The Price of Modern Civilization

Overview:  From your TED Talk you learned about a variety of important issues we are still dealing with today. This  essay asks you to take something you were interested in from your Talk, and research it further. You will  investigate what different source types have to say about this issue, and arrive at an end goal for your  research essay of your choosing (see information about developing a thesis for ideas).  Process:  1) Develop A Clear Thesis Statement: Ask yourself, “What is my purpose for writing this research?”  Based upon your answer, you should be able to come up with a strong (unique) thesis statement that  reflects what you do in your essay. Do not simply restate the assignment prompt or the main idea  from the original TED Talk. Your thesis should provide the reader with a clear direction of where  you’re heading. Consider the following goals your essay could undertake:  a. Inform your readers of a specific problem presented in your TED Talk  b. Argue about an issue discussed in your TED Talk  c. Demonstrate through research agreement/ disagreement with the TED Talk  d. Prove/ disprove something said in the TED Talk  e. Provide a solution to a problem discussed in your TED Talk  2) Support Your Thesis Statement: The body of your essay should be devoted to supporting  evidence for your thesis statement. This will likely include the following:  a. Providing some kind of overview/ background regarding the issue. You may need to  define what a term means or give us a quick history of an issue. Whatever background you  provide will set the foundation for your reader to understand your research and why you’re  undertaking it.  b. Organizing your essay around main points. Remember that each paragraph should have  a clear topic sentence and your essay should use transitions to connect each paragraph  together into one cohesive paper.  c. Support your main points with evidence. This will entail direct quotation/ paraphrasing  of your sources. Avoid using one source per paragraph as support. Instead, use multiple  sources to support one main point. Practice correct citation of your evidence and analysis of  the evidence you provide to knit your research together for your reader.    3) State Your Conclusion: The purpose of your conclusion is to clearly, but briefly, reiterate what you  accomplished in undertaking this research and have discovered. Do not just restate your thesis/  main points – reflect on your research, its importance, and what you’ve learned.  Research: This essay does require research – All research (quotes and paraphrases) should be cited  according to MLA formatting standards. This essay asks you to use different kinds of research to support  your essay – a minimum of 6 different source types are needed. Anything beyond those 6 can be whatever  source types that you want. Refer to this breakdown of source types for ideas:  â€¢ Everyone should use their TED Talk as a source at least once in the paper  â€¢ All other sources can be:    o Newspaper articles  o Magazines/ periodicals  o Webpages  o Videos (movie/Youtube, or other type of video clip)  o Books (physical or electronic)  o Academic journal articles  o Interviews (that you conducted or that you found online)  o Audio files (music, a radio recording, etc).  o Encyclopedia entries  o Government documents  o Theses/ Dissertations    Paper Requirements:  â€¢Length:  o Final Draft: 1250 words minimum  â€¢ Format: MLA format (8th edition), including:  o A header with your name, my name, the course number, & date  o Page numbers  o Double-spaced Times New Roman 12pt font  o An interesting title  o A Works Cited page (does not count toward word minimum)  o Source cited in the paper with in-text citations  â€¢ Note: I welcome and encourage essays that are longer than the minimum requirements. These  requirements serve as a benchmark to guide you in developing thoughtful and complex ideas in  relation to the essay prompt. Essays that do not meet the minimum requirements will have points  deducted appropriately.