From Rider Home Page (www.Rider.edu): find "Students" at very top of page and place mouse over to see pull down menu, find "Libraries" on list and click to get to the RU Libraries' home page. Or go directly: http://www.rider.edu/academics/libraries and bookmark website.

Instructions for the fourth “At Home” Essay:

• A full rough draft (three copies), including a Works Cited, is due on Thursday, April 19, 2018.  If you do not bring copies of a full rough draft with you to class, you will not receive feedback on your draft from your instructor and your final essay grade will be lowered one full grade level.
• If you do NOT attend class on April 19^th you must email your rough draft to me by 5:00 pm, so I can give you feedback.  If you do not email it to me, you will not receive my feedback.
• A final draft is due on Thursday, May 3, 2018.  You must staple the rough draft with instructor comments and your peer review sheets underneath your final draft.  (Failure to attach these items to your final draft will result in your final grade be lowered one full grade level.)  The final draft is due on May 3, 2018. 
• You must submit your paper to Turnitin.com by 11:59 pm on May 3^rd.  Students who do not submit their paper to Turnitin.com will receive an “F” on their paper.  There will be NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE.

Suggested Topics and Essential Requirements:

Please write a 5-page essay in response to your own topic question.  The central purpose of this essay is to state your position and persuade your audience of the validity of the idea expressed in your thesis statement.  You should support your position with the research (at least three sources) you have gathered from the Rider library databases.  You must use MLA documentation style and include an in-text citation for the article(s) you are summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting; you should use signal phrases for direct quotes.  You also will include a Works Cited page.  You are NOT allowed to use Wikipedia.  You may use one legitimate website but you MUST get my approval first.

1. Answer some other question of your own devising!  You must get my written approval first; type the question in bold print at the top of your first page, above your essay’s title; the question may not be a question that was already used in the course for other essays.  The following topics are some suggestions: gun control, animal rights, inequality, global warming, women’s rights, immigration, or the death penalty.

The Details

You should write in the third person for this essay.  You should not use “you” or “I” within the essay! 

Use an objective tone!  Do not give your opinion about the authors you quote, or tell me personal stories about your family, friends, or yourself.

You should have at least three sources (not including your textbook) for this essay.  You can use three articles from the Rider library databases.  You must get my approval to use one website.  Since this is a short essay, you should not use more than four sources, and they all must be from the Rider library databases.

You are required to place a Works Cited page at the end of your essay.  The Works Cited page goes on a separate page and is not included in the total page count for your paper, e.g., if the body of your essay ends on page five, the Works Cited page should be on page six.

The essay should be double-spaced, and you should use a 12-point font throughout, either Times New Roman (which is what you’re looking at now) or Arial; use one-inch margins.

Please put your name, course information, my name, and the paper’s due date in the upper-left-hand corner of your first page (and your first page only).  Set this information up as follows and use single-spacing:

Student Name

CMP 120.Section #_____

Professor Muzyk

Essay #4

Date:

GRADING:

• This paper is worth 20% of your final grade.