Major Writing Assignment #3: Books that Changed the World

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• Due Monday by 11:59pm
• Points 100
• Submitting a website url

Purpose and Background:

Last summer, the Library of Congress presented an exhibition titled “Books That Shaped America.” This exhibition was part of a larger series of programs that explore the important and varied ways that books influence our lives. Over the past few weeks, we have studied many of the authors who made this list. Now is the time for you to delve into one of these works in a bit more detail.

This assignment is aligned with the following outcomes:

MO 15.1 Analyze literary works’ exploration of the human condition and the ethical and cultural problems of the time, and consider how such issues continue to resonate in the contemporary world.

MO 15.2 Evaluate and interpret literary works from ethical, social, cultural, historical, philosophical, artistic, and/or biographical perspectives.

MO 15.3 Demonstrate their understanding of the characteristics and techniques of the major literary genres.

MO 15.4 Communicate clearly in a variety of modes and media.

MO 15.5 Demonstrate the ability to compose arguments on a variety of literary topics within the genres of short fiction, poetry, and drama. The compositions will be substantial in length and increase in rhetorical complexity over the course of the semester.

MO 15.6 Demonstrate continuing mastery of grammar, usage, and diction.

MO 15.7 Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively.

MO 15.8 Demonstrate the ability to analyze communication critically.

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Instructions:

For this assignment, you will be creating a digital essay using Medium. You can choose any of the following topics:

Topic 1:

Frederick Douglass, “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” (1845)

Frederick Douglass’s first autobiography is one of the best-written and most widely read slave narratives. It was boldly published less than seven years after Douglass had escaped and before his freedom was purchased. Prefaced by statements of support from his abolitionist friends, William Garrison and Wendell Phillips, Douglass’s book relates his experiences growing up a slave in Maryland and describes the strategies he used to learn to read and write. More than just a personal story of courage, Douglass’s account became a strong testament for the need to abolish slavery.

Topic 2:

Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1852)

With the intention of awakening sympathy for oppressed slaves and encouraging Northerners to disobey the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Harriet Beecher Stowe began writing her vivid sketches of slave sufferings and family separations. The first version of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” appeared serially between June 1851 and April 1852 in the National Era, an antislavery paper published in Washington, D.C. The first book edition appeared in March 1852 and sold more than 300,000 copies in the first year. This novel was extremely influential in fueling antislavery sentiment during the decade preceding the Civil War.

Topic 3:

Henry David Thoreau, “Walden;” or, “Life in the Woods” (1854)

While living in solitude in a cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Mass., Henry David Thoreau wrote his most famous work, “Walden,” a paean to the idea that it is foolish to spend a lifetime seeking material wealth. In his words, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Thoreau’s love of nature and his advocacy of a simple life have had a large influence on modern conservation and environmentalist movements.

Topic 4:

Walt Whitman, “Leaves of Grass” (1855)

The publication of the first slim edition of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” in 1855 was the debut of a masterpiece that shifted the course of American literary history. Refreshing and bold in both theme and style, the book underwent many revisions during Whitman’s lifetime. Over almost 40 years Whitman produced multiple editions of “Leaves of Grass,” shaping the book into an ever-transforming kaleidoscope of poems. By his death in 1892, “Leaves” was a thick compendium that represented Whitman’s vision of America over nearly the entire last half of the 19th century. Among the collection’s best-known poems are “I Sing the Body Electric,” “Song of Myself,” and “O Captain! My Captain!,” a metaphorical tribute to the slain Abraham Lincoln.

Topic 5:

Emily Dickinson, “Poems” (1890)

Very few of the nearly 1,800 poems that Emily Dickinson wrote were published during her lifetime and, even then, they were heavily edited to conform to the poetic conventions of their time. A complete edition of her unedited work was not published until 1955. Her idiosyncratic structure and rhyming schemes have inspired later poets.

Topic 6:

Langston Hughes, “The Weary Blues” (1925)

Langston Hughes was one of the greatest poets of the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and intellectual flowering that fostered a new black cultural identity in the 1920s and 1930s. His poem “The Weary Blues,” also the title of this poetry collection, won first prize in a contest held by Opportunity magazine. After the awards ceremony, the writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten approached Hughes about putting together a book of verse and got him a contract with his own publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. Van Vechten contributed an essay, “Introducing Langston Hughes,” to the volume. The book laid the foundation for Hughes’s literary career, and several poems remain popular with his admirers.

