A long-form journalism piece/lyric essay
A long-form journalism piece/lyric essay
For this assignment you will write a long-form journalism piece/lyric essay about your research. Use your research and knowledge about the subject to create an article intended for a wider public. Translate your project into an informative article like the selections in The Carolina Rhetoric. Here’s some examples to get you started:
Diane Goldstein’s “I’m a Cop and I Support Black Lives Matter: How Can We Heal These Wounds.” Notice how Goldstein combines her experience of 20 years in law enforcement with statistics, anecdotes, and other evidence to create a compelling narrative about why/how we can heal our country’s wounds.
A long-form journalism piece/lyric essay
Joseph Carter’s “The Universe Doesn’t Care About You or Your Purpose.” – Carter uses the experience of restoring his grandfather’s care to muse about the nature of the world. While this is technically a commentary, it uses beautiful language to describe physics and high levels of philosophy.
Above all with your topic: avoid sensationalism. Your job is to relay the information in a measured way that illuminates your topic. You’re trying to have a discussion—not a shouting match. This isn’t commentary, but it is a well-researched and thoughtful analysis presented for a wider audience. Treat your subject with respect. As such:
1) Don’t take your subject or it’s message as self-evident. Do not oversimplify
2) Avoid leading questions. You should not be adding to the echo chamber of your issue but instead standing on the shoulders of giants.
3) The longform journalism/lyric essay must be at least 2500 words long
4) Use at least 8 sources (directly) from your research.
5) Articulate a thesis as an answer to your research question, and support it with a reasonable argument and authoritative evidence.
6) Develop the argument with well-written prose, effective organization, accurate grammar & usage.
7) Provide an adequate background and context for the argument you wish to make, and explain why your research question and thesis are important for this background and context.
8) Properly utilizing researched evidence by effectively integrating each source using both prose signposts and MLA citations.
9) Reasonably account for opposition to your argument or differences surrounding it. Do not simply reject your “opponents” but account for their critiques within the development of your own argument.
10) Argue the significance of your argument: Where does it get us? How does it address the problems you outlined? What should we do now? Where can changes be made? Your argument should have a point, a “Who cares?”
that grounds it in your research and experience.
11) Include a works cited with correct MLA citations for each of your 8 sources (do not include annotations, only citations).
A long-form journalism piece/lyric essay
