Author: chris

Read the Friendster story from Inc. while considering the Chapter 4 discussion of the value chain. Summarize the article in the first part of your paper. As discussed in the article, Friendster was the first online social network. The article describes several issues that led to the utlimate disintegration of the company and the failure of the idea. From the article’s perspective, some value chain elements were omitted. In the remainder of the paper, discuss the value chain elements as they relate to the product offered by Friendster. As has already been insinuated, there are elements of the value chain which were not present in Friendster’s delivery of services. In your paper, list those value chain elements that were included and those which were not present. Idenifiy and explain each element. In other words, be specific about the elements and what part of the company’s offering aligns with the value chain. Do not just list the elements, but be clear with your descriptions.

The assignments shall consist of four (4) double-spaced, type-written pages. Any source citations contained in the paper shall use American Psychological Association (APA) style. Written assignments should be written in 12 point, Times New Roman font using 1” margins by the assigned date. On the header of each page, please include your name, course number and name, and assignment name. On the footer of each page, please include a page number. Acceptable file formats include Microsoft Word (.doc) or Word (.docx) format. Files submitted in an improper format can’t be opened, therefore they can’t be graded. It is the responsibility of the student to submit assignments in the proper file format.

Major Assignment: Group Project—, you will form into small groups (2-4 writers) in order to redesign and rewrite a website for a local business.To ensure fair grade assessment, each group member will also hand in an individual group evaluation memo. This memo will be designed to provide me with your individual evaluations and ratings of each team member’s contributions.

MA: Website Redesign Memo
As part of your professional work, you will most likely encounter workplace situations that will be collaborative; that is, they will require you to work with a team of professionals to produce the desired result. For this assignment, you will work as part of a collaborative group (2-4 writers) to redesign and rewrite a website for a small business to make the site more usable and clearer for visitors.

Imagine you work for one of the small local businesses listed below.

http://www.quadcinema.com/
http://www.ifccenter.com/
http://www.thecoffeebardc.com/
http://www.allentheatre.com/
http://www.boswell.indiebound.com/
http://www.greenlightbookstore.com/

Your team’s task is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the current website and improve on the site’s design and writing. Begin with the home page and move through the site, examining what works well about the site and what does not. Think about how well the site works for a visitor. Here are some questions to consider:

• What visual elements are there to draw you in?
• Are there any visuals that do not effectively connect with you as a visitor to the site?
• What links are there?
• Are those links clearly labeled?
• Do the links work?
• Are there topics you would expect to have links for that are not represented (such as a link to a menu at a restaurant or a set of directions for finding the business)?
• How easy is the home page to navigate?
• Is the writing clear and appropriate for the audience (the website’s visitors)?
• Does the writing meet the expectations of professional business writing we are working on this semester in ENGL 202D?

Project Components
The project will include four components:

Daily Assignment:
1. An informal proposal memo to your instructor (worked on in class and uploaded to ANGEL): Identify the company and its website and explain who will be in charge of each major section of the redesign.
Major Assignment:
2. a cover memo to your instructor explaining how you considered the rhetorical situation for each piece of the website. (hard copy and uploaded to ANGEL)
3. a memo (Extended) to your boss, explaining your recommendations for redesigning the website in outline form. (hard copy and uploaded to ANGEL)
4. an individual group evaluation memo from each member of the group (uploaded to ANGEL)
5. Presentation that explains your concepts and shows us original content side by side with revisions and the rational for each revision.

Remember, the group project/Oral presentation is worth 250 points, or 25% of your overall semester grade.

DA: Informal Proposal Memo
In class, your group will meet and discuss what you want to do for your project. Compose a group memo proposing your project to your instructor. Explain which website you will redesign and what you see as the major flaws that will need to be fixed in your revision.

Assign primary responsibility for each major webpage to one group member. Each major webpage should have several elements (text, visuals, links to other pages, etc.) for the group member to work on. If some webpages are simpler, one group member may take two while another member only addresses one. Try to divide labor fairly.

This memo is a daily assignment and informal, so it does not need to meet the same requirements as your formal Proposal assignment for the Analytical Report, but the same general proposal principles apply.

MA: Cover Memo to your instructor
Include a cover memo to me with the final memo to your boss. Like the cover memo for the LME Packet, you (as a group) will explain the details of the writing choices you made for this project. Address the following questions and any other significant aspects of writing your document.
• What was your specific rhetorical situation? Remind me about the details you laid out in your group proposal memo and include additional details that you developed along the way.
• How did the group alter the plan that was laid out in the initial informal proposal memo? (For instance, did people change tasks along the way, some group members taking on more responsibility than they first expected to?)
• Identify the three points of the rhetorical situation and explain how the group analyzed it for this document and address the needs of the situation?

