Using our class discussions as a springboard, you will now return to the readings from this class to carefully consider a question and to craft an essay based one one of the essay topics below. This essay will provide a creative outlet to find your own voice and to express critical thinking skills built around the varied works we've been reading in class. You will also practice the art of argumentation by precisely stating a stance and defending it with evidence in a clear, easy-to-follow manner.

Timeline

• Wed 9/11/2024: Writing workshop in Bomberger (bring this assignment and some quotes to work with)
• Thu 9/12/2024: Initial list of quotes due
• Wed 9/18/2024: First draft due
• Tue 9/24/2024, Thu 9/26/2024: Meetings with Prof. Tralie about first draft
• Wed 10/2/2024: Final draft due

Audience

Ursinus College's academic/intellectual community, including your fellow students, instructors, mentors, etc. You'll want to strike a balance between being thought provoking and exacting, but also accessible to people outside of our class but in our community who may not have read the works you're citing.

Format

• Approximately 1200-1500 words. You may format your paper any way you want with whatever spacing you want (I personally use Overleaf to craft PDF documents in LaTeX, though most people probably prefer Microsoft Word). But regardless, in addition to the text, you should include
  • Your name
  • The title of the paper (you do not need a title page)
  • The date

Writing Goals

• Taking a stance with a clear thesis statement and well-organized, easy-to-follow text
• Lively, distinctive, original voice
• Appropriate and frequent references to text, including passages we haven't explicitly discussed in class
• Thoughtful, provocative, creative, nuanced interpretations of your textual references

About Starting Your Paper (by Leslie New)

1. Reread the text/s you are going to be examining. Read carefully, and take fresh notes that relate to your topic.
2. Examine your notes. Think about what the evidence seems to be telling you. Take further notes on any thoughts you have about the evidence.
3. Using the evidence as your guide, compose a basic thesis statement.
4. Organize your notes into an outline. See above for suggestions.
5. Examine your outline. Think about whether you have put the evidence in the order that makes the most sense.
6. Based on your outline, transform your basic thesis statement into a full thesis statement. Make sure the organization of your thesis corresponds to the order of your paper.
7. Now you can start to write.

Other Tips

• Analysis and interpretation should be two of your main goals here. You should strive to translate what a particular author is saying into your own words in a clear manner and in a way that supports your message. Explore the logical implications of the authors' statements, as well as any ambiguity, hidden assumptions, unexpected consequences, or connections to other texts.
• You may need to re-read some of the sources you're using many times. This is completely normal! Just make sure you leave yourself time to do it properly
• Be sure to introduce quotations in a way that flows. For instance, "according to Adichie, "[quotation]"" (page #), as opposed to just plopping a sentence in the middle of text without a clear attribution. You may also want to orient that quote in the context of the larger work, such as "after Douglass escaped slavery and got to know other active abolitionists, he honed is perspective on Christianity in America, saying ["quotation"]"

Evaluation

We'll be splitting the paper grade into several categories, where you'll be graded on a 10 point scale on each category. Point assignments can be interpreted as follows

9-10	Exemplary; exceeds the goal; a model example for future students
8	Very good; met the goal fully
7	Met the goal minimally
6	Just barely acceptable, but fell short of the mark and needs improvement
0-5	Unsatisfactory; does not meet goal

Below are the categories to which points are assigned

Category	Goal
Main Idea / Thesis Statement	The main idea is clear, concise, debatable, specific, and interesting, and is expressed via a precise thesis statement.
Creativity / Making It Your Own	Takes a unique, creative approach with a lively, original voice
Textual references	Carefully chosen, frequent, detailed, skillfully integrated references to the texts. Selects several passages that were not discussed in class.
Interpretation of Texts	Student shows interpretations of the text that are creative, nuanced, thought provoking, and/or just plain provocative.
Organization	Each paragraph has clear topic sentences, the document flows from idea to idea and paragraph to paragraph, and the reader avoids "getting lost"
Sentence Level	Sentences should be clear, with varied diction, and edited/polished without grammar and spelling mistakes.
Revisions	There is evidence that the student made an earnest, good faith attempt to address comments from me in their final revision.

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Essay Topics (Choose One!)

