English 101

English 101: Fall 2020

At-Home Writing Assignment: Essay #2

Due: November 15, 2020 before 11:59PM

Assignment: Having completed close readings and class discussions of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, research articles about the Black Lives Matter Movement, and chapters one and four from When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and ashabandele, choose one of the following prompts and write a five-to-six-page essay:

1. Is King’s use of Aristotle’s appeals effective? Choose two-three appeals and show how they help to support King’s argument, or how they weaken his argument.
2. Is King’s letter relevant, or not relevant today in regards to the Black Lives Matter Movement and its use of civil disobedience? Use an example from recent political protests that have included acts of civil disobedience as evidence to support you work.

Some Guidelines:

Introduction:

1. Introduce your topic—begin with a sentence that acts as a “hook” to draw your reader’s attention.
2. Introduce the author and title of work you will be writing about.
3. Provide a 2-3 sentence summary of these works as related to your essay topic.
4. Offer an explicit and concise thesis statement (last sentence of your introductory paragraph).
5. Do not include quotes in your introductory paragraph.

Body:

1. Everything in your body paragraphs must help develop and support your thesis statement; therefore,

always begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence that will lead to the support and development of             your thesis.  Remember that your topic sentence must be related to or reflect your thesis statement.

2,   Never begin a body paragraph with a quote.

3. Include 1-2 short quotes in each body paragraph.  All quotes must include: 1) a context, 2) a signal phrase,             3) a meaningful quote, 4) source, and 5) an analysis. Keep in mind your Quote Integration Journals.

Conclusion:

1. Must be a fully developed paragraph.
2. Reinforce your essay’s main ideas.
3. Offer a reflection (for example, something that you learned from the reading).
4. Do not introduce new information.

Requirements:

1. A minimum of five pages of writing (this does not include your work cited page).
2. Include a minimum of one quote in each body paragraph.  This is a must.  Without evidence to support             your analysis, your work is simply an opinion.
3. MLA format/conventions for quotation usage (exactly as you have been doing for your journals).
4. Double space entire essay (skip every other line)
5. Create a title for your essay (do not use “Letter from Birmingham Jail”).
6. Highlight in yellow your thesis statement and topic sentences.
7. Attach to your essay: The annotated first two pages of Dr. King’s letter and chapter 1 and 4 from When       

             They Call You a Terrorist. 

Aristotle’s Appeals

Logos: An appeal to reason

Pathos: An appeal to emotion (note: it can be ANY emotion).

Kairos: A call to action.

Ethos: An appeal to the audience’s ethics ( moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior), and

Establishment of the writer’s trustworthiness as a writer by demonstrating her or his command of the subject (knows all sides—arguments and counterarguments) and credibility (provides ample logical appeals—and adds emotional appeals when appropriate), and appeals to the audience’s ethics ( moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior).

Wu 7

Work Cited

Khan-Cullors, Patrisse and ashabandele. When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir. 

            St. Martin’s Press: New York.  2017.

King, Martin Luther.  “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

https://swap.stanford.edu/20141218230016/http://mlk-

kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/popular_requests/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf.   Accessed 5

October 2020.