Memo (Extended)
Each team (as a group) will write an extended memo to your boss, explaining what changes you suggest for the site. Include visuals, such as photos from the website and/or screenshots, where appropriate. You should set up your memo like an outline of the presentation.
Include:
• What elements of site are addressed
• Why the original elements are bad
• What the revisions look like
• Why the revisions matter
• How they will make the site better
• Who will be better served by the new content
• What is the overall benefit of these changes

*The bulk of your persuasion should come from the presentation.

Presentation
Elements of past assignments come into play here. You want to persuade your boss to make the changes you suggest. You want to present the bad news that some aspects of the site are not as effective as they could be. You want to have “you”-attitude in how you address a superior in your company. Your offerings should include specific revisions for website content, examples, and rationale for all changes. You are presenting the new elements of the site, why they are superior to the old elements and why the boss should accept them as logical for the company.
All of the elements from your Memo Outline should be explained by the members of your group during the presentation. Standard presentation etiquette should be observed.
• One person speaks at a time
• Other group members are silent when someone is speaking
• No electronic devices should be visable except for equipment used for presentation
• Speaker should be visable, speak clearly and audibly
• Speakers should know when it is their turn to speak
• Nervous speakers should prepare note cards to use durring the presentation
• Group should assign presentation tasks AHEAD of time- who will change slides or images on screen at what time. Also determine what your signal will be for moving to the next image.

Group Evaluation Memo
Each team member will write an individual memo that evaluates the team project. The memo should be an honest assessment of the individual’s and his or her teammates’ work on the group project. In the memo, you will assess the project as a whole, but you will focus on evaluating your performance and contributions to the team and the performance and contributions of your teammates. Upload the project evaluation memo to ANGEL on the day the projects are due or by the following class meeting.

Note: These evaluation memos are strictly confidential.

The project evaluation memo will contain three sections:
• Introduction
• Rating of Each Team Member’s Participation
• Conclusion

Introduction
In the introduction, set the context for the rest of the memo: introduce your team, your project, and the purpose of the memo.

Rating of Each Team Member’s Participation
Next, you will evaluate and then rate the contribution of each member, including yourself. In one or two paragraphs, analyzing the performance and contributions of each individual. Be sure to provide specific reasons to justify your evaluations. Identify the specific tasks assigned to the individual and assess their success in meeting those responsibilities—did the individual meet their deadlines, submit the quality work required, handle changes and challenges effectively, and so on? If the member took on additional tasks and made other contributions, note those as well.

After analyzing the performance of each member, assign a participant rating on a scale of 0-100. All members should receive a participant rating of 100 unless they failed to perform assigned tasks, performed assigned tasks inadequately, repeatedly failed to attend group meetings, missed deadlines, and/or did not contribute positively to the team project. This number reflects the percentage of effort the individual invested in the team project.

o If an individual’s effort was 90% of the other group members, the number you should give him or her is a 90.

o 100 should represent an average, active group member who contributed positively to the group.

o 0 should represent a member who was inactive in the group and who did not contribute at all towards the group project.

Conclusion
In the conclusion, provide a summary or closing statement about your assessment of the project and your contributions to it. Then relate the lessons learned to future investigations and reports that you may undertake in your career.

Grading Process
Your instructor will use the project evaluations to determine the final grade assigned to each team member for the group report project. Grades will be assigned through the following process:
1. The instructor will assign a letter grade to the group project.
2. Then, the instructor will use the group evaluation memos to assign individual grades to the different members. For each team member, the instructor will average the participant ratings from the project evaluation memos. The instructor will then multiply the points awarded for the project grade by the individual’s participant rating to determine that member’s individual project grade.

Consequently, those team members who receive poor evaluations/participant ratings will have their grade lowered by their average participant rating. For instance, if the team received 190 points for the project, and one team member receives an average participant rating of 90%, that student will receive 171 points (190 x 0.90 = 171 points).

Note: Your instructor reserves the right to disregard and / or modify unsubstantiated or overly critical evaluations.

