Essay Instructions: ESSAY 1
(100 POINTS)
PEER REVIEW 09-06-12
DUE 09-13-12
Explanatory Synthesis Essay: The Consequences of Sleep Debt
Methought I heard a voice cry ?Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep,? the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast. . . .? (Macbeth 2.2)
Assignment
Read the essays in Chapter 10, ?To Sleep? of Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Then, in an essay of not less than three full pages and not more than four full pages, explain the consequences of having a sleep debt. Your discussion must include information from at least three of the articles in Chapter 10 of WRAC. Your essay should address an individual?s sleep needs, and it should include an account of sleep debt and its consequences. Refer to the essays in Chapter 10 as needed, but be sure to reference Dement, Carskadon, and Pilcher and Walters. Follow the general format for writing syntheses on pages 97-99. Before you begin writing this essay, review Chapter 4 of WRAC; this chapter provides the specifics of writing an explanatory synthesis essay, and it provides a student sample essay.
Requirements
Introduction
Develop your essay with an introduction that both introduces and draws attention to your thesis. Your introduction should be at least five sentences long. Remember to introduce the subject, sleep debt.
Thesis Statement
The last statement of your introduction must be your thesis statement. Your thesis statement must express identify the subject, state your controlling idea, and preview your main points. (Hint: Your thesis must address the consequences of sleep debt.)
Body Paragraphs
Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence that relates to and develops your thesis. Even though the sample essay in Chapter 4 of WRAC begins some supporting paragraphs with a question, your topic sentences must make a strong claim that reflects support for your thesis. Each body paragraph should contain seven to thirteen sentences, and your essay should contain at least three body paragraphs. (Hint: Your body paragraphs should use information from the essays in Chapter 10 of WRAC to support your claim.)
Conclusion
The conclusion summarizes the point of the essay and brings it to a logical and appropriate end. The conclusion contains your last words on the subject, a final thought or a question for the reader to consider. Conclusions do not present new information. Your conclusion should be at least four sentences long. Your conclusion should never be a verbatim restatement of your thesis statement.
Grading
I will grade your essay on the following:
1. Is the essay structured correctly? (introduction, body, conclusion)
2. Is there a thesis statement? Is it the last sentence of the introduction?
3. Are there topic sentences which elaborate upon the thesis statement?
4. Is there support for each topic sentence, and is this support on track with the topic sentence which it intends to support?
5. Does you keep in mind who the audience is, what it knows about the subject, and what will make the essay interesting to the audience?
6. Is the support well-developed? Does the support digress at any point?
7. Are all sources documented internally with imbedded references?
8. Are all sources documented externally on a works cited page?
9. Is the essay coherent? Unified? Does it flow smoothly and use transitions?
10. Is there a minimum of mechanical and grammatical errors?
11. Is the essay formatted according to MLA requirements?
Writing Requirements
1. Use the MLA research paper format without title page.
2. Provide explicit thesis and topic sentences.
3. Use no fewer than three sources.
4. Include a works cited page.
5. Include a minimum of three full pages but no more than four*, having one-inch margins, and using 12-point Times New Roman typeface.
*NOTE: This does not include the works cited page.
MLA Requirements
While you may have more than the following (review guidelines for summary, paraphrase, and quotations), your paper must include the following minimums:
1. One direct quotation introduced with a colon (see Section 43d of The Everyday Writer),
2. An integrated quote for each of the three sources,
3. No displayed quotations (quotes longer than four lines).
?How Sleep Debt Hurts College Students? by: June J. Pilcher and Amy S. Walters
?America?s Sleep Deprived Teens Nodding Off at School, Behind the Wheel? by: National Sleep Foundation
?Adolescent Sleep, School Start Times, and Teen Motor Vehicle Crashes? by: Fred Danner and Barbara Phillips