Read Jose Antonio Vargas’s “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” in our The Norton Reader book, pp. 15 – 23. Write an essay from the provided prompt: (Please submit your essay in Word or as a PDF document only; a Google doc will suffice). Vargas defines what it means to him to be a U.S. citizen: “hard work, self-reliance, love of my country” (paragraph 41). Write an essay in which you reflect on what it means to be a citizen of the country you call home. Guidelines and Suggestions: 3-5 pages not counting your Works Cited page, which should be included as the last page of your essay. MLA format Use your sources 3-5 times. When you use the sources for the first time, make sure to refer to the author by his first and last name. After that, refer to the author by his last name or the word author or writer. Use only the source you are given unless otherwise instructed Use 3rd person Use present verb tense – Example: He/She/It writes – note the “s” added at the end of the verb. Use different sentence length and type: Simple, Compound, Complex and Compound-Complex Simple sentences: A simple sentence is an independent clause with no conjunction or dependent clause. Compound sentences: A compound sentence is two independent clauses joined by a conjunction (e.g., and, but, or, for, nor, yet, so). Complex sentences: A complex sentence contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. The clauses in a complex sentence are combined with conjunctions and subordinators, terms that help the dependent clauses relate to the independent clause. Subordinators can refer to the subject (who, which), the sequence/time (since, while), or the causal elements (because, if) of the independent clause. Compound-complex sentences: A compound-complex sentence contains multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. These sentences will contain both conjunctions and subordinators. Watch for Fragments, Combining Sentences, and Run-on’s Provide a strong thesis statement Everybody’s paragraph needs to have its own topic sentence Address one issue at a time in each paragraph
