Tuesday, October 12th

Greetings: Below is copy of Out of Class Essay #2 which was assigned on Monday, the 11th.

Also, there has been discussion in class about the use of numbers in essay writing. Here are the "rules".....

SPELL OUT:
1. Numbers that take only one or two words (nine....twnety-seven....two billion)
2. Numbers that begin a sentence (One hundred and four years ago the ship sank.)
3. Numbers that form a compound word (a two-year-old baby)
4. Fractions (one-half)
5. Times using o'clock, half past and quarter (two o'clock....half past four)

USE NUMERAL FOR:
1. Numbers that require three or more words (1,889....162)
2. Dates, page references, room numbers, statistics, addresses, percentages, and dollars and cents (May 6, 1974....7,500 residents...99.44%....page 2....221B Baker Street....$5.98
3. A list or series of numbers
4. Exact times (2:00 p.m......my 8:30 class)
5. Numbers in papers on scientific or technical subjects

As far as using apostrophes with years...you don't. With a few exceptions, just use apostrophes for contractions and possessives. (the 1980s....six CDx....three dogs....Greek gods....five families....)




English 20, Fall 2010---Sections 7, 15 & 17---C. Fraga

Date assigned: Monday, October 11
Rough draft (optional): due no later than Monday October 25 (sec. 15 & 17) OR Wednesday October 27 (sec. 7)
Final draft due: Monday, November 8
(you have three weeks to research and write this essay)
Details:
1. MLA format
2. At least 3 outside sources on your Works Cited page
3. Please, no Wikipedia

OUT OF CLASS ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #2
Among many things, the series Breaking Bad focuses on the family entity and what happens when something quite extraordinary occurs—how do members of the family cope, adjust, and/or “deal” with the event/situation? (In the case of this series, obviously it is Walter’s cancer that is the ‘event’).

I am not referring to the everyday bumps in the road that occur for all families. Instead, I am asking you to consider the family unit when faced with an especially challenging situation. These situations could include but are not limited to:
• death
• birth
• infidelity
• serious injury
• dementia
• serious illness
• divorce
• unemployment
• new employment
• moving to a new home/state/area/country
• the return of a war veteran
• moving BACK home after initially moving OUT
• alcoholism
• drug abuse

Select ONE situation that you are most interested in exploring. You will conduct research (and possibly personal interviews, if possible) in order to write an essay that offers the reader background on the topic and makes an assertion about what elements impact a family in the most challenging of ways and supports it logically and interestingly.

Your thesis might read something like this:

When a family member develops dementia, the challenges are often devastating, yet the disease definitely impacts family members more than the dementia patient.

Or…

When a couple divorces, it most certainly impacts the children still living at home; however, it is the older children who have already moved away that are most affected by the split.