These are all of the instructions from the instructor.
Essay One: Defining the problem.
The first part of this essay should be easy enough: Choose a definition of your problem. I say choose only insofar in that the definition problem should have specific, defendable criteria, and represent those reasons you see it as a problem. It is likely easier to follow an example, so I’ve provided a very basic one to get us started. Yours will likely have more nuance (and should). A simplified issue follows toward the end to help lay out the assignment for the essay.
Purpose: The essay’s design is 1) to identify a problem close to you (statewide) and comb through the reasons that it is a problem. In doing so you’ll both analyze the situation and cite specific evidence.
Step 1: Develop a definition for the problem.
When I say develop a definition for the problem, I don’t mean simply list a definition of the word “problem” (though that can help). I mean developing criteria that explain to your reader why your topic is a problem. Some parameters follow for the issue being considered a problem for this assignment.
1. It has a measurable negative impact on a group of people (while it can affect you, it should not only affect you).
2. It has what has proven to be a complicated solution (essentially, why hasn’t this been solved?)
3. It is an immediate (both geographically and temporally) issue that needs attention
Outside of those parameters, the issue can be as broad or narrow as you’d like. While I set the limit for the issue as a statewide issue (Arkansas), it can be much narrower (think city/institution). For this essay, sources should be used to provide examples of the negative impact and its most recent impacts. News sites and newspapers can offer good places to begin. It’s also a good place to begin to set things up on a timeline whether for the development of the problem or the Finding the most current information can usually help a backwards search for stage two, which will be focused on figuring out where the problem starts.
Step Two: Provide the scope of the problem
Some questions follow that can help get the scope of the piece off the ground. Specific parameters have been set for the assignment, but they’ll need to be narrowed to discuss them in an essay of this size. In order to get there, these questions should be answered.
• Whom does it affect?
What group of people is affected by this problem?
o How does it affect them? What is the negative impact
• What range geographically does the problem have?
• For how long has the problem existed?
Answering these questions sets the first stage – providing a common definition and understanding of the problem from which you and your readers should work.
The essay must:
- Be 1,000 words long
- Be formatted to MLA conventions
- Include two sources cited properly
- Include at least one quotation each from the above sources
- Include a works cited page
- Define using the parameters set a problem or issue you identify as well as the scope of that problem
The essay should:
- Be clearly written, with specifics cited from both the source material and personal experiences
- Use sources from within the last year
- Be about an issue close to you, limited to a statewide scope
- Keep in mind that the endgame to the semester is about solving the problem.
- Use sources that provide a community-based scope (again, with a statewide limit)
CriteriaIn writing the first essay for the class, I’ve essentially asked you to identify a problem. In doing so, you’ll have to define what a problem is. Because you’ll all be talking about different problems, it helps to have a few base criteria with which to work.There is a dictionary definition that’s a good base to work from: “a source of perplexity, distress, or vexation” (“Problem,” 2b) .I’ve offered several criteria for the problem in the essay overview:• The negative impact• A complicated solution• Its immediacyBy defining these three criteria, you put the problem into clarity. I use the ban of pit bulls fromSherwood as an example.• The pit bull ban limits both the types of dogs allowed in the town, but also curbs adoptions ofdogs classified as pit bull mixes, creating a glut of adoption issues in animal shelters• Because the ban is a law, the solution to that problem does become complicated. Either anotherlaw will have to be devised, or a compromise bill drawn up. More research into the solution willbe necessary.• Because I live in Sherwood, this affects me (I just adopted a dog, and several hopeful candidateswe could not even consider because of the ban), and is a loal issue for which I should be aable tofind a great deal of evidence.Using these as criteria for the problem can set a good base from which to work the essay. Of course youcan add other criteria to the problem. They may be subsets of the originals, or new ones altogether. Forinstance, legal challenges might be a specific subset of the solution (and likely would be).