美國留學生英語essay要求參考：evaluation of steel cloud

 

     In your final essay, you are asked to evaluate “Steel Cloud” (also known as The West Coast Gateway Monument).  Is this a design that you would endorse as a monument to immigration (either for the time it was proposed—the end of the twentieth century—or now at the outset of the 21st century)?  

 

     This essay will draw upon the skills that you have developed during the course of the semester.  In the broad view, this essay will challenge you to write into a subject area that is complex and even confusing (think of those jumbled steel beams!).  More specifically, your ability to describe, to define and to compare should be engaged by this assignment.  Not only is this essay the culmination of all the skills you have been working on this semester, it is the culmination of the reading you have done about Americans who define and redefine our country and about monuments.  

 

     To evaluate, you will find it useful to set up evaluative criteria that will be the rational foundation for your judgment.   Criteria (singular = criterion) are the heart of any reasoned evaluation.  As such, most of your essay should be devoted to defining each criterion you choose, arguing for your choice of each, and finally applying your chosen criterion to “Steel Cloud”.  Make sure to appropriately organize your criteria and to transition logically between them.  

 

     Where to find appropriate criteria?  You might consider what defines a “monument” versus other forms of art (paintings, poetry, etc.).  You might look at what (criteria) make other monuments successful (comparison!).   You might explore the basis of your own response (how you define beauty, for example).  You might explore the realities of California and immigration that demand a different approach from other monuments.  There are many options for choosing criteria.  Zinsser’s essays about American monuments should provide you with a toolkit of possible criteria to use, though don’t feel limited to these.    

 

     To help you define your criteria, you are encouraged to compare Steel Cloud to another monument—one that for you illustrates the primary criteria that you have chosen.  You are encouraged to research this monument and to draw upon that research in your essay.  Feel free, though, to draw more than one comparison if you find more helpful.

 

     Make sure to read through all the materials in your packet.  Your essay should demonstrate a thorough understanding of the design, both its contents and its rationale.  Further, you should be familiar with the response by critics which has been provided for you in your packet.  Where you find it useful to cite materials from your packet and from other sources that you encounter, make sure to use MLA format.  #p#分頁標題#e#

 

Your essay must provide a Works Cited page and should appropriately provide in-text citations following MLA format.  Make sure that your essay is a model of how to “select, quote, paraphrase, and document source material and incorporate it into an expository essay,” as required to fulfill the Student Learning Outcomes for this course.  

Writing Tips for the final essay:

 

This essay is designed to exercise skills you have used in this class—primarily your ability to describe, your ability to compare and your ability to define and apply criteria.  

Here is a possible outline of how you might structure your essay:

 

1) Introduction (Engage reader—hook, introduce topic (contest?), state thesis—indicate thesis).

2) Background information on Steel Cloud:

a) Details

b) Rationale

c) Controversy

3) Setting up your criteria (Use paragraphing to separate the criteria.  Have a logic for the sequence of the criteria—don’t just list them.  This logic should be reflected in your transitions between them.  When using criteria, you will need to define them, illustrate them with use of an example, defend them over other criteria, and finally apply them.  How do they help us evaluate Steel Cloud).

A) First Criterion 

Define, illustrate (be descriptive), defend (why is this relevant to the matter at hand), apply to Steel Cloud

B) Next Criterion

Define, illustrate, defend, apply

C) Final criterion (most important?)

Define, illustrate, defend, apply to Steel Cloud

      4)   Conclusion (never use “In conclusion” or other such mechanical devices.  Here is where you want to be emphatic—your last chance to pitch the importance or urgency of your idea.  Be careful not to be shrill, but don’t be tedious either.)

1）簡介（搞讀者掛鉤，引入話題（比賽），狀態dissertation表明dissertation）。

2）背景資料鋼云：

a）有關

B）的基本原理

三）爭議

3）設置標準（使用段落分開標準的標準，不要只列出他們這種邏輯應該體現在它們之間的過渡。使用標準時，你會需要有一個邏輯順序。定義它們使用的一個例子，說明他們，保衛他們比其他的標準，并最終應用它們，它們如何幫助我們評估鋼云）。#p#分頁標題#e#

A）第一準則

定義，說明（描述），辯護（這是為什么手頭的事情有關），適用于鋼云

B）下一頁標準

定義，說明，維護，應用

C）最終標準（最重要的？）

定義，說明，維護，適用于鋼云

      4）結論（從來不使用“結論”或其他類似的機械設備，這里是你想成為言之鑿鑿你最后的機會，你的想法在球場的重要性和緊迫性，要小心，不要被刺耳的，但不要繁瑣的。