Note: This assignment has been adapted from an outstanding source found online.
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The primary objective of this assignment is that students will practice forming an individual stance using evidence from a list of varied resources. This research paper assignment is modeled after the open-ended question as it appears on the Advanced Placement Exam. This assignment requires that students have a mature knowledge of the issues that affect the world today.
The following list of abstract topics have been implied or expressed in questions on various AP English Lang/Comp exams since the mid-1980s. |
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Some writers seem to advocate changes in American social or political attitudes, or in traditions. Choose works that advocate some kind of change. Your goal is to write a carefully reasoned research paper that examines the American attitudes or traditions that you wish to modify. Using these readings and your own observations and experiences, you will develop your own conclusions about this complex subject. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research.
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Select works in which a conflict exists because the will of the majority opposes the will of an individual in America. Using these readings and your own observations and experiences, you will develop some conclusions about the moral and ethical implications for both the individual and society. Your goal is to write a carefully reasoned research paper which takes a stance on the subject of alienation in America. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research.
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Violence is a predominant thread in the setting of many American works. Choose works in which the reader is confronted with a scene or scenes of violence. Your goal is to write a carefully nuanced research paper which explores the nature of violence as well as its effect on Americans. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopic that verbalizes various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research.
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Some works depict a conflict between a parent and a child. Choose works from a list of works that explore this conflict. Then write a carefully nuanced research paper that examines the sources of the conflict and the possible implications. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic—to begin to specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue—to begin to develop a working outline to guide your research.
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According to British novelist, Fay Weldon, “The writers who get the best and most lasting response from readers are those who offer a happy ending through moral development—some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation, even with self, even at death.” Choose works that have this element of hope. Your goal is to write a carefully reasoned research paper which agrees or disagrees that Americans, at some time in their lives, undergo a spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation” because of an inherent need for hopefulness. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your
topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research. Quotes
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Self-deception is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in many American lives. It consists of assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It can be described as ‘acting according to wish le not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts’”. Some would say this behavior is exhibited in all human affairs. Present an argument for or against this assertion. Choose works which emphasize these notions. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research. Quotes
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“For in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.” The previous quote comes from the first chapter of Ecclesiastics, a book in the Christian Bible. Choose works that emphasize this idea as it occurs in American life. Your goal is to write a carefully reasoned research paper in which you agree or disagree with the notion that increased knowledge comes with increased sorrow. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research.
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It goes without saying that language is a political instrument, means, and proof of power. It is the most vivid and crucial key to identity. It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity. There are times and places when to speak a certain language could be dangerous. Choose works that emphasize these points. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research.
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“I think it is fair to say that the current ardor of the American faith in money so easily surpasses the degrees of intensity achieved by other societies in other times and places. Money means so many things to us—spiritual as well as temporal—that we are at a loss to know how to hold its majesty at bay . . . .” Henry Adams in his autobiography remarks that although the Americans weren’t much good as materialists they had been so “deflected by the pursuit of money” that they could turn “in no other direction.” The national distrust of the contemplative temperament arises less from an innate Philistinism than from a suspicion of anything that can not be counted, stuffed, framed, or mounted over the fireplace in the den. Choose works that emphasize these ideas. Use the following quotes to establish the scope of your topic. You will: 1) specify the subtopics that verbalize various differing opinions on the same issue, and 2) develop a working outline to guide your research.
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