Overview
Your final essay will on a current memoir/manifesto written by George M. Johnson. This work tackles complex ideas of gender, sexuality, race, family, and is a true coming of age story. Write a well-crafted essay that follows MLA9 format and is 1,000+ words (not including the works cited page). Your essay must have a clear arguable thesis/ main claim. As this is a very current work that explores current issues, this essay will engage in current research, news, theory, or scholarship on the topic. PROMPT
- Johnson has said their book "is geared towards 14-18 year old Links to an external site. ." Write an essay in which you argue for or against this being a Young-Adult (YA) work. You will need to do research that supports what the YA genre is in terms of history, function, and evolution.
Remember you must have an argumentative edge. Meaning, you don’t just want to summarize what the text is about, but analyze and interpret. "A" level work always explores a counterargument. Considering use of opposing viewpoints or claims to make yours stronger. In Essay #1, the counterargument was likely imbedded into the compare/contrast elements of the two works you selected; in this essay, you will need to craft the counterargument.
Quoting from the memoir/manifesto: Carefully choose quotes from the work to support the arguments you are making in each paragraph. You may be using elements that refer to Matthew or George - make sure to regard the name/pronouns used that are appropriate for that section of the work. Remember to provide analysis for each quote. Do not simply summarize the quote. Ask yourself, “why is this quote important?” or “how does this quote support the ideas in this paragraph?” Likewise, this work is non-fiction, it is NOT A NOVEL and should never be referred to as such. A novel is fiction.
Quoting from Outside Sources: You must include at least 2 outside sources to support your argument in this essay. These are sources used to define a term or idea, but ones that comment/explore/research the claim you are making. It will be very easy to find a lot of blog posts with people around the US ranting about race, gender, sex, and identity. These sources are not acceptable for this essay or any academic conversation/writing. Wikipedia, Spark Notes, Ask.com, Yahoo Answers or any similar study guide or Q&A websites are not acceptable sources for this essay
For your Final Draft:
- Include a thesis with specific main points. Your thesis should CLEARLY relate to one of the questions above and mention the specific story or poem(s) you want to focus on.
- Be very specific! List your main points or reasons in your thesis statement.
- Your thesis should be the last 1 or 2 sentences of your introduction.
- Mention the full title and author’s first and last name somewhere in the introduction.
- Include at least 1 quote from the texts in each paragraph.
- Come up with an interesting title “Essay 3,” “Final Draft”, or using the title of one of the texts is not adequate. Create your own title.
Format: Your essay must be Times New Roman, 12 point font, double-spaced, and must follow MLA style format; Refer to a style guide
USE THE JSTOR TEXT AS AN OUTSIDE SOURCE AND QUOTE FROM "ALL BOYS ARENT BLUE" IN EACH PARAGRAPH.
THESIS SIMILAR TO THIS - Johnson’s book is undeniably a Young Adult (YA) work providing an honest exploration of themes such as family, sexuality, race, and resilience while navigating the complexities within the path of self-discovery and identity during adolescence.