English—3rd Formal Essay based on Wonders of the Universe —McFarland—Spring—2016

English—3rd Formal Essay —McFarland—Spring—2016

As you know the focus of Wonders of the Universe is on the scientific theories that explain how the Universe works. That material is interesting, no doubt, but for your paper you will focus less on the theories themselves, and more on your own relationship to the kinds of “Big Picture” ideas that a book like this implies. For this paper you will be shaping your discussion around 3 quotes below:

1. “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates

2. “An inherited cultural mind-set building over millennia lies behind our ever increasing acts of violence to our Earth—and one another.” Joseph Chilton Pearce

3. “Exploration, both intellectual and physical, is the foundation of civilization.” Brian Cox

Here are some questions to consider as you think about these quotes. You don’t need to answer them all if you don’t want, but you should endeavor to build a discussion that comes to some conclusions and has the shape of a thesis, that is to say, an organized response to the quotes:

What is your opinion of these 3 statements?

What is the relationship between these statements?

How do you get outside yourself?  Why might you want to?

What implications do these statements have to you personally in your own life?

A book like Wonders of the Universe focuses on ideas and content that appears to be literally very far removed from the concerns of own little planet. What value if any does a book like this have for us?

What do you think the connection is between trying to live our daily lives and the world of “Big Ideas?”

You may also have other questions that you want to address. In order to support your points, you need to use the ideas found in the book, your research, and in any other handouts, media, etc. that we have access to. It is crucial that most of your quotes come from Wonders of the Universe.

To answer these questions you will want to do Rule of 3. What is Rule of 3?

You will want to come up with “right-sized” concepts with which to control your paragraphs.

You must average a minimum of 1 to 2 short quotes per paragraph. You should try to include more than one quote per paragraph whenever possible. Quote length in a paper of this length should be no more than 1-2 lines. We will be “avoiding headless quotes.” What is a headless quote?

The essay’s page minimum is 6 full pages…(BNDJTM…)

Paragraph topic sentences should start with concepts. Paragraph topic sentences should also feature KEYWORDS, which are taken from the questions that you will be exploring.

The paper is due  Monday May 2nd

First draft is due Monday April 25