Do families, or people outside of families who choose to mentor or help individuals, mean more or less than the work an individual puts into developing his own success?

Essay 1 Assignment

This first assignment will help you toward mastering important technical skills for summarizing of a multipage text, using paraphrase and quotation, engaging in the writing process, producing a multipage essay, using the tools of analysis, interpretation, and argument, integrating source material, and writing effective complex sentences without a pattern of errors.

Task

On page 17 of Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell debates whether or not some kinds of success are actually based on individual merit.  He argues that “these kinds of personal explanations of success don’t work.  People don’t rise from nothing.  We do owe something to parentage and patronage” (19).  

For this paper, address the following question:

                  Do families, or people outside of families who choose to mentor or help individuals, mean more or   less than the work an individual puts into developing his own success? 

Please note how this question is phrased in 3rd person. YOU should not respond to it using any “YOU” pronoun (for ex: you, our, your, you’re my). ALWAYS write in 3rd person. These responses are not diary entries. 

Format

Your paper should be at least TWO complete pages in length (even one line less than two pages is too short), double-spaced, with one-inch margins top, bottom and both sides. Type in Times New Roman, 12 font, normal font (not italicized). 

For more information about how to write this paper well, see the additional guidelines for writing essay 1.

A successful paper will…

1. Be an obvious attempt to follow the assignment;
2. Have a thesis statement at the end of the introduction;
3. Have an organization that is logical and easy to follow, making serious use of the “they say, I say” design and relevant templates;
4. Have a well-developed (as in detailed and specific) discussion, including thorough descriptions and explanations of Gladwell’s ideas in all the body paragraphs;
5. Have paragraphs with organizations that are logical and easy to follow (including topic and concluding sentences and transitions within and between paragraphs that indicate logical relations between your ideas);
6. Have sentences that are grammatically complete, logical and easy to follow; and
7. Have a minimum number of surface feature errors—correct use of periods and question marks, correct spelling, absence of typographical errors, etc., including no use of any form of the pronoun “you.”

Due Dates

Your best draft is due TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18th

The peer review is due SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21th

The final, revised and polished version of the paper is due SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th