Any topic (writer’s choice)
ill Leovys Ghettoside, addresses a breadth of issues related to race, crime, and the criminal justice system. You will use this as the primary text for Essay 3. There are two prompts for you to choose from for this essay. Whichever prompt you decide to write, here are the goals and guidelines:
Goals:
Create a strongly worded thesis statement that guides the essay and responds directly to the essay prompt
Provide critical analysis of the primary text you are writing about
Provide textual evidence and specific examples from the primary text (Ghettoside)
Include 2-3 secondary sources that you find on your own for support (must be credible sources)
Provide strong reasoning to support the main claim of the essay
Guidelines:
5-6 pages
MLA format
Incorporation 2-3 secondary sources
Creative and relevant title
Works Cited page
Prompt 1 Defend or Refute
For this essay prompt, you will either write an argument in favor of the argument presented in Ghettoside (defend the argument) or refute the argument being made. Whether you choose to defend or refute the argument presented in the text, your own argument needs to be made with reasoning that is grounded in logic and supported by textual evidence. Do not become biased or emotional in your reasoning.
If you choose to defend the argument, you should focus on analyzing and explaining the strong points made in the argument/point made in the book. You should also incorporate outside sources that support both the argument and your defense of it.
If you choose to refute the argument, you will focus on fallacies and gaps in logic that are present within the argument. Your outside sources should provide evidence that counters the argument being made in the text.
Tips for responding to this prompt:
The thesis should clearly either make a claim that supports Leovy’s argument or make a claim that refutes Leovy’s argument.
Regardless of which stance you take, you should provide one full body paragraph that explains the premise of Leovy’s argument. Then, you will develop either your supporting argument or refutation of Leovy’s.
Prompt 2 Provide a Solution
For this essay prompt, propose a solution to the issues discussed in Ghettoside. Using your research and information presented in the primary text, propose a solution that may work to resolve these issues. You do not necessarily need to come up with a brand new solution. Rather, you can use a solution that is already implemented or that has been proposed, but you will need to explain why that solution is the right course of action to take. When you explore this option, you can look for solutions that have been proposed by cities, nations, organizations, or specific police departments, for example. You may also examine any solution that is proposed within Ghettoside, if you identify one. Consider if that is a viable solution. If it is, you can use that as a starting point, but you will need to explain why it is the appropriate solution using evidence from the text as well as your secondary sources.
Tips for responding to this prompt:
Your thesis should make a specific claim about the solution you propose.
This means that the background and context you provide in the introduction paragraph needs to establish the issue discussed in Ghettoside.
Provide a full body paragraph in which you identify the issue as it is defined and discussed within the text.
Then, provide a solution to the issue throughout your essay.
Research what is being done to address the issue at this point in time will help you in determining the solution you want to propose.
