The prompts are broad and offer a series of lines of flight, questions that you might choose to…

The prompts are broad and offer a series of lines of flight, questions that you might choose to pursue or use as jumping off places to explore the key word from your own angle. You do not need to answer any or all of the questions for the key word. You may choose to focus on answering one or come up with your own related question about that key word. You may choose to focus on the key word, but use it to read another text from class. These prompts are intended only to spark your critical thinking and give some direction to the reading for your paper. Your reading must be based on textual evidence, so craft an interpretation that is relies on the passage for data or evidence to support your claims. Goals: Identify a problem that is worth addressing. Formulate a claim that makes a strong argument and is not obvious. Establish a motive for the essay. Here you will answer the So what? question, suggesting why your essay is important and interesting to an intelligent reader. Structure the essay around your central claim, making sure that each paragraph is adding an essential piece to your argument. Use textual evidence persuasively, quoting from the text to support your claims. Focus your argument around 3-4 moments in a text, then close read those moments to demonstrate how the language of the text helps you to respond to the questions you are pursuing.