Since the individual evaluation memos are integral in determining individual grades, anyone who does not complete an evaluation memo will have his or her final report grade lowered by 10% (20 points).
Grading Criteria
The following is a list of the criteria categories from which your group project will be evaluated:

• Rhetorical Situation (Audience, Purpose, and Context)
• Content / Support
• Organization / Structure/ Visual Design
• Style (Cohesion, Concision, Readability, and Usability)
• Basic Clarity, Grammar, and Mechanics
• Standard presentation etiqutte observed

1- Determine what is important in the industry. What activities MUST a company do well to succeed? What are the key success factors (identify at least three)? Usually, you can find what is important by reading the 10-K (management discusses this), or by reading industry analysts’ reports. Use your own personal experience (if you have some in respect to the industry). For example, in the retail industry, managing inventory is critical. A clothing company must have the right product available (on shelves or available on the website) at the right time.
Identify the key metrics that could be used to illustrate how each company has done on those key success factors detailed in point 2 above. Make sure you calculate any metrics over at least a 3-year period. For example, in order to understand whether a clothing company is managing inventory well, you could examine the inventory turnover ratio (or days in inventory) and the gross margin. The gross margin tells you whether the company is able to sell the product at a higher price relative to the cost of purchasing the item (obviously the higher this ratio the better). The inventory turnover ratio tells you whether the company is not able to sell its product as quickly as it had in the past.
For example, let’s assume that the gross margin stayed the same over the past three years. However, you notice that the inventory turnover ratio is decreasing. This likely means that your company has to hold onto its inventory longer to sell it. If I were the CEO, I would begin to wonder whether my buyers were doing a good job (this would indicate a potential problem to me). Alternatively, let’s assume that the gross margin has started to decline over the last three years but the inventory turnover ratio remained fairly stable. This might mean that the company has started to reduce the price of its product just to sell the product (so that the inventory doesn’t become dated). Looking at the days in inventory would help here too. As the CEO, I would again begin to wonder whether my buyers were missing important fashion trends. By digging into these key success factors, you can identify not only strengths or weaknesses of your company, but also whether there are opportunities to take advantage of competitors.

2- Write a brief assessment (approximately a paragraph) for each of the following industry forces based on your research.

Bargaining Power of Buyers
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Threat of New Entrants
Threat of Substitute Products
Interfirm Rivalry

3- EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS

General Environment

Economic
Sociocultural
Global
Technological
Political/legal
Demographics
Physical

– Please provide graphs and charts.

As a public health professional, it is likely that you will be asked to gather quantitative data to develop a community health profile. Community health profiles include data on information such as morbidity and mortality rate, population size, and other characteristics. This information is most accurately depicted though quantitative data in a community health profile.

In this Assignment, you look at the community public health problem you identified for your Scholar-Practitioner Project in the context of similar national and international data in developing a community health profile summary.

The Assignment (3–4 pages):

Submit by Day 7 a 3- to 4-page community health profile for your Scholar-Practitioner Project. Include a summary of the following:

Recent local, state, and regional quantitative sociodemographic, morbidity, and mortality data
Recent national or international quantitative sociodemographic, morbidity, and mortality data
Recent local, state, and regional quantitative data related to one factor contributing to the identified problem
The relevancy of these findings to the problem you identified

Support your Scholar-Practitioner Project Assignment with specific references to all resources used in its preparation following APA guidelines. You are to provide a reference list for all resources, including those in the Resources for this course

write a seminar research paper project proposal
i am majoring in international relationship, and for my major i am concentrate on region of Europea and my concentration is international political economy. and this semester is my last semester, and i am taking ANT 428, so i have to write senior capstone program in order to graduate.
this program need to write an research paper write any topic which connected my major concentration, International political economy focus on Europea with class ANT 428.
please make the proposal detail and interesting.
(ps: i will attach ANT 428’s syllabus and my capstone requirement, please read carefully then write proposal!)

Assignment Description
Students will develop a PowerPoint presentation through the use and interpretation of primary sources, the use of research from the textbook and the readings covering the Progressive Era and World War I. The PowerPoint should examine the major happenings of the two Eras and the impact that these Eras had on future events in the United States. Students may use online sources but the online sources should be scholarly and authoritative.
Assignment Requirements
Presentation must be historically accurate.
Students must demonstrate the ability to interpret and effectively cite primary sources. Students will use at least two primary sources –one relating to each period of history.
Presentation must cover major areas of impact of the Progressive Era and World War I.
All presentations must begin with a title slide.
All slides must have a title
Presentation must present information in a clear and organized manner.
All pictures, graphs, and information outside the textbook must be properly cited.
All presentations must have a citation slide that cites information according to Chicago Style format. The two primary sources and the textbook should be cited here. Any online sources should be cited here as well. Click here to use a citation machine that will assist you in citing your sources.
Avoid grammatical errors

