Essay Assignment #4:
Writing to Provide Information and Insight
Proposal Due November 22nd
First Draft Due December 1st (minimum 3 pages):
In informative discourse, your purpose is to give information and share knowledge. In order to do that effectively, you need to be informed about your subject, so that you can speak with some authority. To facilitate this sense of informed-ness and authority, you will need to do some library research in order to find out what published authorities have to say about your topic. Therefore, this assignment requires that you supplement your thought with a minimum of two sources.
Your task is this: Using a minimum of two printed sources, explain to your readers how to handle a particular problem, offering both insight into the roots of the problem and specific suggestions for managing it.
You may be wondering about possible topics to write about. Here are some topics that students have written about successfully in the past: how to discipline a cat or a dog; how to keep a car in good working order; how to fight a parking ticket; how to make doctors take patients' input seriously; how to deal with in-laws; how to keep plants alive through the winter; how to decide between two political candidates; how to make constructive use of anger; how to heal sore throats with herbs; how to light night scenes in a movie; how to direct actors so that they appear spontaneous to an audience; how to use timing to get more laughs in a stand-up routine.
As you write, you'll want to think about who your audience is. Clearly, Dan Rybicky (a film faculty member here at Columbia College Chicago and an accomplished scriptwriter) addresses “new” scriptwriters who are looking to find a way to break into the film industry and become professional, working screenwriters. Who are you writing for? If you're writing about disciplining cats, it's not enough to imagine yourself writing for “people interested in cats.” Will you write for long-time or new cat owners? People who know a lot about cats or people who know nothing about cats? People who think cats are unintelligent or people who think cats are smart? People who believe that animals have feelings, or people who believe the opposite?
Your first step will be to write a proposal consisting of at least two full paragraphs. In one paragraph , explain what problem your essay will illuminate. Briefly discuss what insight you will offer about the problem and what solutions/approaches you suggest. Also include what kinds of information you would like to find—what information would be helpful to you in illustrating your points and providing the reader with something useful. In another paragraph , explain who would benefit from reading your paper, and whom it will interest. What do they know and not know about your topic? What might they believe or disbelieve? Write in as much detail as you can about your intended audience.
** Always, always back up your thoughts with some example, quote, or explanation.
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