(1) Choose one of the definition essays below from Strategies for Writing Successful Research Papers, and write a response to the essay.
• Laurence Shames, "The Sweet Smell of Success Isn't All That Sweet," pp. 252-254
• Marc Zwelling, "The Blended Economy," pp. 254-256
• Marti Bercaw, "Krumping," pp. 256-258
As you compose your response, you might consider the following questions as a means for assisting you with the structure of your response.
• What was your reaction to the essay while you were reading it and after you finished reading it? How do you feel about the topic that the author discusses? What is your perspective?
• What did you think was particularly successful about the essay? In other words, what did the author do that was interesting, unexpected, or different? What did you think was not effective?
• Did you learn anything new or interesting from the reading?
• How did the reading help you to better understand the type of essay you are to write and submit for this unit?
(2) Using the definition essays you read as examples, write a 500-word definition essay about a topic of your choice. You may consider one of the following:
What is a hero?
What is a good parent?
What is an ethical choice?
Your essay will be graded on its ability to adhere to the definition essay form. Does your essay attempt to define a problematic concept? Does it add to the discussion of how people might understand the topic? What is at stake in your discussion? In other words, is there a group of people who might be vindicated by your definition? Remember that while you are writing a definition essay, you want to avoid using the dictionary itself. This is meant to be a definition that you create, not one that you copy from a source. In addition, the dictionary is never considered a strong academic source because information that comes from the dictionary and encyclopedias is considered "common knowledge." Therefore, inserting a dictionary definition into your paper makes it seem as though you are not a strong researcher. You will be graded using the following categories: content, organization, grammar and style conventions, resources, references, and APA formatting. Your essay will also be graded on its development. See the flow chart on page 77 in Strategies for Writing Successful Research Papers for guidance. Be sure that you revise, proofread, and format your essay according to APA standards. See The CSU Citation Guide. If you use outside sources, you need to use quotation marks for lifted language, as well as in-text and reference list citations.
(3) Juvenile crime seems to be on the rise in some communities, which forces policy makers and community leaders to consider violent juvenile and delinquency prevention programs. Research your community and discuss a few of the prevention programs implemented or being considered within your community. Do these programs seem to be working? Explain. If no programs exist in your community, then design a program and explain the concept of your program.