Assignment Rubric
Objective/Criteria
Performance Indicators
Does not meet expectations
Achieves expectations
Exceeds expectations
Develop and Support
Visual aid has no clear purpose; lacks clarity of ideas, fails to use/cite sources correctly (if applicable.) Shows little or no evidence of relevance to the assignment, or show minimal relevance with major lapses.
Establishes a purpose, develops ideas, but may miss opportunities for further development; uses/cites sources (if applicable), but may have minor errors. Show evidence of relevance to the assignment but with minor lapses.
Established a clear and thoughtful purpose; includes accurate and relevant detail with good contrast; as well as correct use/citation of sources (if applicable.) All elements are relevant and comply with the assignment.
Express ideas
Uses a visual that is distracting or is unrelated to the presentation; inaccuracies evident; not legible; lacks clarity.
Uses a visual that clarifies some or most of the presentation; no major inaccuracies; legible and mostly clear.
Uses a visual that enhances the presentation; accurate, legible and very clear.
Effective Use of Grammar
Numerous grammatical errors, lack of thought in sentence structure, general lack of clarity in elaborating the key points of the period. Grammar is above average—some ERRORS such as a misspelled word, comma splice, and or poorly worded explanation of a key point. Grammar enhances visual, no noticeable errors that take away from the effectiveness of the presentation.
Effectively Uses and Interprets Primary Sources
Fails to use primary sources in the presentation.
Uses primary sources and attempts to interpret primary sources; interpretation lacks clarityClearly uses primary sources with thoughtful and meaningful interpretation of the primary sources under study.
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Rubric
Development and Support of Presentation
Development and Support of Presentation
Criteria Ratings Pts
DESCRIPTIONof criterion
Establishes a clear and thoughtful purpose; includes accurate and relevant detail with good contrast; as well as correct use/citation of sources (if APPLICABLE.) All elements are relevant and comply with the ASSIGNMENT.
45 pts
Establishes a purpose, develops ideas, but may miss opportunities for further development; uses/cites sources (if applicable), but may have minor errors. Shows evidence of relevance to the assignment but with minor lapses.
22.5 pts
45 pts
Expression of Ideas and Content
Uses a visual that ENHANCES the presentation; accurate, legible and very clear.
60 pts
Uses a visual that clarifies some or most of the presentation; no major inaccuracies; legible and mostly clear.
30 pts
60 pts
Effective Use of Grammar
Grammar enhances visual, no noticeable errors that take away from the effectiveness of the presentation.
22.5 pts
Grammar is above average—some ERRORS such as a misspelled word, comma splice, and or poorly worded explanation of a key point.
11.25 pts
22.5 pts
Effectively Uses and Interprets Primary Sources
Clearly uses primary sources with thoughtful and meaningful interpretation of the primary sources under STUDY.
22.5 pts
Uses primary sources and attempts to interpret primary sources; interpretation lacks clarity
11.25 pts
22.5 pts
Total Points: 150

