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Essay #4: Thats Not Funny!

We will be reading and discussing Caitlin Flanagans article Thats Not Funny! which criticizes the
way standup comics are often received on college campuses. Youll get to think about her comments,
compare them with your observations, and write a response to her point of view. Well also continue to
talk about what an academic essay is and practice with the writing process we go through to create an
academic essay. For this essay, you will be summarizing and responding to Flanagans main idea.
The Assignment
For your fourth essay of the summer semester, you will summarize and respond to Flanagans
article Thats Not Funny! In a complete academic essay, explain what is happening with
comedians on college campuses, according to Flanagan, and what her opinion is of the situation.
Then, take a stand by responding to Flanagan. Do you agree with Flanagan? Why or why not? To
fully answer these questions, you should pull ideas from Flanagan by paraphrasing, summarizing, or
quoting and use your own personal experience and observations. You are welcome to say I when you
talk about your own experience. The final draft should have all of the parts of an academic essay: an
introduction paragraph with a thesis, several focused body paragraphs with clear topic sentences, and a
conclusion paragraph.
Structure and Length
The final draft should have all of the parts of an academic essay: an introduction paragraph with a thesis,
several focused body paragraphs with clear topic sentences, and a conclusion paragraph. The final draft
should be at least four pages long, typed and double spaced in MLA format
Things to Shoot For
A clear, specific thesis statement in the introduction paragraph that directly connects to the prompt
(the part in bold). In this essay, it states your response to Flanagans opinions about humor on
college campuses
Multiple body paragraphs that follow an organizational strategy
Body paragraphs that each focus on one specific subtopic related to the thesis; that subtopic is
clear in each body paragraphs topic sentence
Clear explanations of the key concepts from the reading
Body paragraphs that accurately summarize the reading and state and support your opinion from
the thesis
A carefully proofread final draft that is generally free of distracting and confusing sentence-level
errors and correctly cites the reading youve used
Tips for Success
Allow yourself enough time to go through the steps of the writing process (prewriting, drafting,
revising, editing)
Understand the writing assignment and respond accordingly.
Fully participate in the class Blackboard discussion so you can deepen your understanding of the
readings and get ideas for your essay
Use your Writer's Reference book and class materials to understand the parts of an essay and the
writing process and apply them to your work.
Deadline: Sunday July 31st

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