thinking about? Or what do you want them or someone else to do about it?
Formatting: Use full MLA formatting including the heading, font, spacing, etc. as well as properly in-text citations and Works Cited page.