my adopt mineral name Freibergite( total i need 6 or 7 page)
Paper Structure: This is a professional paper and should strongly resemble the papers you are reading in the peer-reviewed literature about your mineral and related minerals. Title Page showing the title of the report, student name and date submitted. The second page should repeat title and student name, and start of the body of the text. Abstract: The abstract, only a few sentences (200-400 words), should clearly summarize the main conclusions of the paper in a concise fashion. Introduction, which introduces the mineral and its mineral group and discusses its importance (e.g. historical, mineralogical, scientific, economic, etc.), providing background knowledge the reader needs to understand the later sections. Composition of the mineral or mineral group, and how was it determined. Structure of the Mineral. Here it will help to use clearly labeled diagrams. This section should clearly show the type of structure, the arrangement of the ions, the types of bonding, anisotropies in the structure, how any solid solution and/or exsolution occurs in the structure, any unique properties of the atomic arrangement, and be a reasonably complete description of the atomic structure of the mineral. Physical Properties of the mineral or mineral group. For each property or group of properties discussed be sure to relate them as much as possible to the mineral structure, as discussed in the prior section. Geologic Occurrence, what related minerals occur with it, tectonic significance. What geologic processes lead to its formation. Special characteristics. This includes any historical importance, or political significance. It should be clear from your paper what these are. Internet references may be used sparingly in this section if there is no way to avoid them. Where in the world: These minerals were chosen because they were named after someplace, usually a locality where the mineral is found. I want to see at least a few sentence description of the area, its geologic setting and how that mineral got to be in that region. Internet references are allowed in this section. Literature Survey. Part of the importance of the report is the compilation of a key set of references. General references such as textbooks are fine but it is necessary to include reference to work in the scientific literature (showing some familiarity with the important mineralogical journals), particularly relatively recent and well-cited studies. Use the internet to inform yourself and to find sources, but do not use it as a source. Keep in mind that there is no review of most internet data, thus you should never rely heavily on internet references in formal writing. An assessment of the references cited plays an important role in assigning a grade to the report. I want to know what the most highly cited references on each mineral are and what they say. References should be given in full and should be in the format used by the journal American Mineralogist. Hint: This journal has a web page that gives full format information. Prospects for further investigation. This should be a separate section, about one paragraph assessing the possibility of doing further work on this mineral here at UH. If the literature on the mineral is very old or non-existent for: – Composition: Electron microprobe (more than 10 years old) – Structure: Single crystal, powder or TEM methods (more than 30 years old) – Trace element content (laser icpms) Then we have the equipment here to conduct further investigations. However, if the mineral is so rare that few specimens exist, it may be difficult to procure a sample. Try to find an academic, museum, or commercial source for the mineral. If appears possible to find, then further measurements (ie undergraduate research project, anyone?) might be possible. Bibliography. References should be the ones actually cited in the text and only those. You may use internet references for two purposes only: 1) As a source for photos and diagrams about your mineral. 2) As a source for nongeologic information about your mineral such as uses, the origin of the name, historical or political significance, and so forth. Formatting will follow the guidelines of the journal American Mineralogist http://www.minsocam.org/msa/ammin/instructions.html with the exception that Figures and tables should be integrated into the text with captions. Submission: Papers will be submitted by blackboard. The filename must be LastName-MineralName. Acceptable formats are MS Word (.doc, docx) and pdf.
•

Lesson 4 Lab: Identify a Research Question
In this lab, you will begin the process of developing a research report by identifying some research questions. Think about topics that interest you and ask yourself questions about the relationships you observe or imagine. What questions come to mind? Do they lead to hypotheses that could be tested in some way?
Use the resources that you identified in the previous labs to locate and explore journal articles related to your chosen topic area.
Here is a review of the typical structure of journal articles:
• _The Abstract is a short, paragraph-long section that provides a brief overview of the article.
• _The Introduction introduces the research question and reviews relevant research and literature on the topic. This helps the reader understand the background of the research and the question being investigated.
• _The Method Section details how the research was conducted. Information about the participants, the procedures, the instruments, and the variables that were measured are all described here.
• _The Results Section summarizes the results of the study and details what the researchers found. Tables and figures are frequently included here.
• _The Discussion Section interprets the results and discusses the implications that may lead to further research in the area.
• _The References Section lists all articles and other sources cited within the article.

A good strategy is to scan the abstracts of articles to see how they might relate to your topic, and what research questions were investigated. This will help you decide whether the article is relevant to your topic or area of interest.
You should skim over each section before doing an in-depth reading of an article. Attempting a thorough read-through before you’ve skimmed the contents is not only difficult, but it may also be a waste of valuable time. Skimming is a great way to become familiar with the topic and the information included in the paper. In some cases, you may find that the article or resource is not well suited to your needs. Skimming can save time and allow you to move on to another more relevant article.
Assignment
In two to three double-spaced pages of text describe the area of interest you would like to focus on, and specify at least five related questions. Your research questions should derive from, or be related somehow, to research topics you’ve read about while researching the literature. Discuss the relevance of these questions and provide a rationale for why they might be candidates for further research. Include citations where Lab Paper Guidelines
5

appropriate. This is preliminary to actually beginning to write your research proposal, so you still have time to change your topic or the specific questions you want to include in your proposal. Try to be as specific as possible, though, so you can begin to narrow down your choices.
Tips for Success
1. Describe the area of interest you intend (at least, for now) to focus on.
2. State or describe research question 1.
a. What is this question relevant to, and why?
b. Why is this an appropriate question for further research? What is the rationale here?
c. Support the above with citations from the literature.
3. Repeat for research questions 2 through 5.

FORMAT:
➢ Approximately 3-5 pages in length, not including the data you collect or attach.
➢ A cover page on which you include your name, the course, the date, and the project title.
➢ An appendix consisting of your data
➢ A reference page listing any resources you’ve used

B. Language Variation and Sociolinguistics
1) Spend a week keeping a journal in which you record your own and others’ use of any of the following expressions:
a) “dude”, or if you want to work in Spanish, “güey”
b) rising intonation in statements (otherwise known as “uptalk” or “High Rising Intonation—HRT”)
c) “be like” or “be all” as introductions to quoted speech
You should document as much of the utterance as possible, the context or situation, the speaker (age, gender, any other relevant information) and the addressee(s) or audiences for each instance.

