INTG 101-16: Introduction to Liberal Arts
Final Essay
For the first essay, you considered the ways that Curious intersected with your own opinion and experiences of our current age of curiosity, creativity, and innovation.
For your second essay, you interviewed and considered the experience and curiosity of someone else, a MC faculty or staff member.
For your final essay, you will look more broadly and will have a chance to explore via research something that you’re curious about in our community (and then consider the way it intersects and interacts with the topic on a larger, national/global scale).
Your mission…should you choose to accept it…and you will…
In Curious, Leslie talks about “Boring conferences”– a meeting or conferenceduring which speakers look at something that is generally overlooked and/ormay seem initially boring but then tries to find its uniqueness, its interest-factor (170). It is essentially turning something ordinary into something extra-ordinary.
For this final essay, you have the opportunity to look at something that interests you – that makes you curious, you might say – but that might seem to others mundane. You will then research that topic deeply and fully, using a variety of scholarly sources. Using your research, write a 1500 word, thesis-driven essay that discusses the topic and makes a case for its uniqueness – what makes this familiar object interesting? Why is it important for us to know about it? As part of your paper, you should also think about how this object/topic connects on a local level (think: Monmouth and a liberal arts mentality) and a larger scale (think: global, national, cultural context, etc.).
Some General Research Paper Guidelines:
-You should draw from a variety of sources – Monmouth College archives, newspapers, interviews, scholarly journals, books, etc.
-Make sure you’re evaluating your sources.
-Your final paper should include 6-10 references, including Curious.
Dates & Deadlines
Like writing generally, research is also a process. Therefore, we will take time to work through the research and writing process in steps. The schedule is as follows:
Tuesday, October 27 Proposal for Final Paper Topic due*
* 2-3 typed, double-spaced paragraphs describing 1)the topic, 2) why it is important (justification), 3)and what resources you might be able to use
Friday, November 13Thesis Statement, Paper Outline, & Initial Bibliography due (peer review workshop)
Tuesday, November 24Rough Draft due (peer review workshop)
Monday, December 7Final Draft due
**Note: I’m also happy to look at drafts at any point in the process, and the Writing Center is always a fabulous resource.**