What does it mean to be American?
Comic book heroes, especially those pictured on this page were created to embody the essence of Americaness. We have read several pieces that attempt describe what it means to mean an American. Is it being able to attain the dream through hard work like the immigrant character in America and I? Is it a series of ten rights? Is it a "common hope for the future"? Perhaps America is "perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law, and Love," a place to "eat well, and grow strong, or "el canto que cuenta con toda"? How do we define ourselves as American, "within a context that is self-defined" or do we accept the definition from "the outside -- in terms of messages received"?
Prompt
Being able to define words and concepts is the foundation of all discussions. Without agreement on terms a conversation is meaningless. During this unit we have heard multiple definitions of America. In this essay you will draw on the previous definitions, and your personal experiences to define what you think it means to be American.
Planning (Activity 1.13)
Review the collaborative definition collection, identify, and categorize.
Based on our discussions write a thesis statement for each type of definition essay.
Types of Definitions - You can use one or all of these.
Negation (What is not America?)
Function (What does an America do?)
Exemplification (Who are some examples of Americans?)
Classification (What are types of Americans?)
Thesis
Your thesis needs to clearly state your definition and provide a map of how you are going to prove it.
Ex. by ChatGPT: "To be an American is to embody the ideals of liberty, diversity, and opportunity, as well as to contribute to the ongoing narrative of a nation forged by the pursuit of individual and collective dreams." (function)
Ex. by Me: An American is Cesar Chavez organizing farm labor, Martin Luthor King Jr. sitting in a Birmingham jail, and Susan B. Anthony fighting for women's suffrage. An American is anyone that holds our nation to the standards on which it was founded.
Note about ChatGPT: If I suspect the authenticity of your writing it is incumbent upon you to provide evidence that you produced the writing in question. Evidence can include pre-writing and drafts, Google Doc history, search history, or a narrative of your process. I am the ultimate determiner of authenticity.
America at its founding. (Alt Title: The White Patriarchy)
Drafting (Activity 1.13) - Seriously, start writing. You have done all of the thinking during the planning stage. You need to get some words on the page or it will be impossible to help you.
Included in your thesis statement or the rough outline you should have three to four ideas to expand on to support your thesis.
"To be an American is to embody the ideals of liberty, diversity, and opportunity, as well as to contribute to the ongoing narrative of a nation forged by the pursuit of individual and collective dreams." (ChatGPT)
1. Liberty - Give examples, stories, statistics, facts that explain and support Liberty.
2. Diversity
3. Opportunity
4. Maybe American Dream (this may be in the Opportunity paragraph)
A body paragraph should have a Transition, Topic sentence (or claim), specific Evidence and analysis, and a Brief wrap-up sentence (also known as a warrant). We will work on transitions during the revision phase. Remember paragraphs begin with an indented line. (Hit "tab" once.)
Intros, Transitions, and Conclusions
Intro- The good news is that the thesis statement that you have already written is the most important part of your intro. However, it would be a good idea to grab the attention of your reader. You can do this in several ways. You can start with a surprising statement, funny anecdote, reference to a historical event or work of art, quotation from a famous person, or if you have to a rhetorical question.
Conclusions - Absolutely do not begin with "In conclusion." Alright fine. Start with it, but delete it after you have written the conclusion. Your conclusion usually ties back to your attention grabber in the intro and explain what the reader should do with this new information. IT IS NOT A SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU WROTE!
Transitions - Transitions are the road signs for the reader. On the simplest level they are words that connect ideas together. For example, if you are organizing chronologically you would use words like first, second, next, after. If it was organized in order of importance you may say finally, lastly, or most important. Here is list the may be helpful.
You can rely on the transition words to connect you paragraphs, but there is a better way. In fact I just used it between these two paragraphs. Repeat a key word or concept from the last sentence of the previous paragaph in the first sentence of the next paragraph. In this case, the last sentence was listing transition words, so I started the next paragaph with the phrase "transition words."
Revising (Activity 1.14) - This is when you access other minds. The writer's mind will auto-correct by adding and subtracting information for fluency when it reads its own writing. One way around this is to read it out loud, but this method is not perfect. You also need to have outside readers such as family, friends and teachers.
Editing (Activity 1.14)
At the very least (you should never do the least) get rid of the red and blue squiggly lines in your document.
Definitely use computers to do this. Google has some built in tools, but you can also use TurnItIn, Paperrater, Quillbot or other online editors. Just Google "free online essay editor" to find more.
I thought I would tell you that this should be fun. There are many types of fun, but many game developers have narrowed it down to fourteen types. I will list the types that I think apply he
Intellectual Problem Solving
You are attempting to solve a problem that many have tried to do before. We have read several examples from our text book. You may have agreed or disagreed with these definitions, but now is your chance to sample from all of them and create your own more perfect definition.
Creation
Did I say "create"? I certainly did. Take your time with this and you will have in the end a product of your own that is derived from your unique experience in the world. No other essay has ever been or will be exactly like what you have created.
Social Interaction
When you begin the revision process, you should be interacting with your friends and family. Let them read what you wrote. Listen to them when they say they don't understand, but more importantly listen to them when they tell you how good your essay is.
Advancement and Completion
Application of an Ability
Both of these are standard to all school activities. This is a chance to apply your skills and knowledge in an attempt to level up.