Long Newspaper Article Assignment

Note: No MLA works cited for this essay.


This third writing assignment returns to North of Center as your target audience. Specifically, you will write a feature (front page) story for the paper. (You may choose to write for a different paper, but you must get permission from me by Tuesday October 20.) You may choose to return to a theme or topic already addressed by one of the paper’s writers (Lexington refugees, UK’s drive to be a Top 20 University, the need for different, non-straight or non-white communities, etc.). Conversely, you may choose to develop a topic of your own choosing that you see would fit with the paper’s intended audience.

The article should further develop the analysis skills you began to use while writing your previous short summary/analysis essay. Rather than respond or analyze one article, this assignment requires you to research and incorporate at least 3 outside (non-class) texts into your article. The aim is to have you used these sources to analyze, or break down, your topic into parts so that you may enlighten the reader as to what’s important about the subject you’re writing on.

Basic Guidelines: Essays should be between 1600 and 2000 words in length and have a title. They should also be typed in 12 font (Times New Roman font), double spaced, and have 1 inch margins all around.

In addition to these guidelines, we will work through several rough drafts of your work. Subsequently, you are required to prepare 3 separate drafts throughout the assignment. The first 2 drafts will be subject to peer reviews in class. Make sure to bring in drafts on due dates noted on the Week 6-11 Semester Outline.

Essays are due the first class period of Week 11 (October 26 or 27).

In addition to following the basic guidelines, I will grade you on your ability to engage with the following new and old principals. NOTE: We will not use MLA citations for this paper. All citations will be informal—that is, they will appear in the text itself. (ie, “According to a recent study in the NY Times,….” Or “Connors-Manke arguest that…”

New Principals: Ability to locate and incorporate outside research in a manner that does not plagiarize material; acceptable revision drafts that lead to an improved final paper.

Old Principals: Where necessary, creation of an effective summary that leads to detailed analysis; a placement of your ideas into a specific context that the reader can follow; an adequate introduction; a title that introduces the topic and grabs the reader’s attention; an effective integration of paraphrases and quotations into your paragraphs; ability to follow basic guidelines above.

Older Principals: awareness of audience (in choosing your topic), writing in complete sentences, using active sentences, defining any key terms, developing coherent and full paragraphs, utilizing elements of narration, description, definition, and/or comparison in your essays.