What causes us to become ashamed of our cultural customs, traditions, or background

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Prompt:  What causes us to become ashamed of our cultural customs, traditions, or background (try to focus on one term, and be sure to define the term)? Describe a cultural tradition of yours (you’re not limited to ethnicity; you could write about a religious practice, a family tradition, etc.) and then frame your argument around 2-4 areas: maybe your cultural foods, cultural clothing, cultural courtship, or cultural dance, cultural celebrations, or other cultural beliefs. Describe your Quinceanera, lent, Ramadan, haggis, soft-boiled fetal duck, Huichol peyote dance, etc. If you’re caught between two or more cultures, this is a particularly strong essay choice. Sample Thesis: Oftentimes we become embarrassed of what makes us unique such as cultural foods, cultural dances, cultural morals, and cultural expectations.
Sources: 2 sources needed with MLA Citation1. Use an educated outside source of choice in the body paragraph to elaborate with the thesis 2. Cite from the article “Fish Cheeks” of Amy Tan (I will send a pdf version of the textbook below)- The article “Fish Cheeks” could be found at page 284 to 287 of The Bedford Reader Textbook (The Bedford Reader, edited by X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, Jane E. Aaron, and Ellen Kuhl Repetto, 14th ed., Bedford St.) 
Words Count: > 850 

Requirements: 

Audience, Purpose, & Tone: Assume your readers are skeptical, college-level readers. Think of those who disagree with you as colleagues, not adversaries (Rogerian Argument). Prove your thesis in a professional, persuasive essay

Essay Structure

I. Introductory Paragraph:

  1. Hooks (avoid background info for the rough draft version as it can oftentimes distract and bore readers if not done correctly).
  2. Thesis + 2-4 point preview (joined in ONE parallel sentence at the end of your introductory paragraph).

II. Supporting Paragraphs (paragraphs 2-4ish depending on your 2-4-point preview):

  1. Topic Sentence: each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that alludes to the thesis and introduces each of your points from your 2-4 point preview. In academic writing, do NOT have a fact or a quotation for your topic sentence. It must be an opinion (the thesis) that you then prove via your first point, and then your second point for the next paragraph and so on.
  2. Concluding Sentence at the End of Supporting Paragraphs: Within a body/support paragraph, the concluding sentence will summarize the argument being made. It may re-affirm why the argument is correct and the consequences that may occur if the argument is not heeded. If your paragraph is short and easy-to-follow, you may omit a concluding sentence. You can also use this sentence to link to the topic in the next paragraph (or you can instead tack on such transitional phrases to the beginning of the next paragraph’s topic sentence).
  3. Support/Evidence: Include
  1. Personal, Observational, +/or Hypothetical Examples: Fill your paragraph with descriptive personal, observational, +/or hypothetical example/stories.
  2. Two or more Textual Examples: Also include at least one quotation from our class readings AND at least one quotation from your own research on the topic (preferably from GWC’s library database Academic Search Complete [also known as EbscoHost) https://goldenwestcollege.libguides.com/az.php (Links to an external site.). See below for how to include textual examples. I prefer you use quotations instead of paraphrasing for this version of Essay 3.
  3. When you include textual examples, you must do two main things: in-text citations (Links to an external site.) AND a corresponding Works Cited (Links to an external site.) list (the last page of your essay; counts toward word-count). Please see this week and last week’s MLA formatting instructions for textual examples.
  4. In-Text Citations: This just means how you document your source within your paragraphs.
  • To quote, use EXACT words from the text (don’t alter them) and place “quotation marks” around these words
  • To paraphrase, use a reworded, restructured translation of the original quotation (so that the idea is the same, but it looks nothing like the original quotation). Even though you have reworded someone else’s words, you must give the author credit to avoid plagiarism (see “e”)
  • Signal Word Phrases (Links to an external site.): The first time you quote, introduce author’s full name and full article name in a signal phrase (introductory phrase) before the quotation: In Sandra Cisneros’ article “Only Daughter,” she contends, “……” Here’s a mini list of signal words: argues, acknowledges, adds, admits, agrees, asserts, believes, claims, comments, confirms, contends, declares, illustrates, implies, insists, notes, observes, points out, reasons, reports, suggests, thinks, writes.
  • Include MLA citation to avoid plagiarism. After each quotation/paraphrase, place the writer’s last name and page number in parentheses: “The Carpet-Baggers were greedy crooks” (Wilson 12). Note where the quotations marks end and where the period is located. If you’ve already mentioned the author’s name within the sentence introduction (the Signal Phrase), then omit it in parenthesis (12). If there’s no page #, just put the author’s last name in parentheses unless you already mentioned the author in the signal phrase).
  • If there is no author bolded right under the title, cite the article name in the text or an abbreviated title name in parentheses w/ quotation marks around the abbreviated title (unless it’s a long work like a book or film-then italicize). For example, “We are overworked by eight hours a day” (“Work in the Industrial Age” 25).

5. Works Cited: MLA Format and in alphabetical order. This is the last page of your essay with a double-spaced listing in alphabetic order of any sources (quotations or paraphrases you’ve included from another writer). If you’re having trouble generating a Works Cited, Calvin College’s Knight Cite generator  (Links to an external site.)has created almost a calculator of sorts to help.

6. Analyze :Analyze the personal, observational, hypothetical, and textual examples. How do they prove the paragraph’s topic sentence and thus thesis?

7. Use a Variety of Different Rhetorical Modes (Links to an external site.): Use as many modes as you need to help prove your thesis. You can choose from. . .

        • Exemplification—Examples (as mentioned above)
        • Narration (stories) filled with . . . (as mentioned above)
        • Description—concrete detail, similes/metaphors, dialog, five senses, lively adj, adv, and verbs (as mentioned above)
        • Division—you’re naturally doing this by breaking down your reasons for your thesis into 2-4pts)
        • Analysis—For examples that aren’t obvious, you need to explain how your example helps prove your topic sentence (and thus thesis since your topic sentence will also allude to your thesis). Performing a close reading of the quotation can help you achieve this.
        • Compare and Contrast class readings to/with each other +/or to your experiences
        • Causes and Effects—what causes parent/child miscommunication, etc. depending on the prompt you choose.
        • Definition—you could define communication or resilience or even terms the terms you plan to use for your 2-4 points
        • Process—you could show the process of that goes into a tradition, or the process that goes into embalming etc. depending on the prompt you choose.
        • Classification—you could classify types of parent-child miscommunication, types of traditions (ceremonies, food, etc.)
        • Argument/Persuasion—like many of the other modes of writing listed, you naturally have argumentative writing when you create a debatable thesis. Debatable means that, instead of a fact, you assert an opinion about the prompt that you then have to prove throughout the essay.
  • CONCLUSION:
  •  Conclusions may also call for action or overview future possible research.” The following outline may help you conclude your paper:
      • Restate your topic and why it is important,
      • Restate your thesis/claim
      • Highlight your 2-4 points
      • Offer a recommendation, call to action, or prediction.
      • Address opposing viewpoints and explain why readers should align with your position,
      • Call for action or overview future research possibilities.
      • The end of an essay should therefore convey a sense of completeness and closure as well as a sense of the lingering possibilities of the topic, its larger meaning, its implications: the final paragraph should close the discussion without closing it off.
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