Topic 7:

Gwendolyn Brooks, “A Street in Bronzeville” (1945)

“A Street in Bronzeville” was Brooks’s first book of poetry. It details, in stark terms, the oppression of blacks in a Chicago neighborhood. Critics hailed the book, and in 1950 Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. She was also appointed as U.S. Poet Laureate by the Librarian of Congress in 1985.

Topic 8:

Allen Ginsberg, “Howl” (1956)

Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” (first published as the title poem of a collection) established him as an important poet and the voice of the Beat Generation of the 1950s. Because of the boldness of the poem’s language and subject matter, it became the subject of an obscenity trial in San Francisco in which it was exonerated after witnesses testified to its redeeming social value. Ginsberg’s work had great influence on later generations of poets and on the youth culture of the 1960s.

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Requirements

• You will be using Medium to create a 700 word (minimum) digital essay on one of the books listed above.
• You need a minimum of two sources (valid, reliable) from the Internet or the databases.
• Within the text itself, you will need a minimum of four citations.
• You will to list these sources at the end of the essay in MLA format.
• Use headers to divide sections of the paper.
• Read the tips below for help in your organization.
• Include at least four photos that help to illustrate your main ideas.

Tips

• Begin with a title and a subtitle (see example).
• Your first section is called “Introduction” and should include background information about the purpose of the essay and end with a thesis statement.
• The second section should be called “About the Author.” In this part of the essay, provide a brief (200 words) bio of the author’s life and times.
• The third section should be called “About the Book.” You don’t want to get into a major summary of the plot. Basically, tell what the story is about. Mention the author’s style and the major themes presented.
• The fourth section is the most important. In this part of the essay (called Legacy), you will tell why this book is considered so influential. Although some of this information can be your own opinion, you MUST support this opinion with direct quotes and references to literary critics.

Click here to view the sample digital essay. (Links to an external site.)

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Tool:

For this assignment, you will be using Medium to create a multimodal essay. The video tutorials below will illustrate how to use of Medium. You will need to sign up for a Medium help centerfree Medium account in order to complete this assignment., which also contains a variety of information and trouble-shooting tips on a wide range of topics. New features are being added to Medium all the time, so get in there and play around once you have the basics down! Here is an Example Digital Essay on Medium (Links to an external site.).

Watch this video to learn how to use Medium.

Title: Intro to Medium.com Blogging Platform | Author: Astral Web Inc. | Date of Publication: November 21, 2013 | Source:

Title: What is Medium.com | Author: Sonia M. | Date of Publication: February 16, 2014 | Source:

Title: Medium Tutorial pt 1:What is Medium? Overview/Editor/Deeplinking | Author: NGC Media | Date of Publication: October 16, 2015 | Source:

Rubric

Digital Essay Best Books

Digital Essay Best Books

Criteria	Ratings	Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeIntroduction includes background information and a clearly stated thesis.	10.0 pts Excellent 7.0 pts Good 4.0 pts Fair 0.0 pts No Marks	10.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEssay includes a brief biography of the author.	15.0 pts Excellent 10.0 pts Good 5.0 pts Fair 0.0 pts No Marks	15.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEssay includes a brief description of the author’s style and themes presented in the work.	15.0 pts Full Marks 10.0 pts Good 5.0 pts Fair 0.0 pts No Marks	15.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEssay argues effectively why this book is considered a “Book that Changed America.”	20.0 pts Full Marks 15.0 pts Good 10.0 pts Fair 0.0 pts No Marks	20.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEssay effectively uses headers and sub-headers to effectively separate the sections of the essay.	10.0 pts Meets Requirements 0.0 pts Does Not Meet Requirements	10.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEssay has a minimum of two valid sources on the works cited page.	5.0 pts Meets Requirements 0.0 pts Does Not Meet Requirements	5.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEssay has a minimum of four in-text citations from the sources listed on the works cited page.	5.0 pts Meets Requirements 0.0 pts Does Not Meet Requirements	5.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAll citations in the text and in the works cited page use proper MLA formatting.	5.0 pts Meets Requirements 0.0 pts Does Not Meet Requirements	5.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeFour photos are carefully chosen to support the text.	5.0 pts Meets Requirements 0.0 pts Does Not Meet Requirements	5.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeEssay has few, if any, grammatical errors.	10.0 pts Excellent 7.0 pts Good 4.0 pts Fair 0.0 pts No Marks	10.0 pts
Total Points: 100.0