Final exam based on Rereading America”. You can choose the topic from the document that i upload.
Order Description
This is actually 3 documents.
6 pages for essay and rest of the pages for responses. Writer should read all the descriptions and the documents i upload.
All the details for the order is on the documents.
Based on textbook: Columbo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4576-0671-7.
Guidelines for the final exam
The final exam is opportunities for you to compose short essay responses to specific questions about the works we cover in this course.
Specifically, you will demonstrate your ability to:
•Write about professional writing, in response to a prompt
•Analyze another author’s work and identify its argument
•Organize your thoughts well and build an argument of your own
Guidelines for reading responses
For most of the sections of Rereading America, you will complete summaries of selections and responses to those selections.
?Select articles of greater than three pages.
?Write a summary of each author’s central, controlling idea (thesis) and major points used to support that idea.
?State the selection’s central, controlling idea in the first sentence of your summary. A summary is NOT a retelling of the action or the story. Dig deeply into the meaning of each selection.
?Write responses to the ideas in the articles in which you express your own argument in response to those of each author. A response is NOT a statement of whether you like or agree with the selection. It is NOT a statement of how you felt as you read the selection. Ideally, your response does not contain the word “I” anywhere in it.
?Write authoritatively and objectively throughout your summary and response.
3. Type all essays in 12-point size. Use only a standard, easily-read font, similar to Verdana, Arial, or Times New Roman, and use only left-justified text. Use one-inch margins on all sides.
The essay must be more than 1600, under 1800 words.
READ AND FOLLOW ALL OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS
• Block off a period of two hours, free from distractions and interruptions, to work on the final exam. You should be able to complete the exam well within two hours because I designed it for that amount of time. You may take longer if you wish.
• Read the entire exam and form a strategy for completing it.
• There are two parts to this exam:
o Part A consists of seven prompts from which you must choose and respond to any two.
o Part B consists of one prompt to which everyone must write a response.
• Your choices in Part A affect how you can respond to the prompt in Part B. Plan and use your time well.
• You may use your book, your own notes, and any form of dictionary and thesaurus you choose.
• You MUST identify which prompts you use so I can make sense of your answer.
• IGNORE whatever you think my own view might be. You won’t get far pandering to my position on an issue.
• In your responses, write strong, convincing arguments whether you agree or disagree.
• When you are finished, save your file using ONLY the .doc or .docx file format. If you use any other format, I may not be able to open the file or read it. If I cannot read it, I cannot grade it.
• Name the file using this protocol: <Lastname Final.doc (or .docx)>. If you use another filename, the file may get lost.
• POST THE COMPLETED EXAM FILE TO ME VIA WEBCT BY 10:00 PM, THURSDAY, JULY 23. Anything submitted after this time will not be considered. I will not be returning the finals, as I will not be making notations on them.
PART A—50 points for each prompt (100 points total)
Select and respond to any two of these seven prompts.
In your responses, indicate which prompts you are using.
Prompt
A-1
• Buchanan, “Deconstructing America”
o Identify and argue in favor of Buchanan’s thesis. Provide a logical argument.
Prompt
A-2
• Harris and Carbado, “Loot or Find: Fact or Frame?”
o Summarize Harris and Carbado’s argument, including major points.
o Write a strong argument in which you disagree with their conclusion.
Prompt A-3
Imagine you are sitting in a room with these three authors:
• Anyon (Chapter 2, From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work)
• Mantios (Chapter 3, “Class in America: Myths and Realities”)
• Devor (Chapter 4, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings”)
Based on your reading of their articles, write a response that explains:
• What all three would agree on
• What all three would disagree on
• Which author you would most likely agree with more than the other two.
Prompt A-5
• Tocqueville, “How the Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes”
o Summarize his core argument, including its major points.
o Comment on how his observations of the early years of the United States may have formed his opinions.
o Explain how his argument does or does not apply to American society today. Be persuasive in your argument.
Prompt A-6
• Gerstel and Sarkisian, “The Color of Family Ties”
o Summarize their argument, showing why it is sound.
o Write a rebuttal to this argument.
Prompt A-7 Imagine Stephanie Coontz and Pat Buchanan in a discussion about the roles and impacts of the family in today’s society.
• What would be each one’s central argument?
• On what would they most agree?
• On what would they most disagree?
PART B—50 points. Everyone must respond to this prompt.
Prompt B
Read all the bullets of this prompt closely and fully so you can follow all the instructions.
• From the selections listed on the next page, choose any TWO selections from the list EXCEPT ones you wrote about in Part A.
• Write a unified essay in which you:
1. Explain each selection’s thesis or central, controlling idea.
2. Evaluate each author’s presentation of the thesis or central idea, in terms of its clarity, its validity, and the degree and quality of the supporting evidence provided in the article.