Below are some essay topics from which you can choose. If there's something else that stirred you up in class pertaining to our first few texts that's not in this list, let me know and we can discuss!

Social Class, Learning, And Leading

Plato's "Allegory of A Cave" discusses the path of an enlightened "philosopher king." But some readers may be immediately struck by the elitism and exclusivity of this type of person. Similarly, in Dear Ijeawele, Or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, Adichie emphasizes the importance of independent reading to transcend the limitations of schooling, though we get a sense that she is in a privileged social class that may have time, knowledge, and access to make this maximally enriching for her children (not to mention the means to pay for the best education possible). In this essay, you will explore the interplay between social class, education, and, ultimately, leadership, by examining the following question:

To what extent does social class enhance or inhibit the ability to become and enlightened learner and leader?

Below is a non-exhaustive list of ideas to think about (you should come up with your own also):

• Are those in privileged positions and at elite universities with top tier philosophical development in a best position to lead enlightened society?
• Is it easier to "get out of the cave" with the type of privilege and "head start" that comes from being in a higher social stratum? Or does that privilege make it even harder for people to see important truths?

There is no right answer to these questions, and they could be argued either way! The important thing is that you back them up and clearly indicate what our texts have to say about them. Ideas you draw from the texts can be things that you agree with, but they can also be areas where you think the authors had a blind spot.

Authentic Woman Empowerment

Two of the three texts we've read closely so far touch on themes of woman empowerment. In Dear Ijeawele, Or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, Adichie discusses a life beyond traditional gender roles and subservience in marriage, and she provides advice on how to raise a girl to one day herself be empowered. In Lysistrata, women craft their femininity and sexuality into a tool to influence politics at the highest level. Using these texts as a guide, dig into the following question:

What does authentic women empowerment look like, and what tools can women use to achieve it?

When crafting a thesis, carefully enumerate the specific aspects of woman empowerment you believe in. For example, is it full equality with men in all domains (including equal representation in government, equal pay at work, etc)? Is career success a useful milestone when quantifying women empowerment? (Adichie touches on this in several places). Should women be dominant in politics? Behind the scenes influencers? Something else?

Furthermore, what tools should women use to achieve these ends? Given your thesis, use the texts to provide examples of actions and attitudes that you believe in, and those that you don't. For example, below is a non-exhaustive list of some ideas you can draw from the texts (you should definitely go beyond this and come up with your own!):

• Are we to take Lysistrata's example as a serious example of a tool for women empowerment? If not, are there still any ideas you can take from this play that support your thesis?
• To what extent does femininity play a role in women empowerment? (Both texts touch on this)
• How important is language (Adichie's 6th suggestion) in this endeavor? Is this a primary concern or a distraction?

NOTE: It may also be possible to bring in Plato's "Allegory of A Cave" here since only male pronouns are used in that text when discussing leadership positions, but the most important thing is that you craft a focused argument.

Imagination And Abstraction for Presenting Complex Ideas

Imagination and abstraction can help artists, writers, and performers to break down complex ideas about the human condition in a more digestible way, but it is also possible to "lose the script." For instance, we had some provocative discussions in class about the usefulness of the allegory in Plato's "Allegory of A Cave." Some students thought this format allowed to perceive the discomfort of learning in a more visceral way, especially with the "blinding light." On the other hand, some students felt it wasn't direct enough and that the key points could have been conveyed more succinctly.

Similarly, in Aristophanes's satirical play Lysistrata, some students enjoyed the humorous aspects and the ability for dialogue to clarify power relationships and historical points, while other students thought the premise was so absurd and unrealistic that they couldn't suspend their disbelief long enough to stay engaged.

Finally, in the "The Smokestack", Katie Merz distills the specific trauma of the pandemic, as well as more general aspects of the Ursinus spirit, into a work of abstract art. Some students felt were clearly able to perceive these ideas, while others felt it was jumbled up and not specific enough to Ursinus.

When is it more effective to convey ideas indirectly and imaginatively, rather than succinctly and to the point?

By your standards, are the conditions right in some of the texts we've examined so far? Why or why not? Pick at least two examples among Plato's allegory, Aristophanes's satire, or Merz's abstract art. To support your ideas, be sure to draw on specific passages (or stylistic aspects, glyphs, etc in the case of the smokestack) from these texts.