General Education Assessment Essay (Gen Ed Essay)
OVERVIEW
The Gen. Ed. Essay asks you to consider a single era in the African American experience and evaluate the themes of oppression and resiliency during that time. This is worth 15% of your grade, and must be submitted on Blackboard by midnight on the Saturday before the final week of the course. Late essays will be accepted with a 10% point deduction per day late!
INSTRUCTIONS
Read carefully this primary source document: David Walker, “An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,” , which was previously assigned in Module 3, and write a well-organized essay that analyses the significant historical or contemporary issue, idea, movement, event, institution, or societies it discusses. You should completely answer each of the following questions:
Construct a thesis (central or main argument), using specific details from the primary source (s) document to support that thesis.
Who wrote this document, when was it written, why was it written, and who was the intended audience? What core historical concepts relating to African or African American studies are discussed in this document? Be specific and identify terms and concepts we have learned in the course
Critically analyze the perspectives (unspoken “cultural assumptions”) the author brought to his/her subject. What in the author’s background or experience produced that mindset?
What does this document reveal about the social, political, economic problems, progress, or promise of African or African American peoples or societies during the period in which it was produced?
To what extent does this document debunk or extend the historical or contemporary stereotypes, misconceptions, and misrepresentations about Africans or African-Americans as discussed in class? What is the significance of this document in understanding issues surrounding African or African American peoples and societies?
REQUIREMENTS
The paper should be 3-4 pages in length, typewritten, double-spaced and paginated.
The paper should have a title.
The paper should contain a clear statement of thesis which should be included in the introduction, followed by a narrative that explicates the thesis, concluding with summation or restatement of the thesis.
The paper should be free of grammatical, spelling and syntactical errors.
The paper should contain at least 4 different quotes from the primary source (s) provided.
The paper should avoid plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional. In general, both ideas and language (wording) taken from another writer must be properly acknowledged and cited (footnoted). Language borrowed from a source must be placed in quotation marks.
Use the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Your Endnotes should be numbered sequentially throughout your paper in Arabic numerals. Numbers must be embedded automatically in the text (i.e. if endnotes are added or deleted the numbers change automatically).