Analyze the patterns that you find (who uses these forms more than others? What communicative functions do they serve?), and compare them to patterns reported in any one academic article from the following:
* For “Dude,” see Scott Kiesling, in the syllabus and his online database at:
http://www.pitt.edu/~kiesling/dude/dude.html
* HRT has been studied by David Britain in New Zealand (Language Variation and Change, v4 n1 p77-104 1992); see also references at the end of the following Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal.
* For articles on quotative “like,” see references at the end of the following Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like and the article and references on the following page:
http://www.pbs.org/speak/words/sezwho/like/

2) Subtitling and the original. If you have sufficient competence in English and another language, study a film that has been subtitled (a foreign language film into English, or and English film into a foreign language). Transcribe 10 minutes of this film in the original language and then match up your transcription with the translations found in the subtitles. Compare and contrast the original and the subtitled translation for issues that may include (but are not limited to): a) what is said in the original but left out in the translation; b) how slang and idiomatic expressions are translated; c) if and how different accents or dialects are translated; d) how social and pragmatic meanings are translated, and how successfully this is done. You may also do this project on close-captioning using ASL, or English subtitling of ASL.

To successfully complete this assignment, you must
1) accurately summarize relevant parts of at least three (3) different chapters of Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez;
2) evaluate and analyze Rodriguez’s examples, reasoning, conclusions, and related evidence;
3) incorporate meaningful material from at least six (6) credible outside sources, at least three (3) of which must be scholarly sources/from scholarly library databases;
4) cite textual material using correct MLA documentation, including a Works Cited with at least seven (7) entries (Rodriguez himself, and your six outside sources);
5) SYNTHESIZE information from Rodriguez, your secondary sources, and your own views into a new argumentative whole. The key rhetorical demand of this assignment essay is to synthesize, meaning to make detailed connections, comparisons, and contrasts between Rodriguez’s ideas and examples and the six outside authors you find and discuss. In other words, take your chosen topic and place Rodriguez’s views on it in debate and dialogue with your own views and with those of Rodriguez’s interpreters and the related commentators you research;
6) incorporate Essay 1’s tasks of summary and evaluation, and build on Essay 2’s techniques of introducing opposing views and counter-arguing them. Thus, your paragraph development and structure should reflect your argumentative strategy: your major rhetorical task is to refer to several different, scholarly sources within (at least) one paragraph or (ideally) one long section (several pages) of the paper, avoiding separate-source-block-by-separate-source-block reference. Although multiple positions must be present in your paper and supported by credible sources, you must maintain a clear focus in support of your own position;
7) organize the essay so that intellectual connections are clear and coherent; and
8) express ideas in standard English and academic writing conventions, writing almost completely error-free prose in terms of spelling, punctuation, grammar, and academic formatting.

Choose one of the three topics listed below:
TOPIC A: Explain, analyze, and evaluate the American dream as reflected in the lives of the Rodriguez’s.

TOPIC B: Take note that Rodriguez’s school at the time demanded erasure of his native language. Through the family’s agreeing to speak no Spanish at home, the Rodriguez’s cultural identity was melted down into the mainstream American pot. Does Rodriguez blame his parents for this, or fault the school and society, or blame himself? Some activist Latinos or other radicals consider this change to be cultural genocide—do you? Yet along with blame, there are benefits, in Rodriguez’s view, to Americanization. Do the benefits outweigh the costs—or not? Why?

TOPIC C: Analyze and/or evaluate Rodriguez as an individual changed (for the better, or worse?) by his attainment of literacy and the higher education that resulted from his academic success. Explain how Rodriguez not only risks the strong disapproval of readers by admitting to rejecting his own parents, embarrassed at their Spanish accent, but he then also describes his futile attempts to forget his ethnic, lower-class background. A classic guilt-shame spiral ensues. Do you sympathize with Rodriguez, or not feel sorry for him at all? Why? Is Rodriguez crippled emotionally, mainly because he achieved power through knowledge? You can research the rest of his life, after publishing this book, and use it as evidence of empowerment—or not. Also very do-able is to explain how Rodriguez uses Richard Hoggart’s The Uses of Literacy and its concept of the “scholarship boy.”