3. State your opinion of each thesis or controlling idea.
Chapter 1—Harmony at Home: The Myth of the Model Family
• Coontz, “What We Really Miss About the 1950s”
• Gerstel and Sarkisian, “The Color of Family Ties”
• Williams, “Quality Time, Redefined”
Chapter 2—Learning Power: The Myth of Education and Empowerment
• Anyon, “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”
• Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”
• Kozol, “Still Separate, Still Unequal”
Chapter 3—Money and Success: The Myth of Individual Opportunity
• Mantios, “Class in America—2006””
• Kendall, “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption”
• Murray “The New American Divide”
Chapter 4— True Women and Real Men: Myths of Gender
• Tocqueville, “How the Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes”
• Devor, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender”
• Kilbourne, “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”
• Rosin, “The End of Men”
Chapter 5— Created Equal: The Myth of the Melting Pot
• Parrillo, “Causes of Prejudice”
• Harris and Carbado, “Loot or Find: Fact or Frame?”
• Fredrickson, “Models of American Ethnic Relations” A Historical Perspective”
• Buchanan, “Deconstructing America”
Chapter 6—Land of Liberty! American Myths of Freedom
• Wolf, “Freedom is Intended as a Challenge”
• Applebaum, “The Decline of American Press Freedom”
• Alexander, “The New Jim Crow”
Lesson 6.1—Writing strategies for essay exams
EXAMS!!! Ugh!
Actually, they’re not all that bad when you know and use a few “tricks.”
Trick #1
Always read the entire exam before you start working.
You need to know what is in the exam so you can plan your responses better. Ever discover a question asking for what you’ve already put in your answer to earlier question? Now, wouldn’t it have been nice if you had known this second question was coming up?
Always read all the questions so you know what’s happening in the exam. If you have an exam that involves reading excerpts or articles, read the questions or writing prompts before you read the excerpts or articles. You want to know what to look for when you do read them, and only by knowing what’s in the question or writing prompt can you use your time more efficiently.
Trick #2
Read the instructions carefully and thoroughly. FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS!!!
Teachers write instruction with specific intentions. I am always amazed how many students simply to not do what they’re asked to do. Hey, a final exam is not a time to be creative, it’s a time to demonstrate your knowledge.
Recently, one of my students overlooked the part of the instructions that directed everyone to write one answer for each of the three parts on the exam. She wrote on only two of the three parts. Another student wrote on only one. What could I do? They didn’t follow the directions, thus they didn’t provide me enough to give them passing grades.
Trick #3
Read each question or writing prompt carefully and thoroughly so you know what you have to do to be successful with this exam.
Just as many students don’t follow the instructions, many students do not answer the questions they’re asked. For example, in several of my classes I’ve used two-part questions. Each time, some students answer the first part but not the second one. Just as with the instructions, you need to read each question.
Trick #4
Look for and highlight the direction words in the instructions and the questions or writing prompts.
We teachers use specific words because we are looking for particular things in your demonstration of your learning.
We use “direction words” to tell you exactly what we want you to do. When you highlight the direction words, you can use them to stay on track in your answers.
Take a few moments and jot down your understandings of these direction words:
Word
What it tells us to do
analyze
cite
compare
contrast
define
describe
evaluate
explain
identify
illustrate
paraphrase
react
summarize
Were you able to come up with useful definitions for all of them? Which ones are you confident you can follow? Which one are you not confident you can follow?
Be sure you know exactly what you are being asked to do in each question and writing prompt. Then do what you are asked to do.
Trick #5
Plan your time and stick to your plan
Exams are usually timed. By now, you are well aware that the writing process has four major phases: pre-writing, writing, revising, and editing and proofing. This same process applies to your essay exams.
Pre-writing means you gather your thoughts and write some sort of outline (line, map, whatever) to keep you on track. Use the directions words in your outline to be certain you actually follow them.
Writing means just that, writing your response. When writing your essays, you know there is more time spent revising than writing, so you must include some time for revising your answers on an essay exam. However, we teachers do not expect the same level of polish on a timed exam as we do with an essay—we know you didn’t have the time and that you were writing under pressure.
Thus, in an exam, you will probably spend more time writing that revising. But DO revise. Read through your responses to be sure you’ve said what you wanted to say and what you needed to say (per the direction words).
Finally, proofread your responses. Yes, you need to do this. All of us think faster than we write, so we rarely write exactly what we were thinking. A teacher cannot read your mind, only the words on the exam. Take some time to be sure the words on the exam are the ones you want the teacher to read.
Of the four phases of the writing process, spend about 10% of your time in the pre-writing phase (which includes working with the instructions and direction words). Spend between 50% and 60% of the allotted time writing your responses. Spend most of the remaining time revising, leaving a few minutes to proofread everything.
Use the allotted time. Exams are written to be completed well within the allotted time. Many students rush through as quickly as they can. In my experience, these quick writers do not do as well as the one who take more or all of the allotted time. You have the time to use, why not use all of it?
Do you have any tricks of your own that you’ve had success with? Post them to Discussion 6A.
