Imitation Essay

Instructions

For this paper, you will write an argumentative essay imitating the general strategies and approach of Junot Diaz in Apocalypse. You may also use elements of the style and approach of David Foster Wallace, and Joan Didion --make notes of when you purposefully borrow elements of their style, because you WILL have to do self-reflection and explanation/defense of your choices, later in the writing process.The content of what you argue is your own, but it should, as in Diaz and Foster Wallace, be significant to a broad audience. Diaz writes about how we should see and respond to natural disasters, Foster Wallace tells us we must have empathy for the world, Didion tells us what it is to be a writer. These are all things that many people would be interested in, and care about.And even though Didion writes about a specific discipline, she was a famous writer, so people would care to hear about her perspective on her field-- and the beauty of her writing was such that we might be interested to hear her thoughts about thinking and writing even if were not writers (it was published in a popular magazine, in the first place).So you could write about your own field, if you think you can make it interesting, OR you could write about a social or political issue (as Diaz), or an emotional/philosophical one (as Foster Wallace)Regardless, choose something you are somewhat familiar with, so that you can adopt an expert ethos more easily with less research.Speaking of research, Diaz uses quite a bit. You do not have to. You may, however, if you choose, do simple google searches for news articles that give you basic facts to use. If you choose not to add outside research, you should choose as your central example (see below) something that you are an expert in, to at least some degree.Heres where I want you to hew closely to Diaz: THIS IS NOT BY ANY MEANS A COMPLETE LIST OF WHAT YOU SHOULD DO -- you must notice your OWN strategies and use them too, through careful, critical reading and analysis of his text.You should give your readers a clear lens through which they will look at your ideas, from the beginning of your essay -- specifically, you should find a pertinent word or term to define for your readers, and use that definition (in part, at least) to state your argument. For example, Diaz offers the lense of apocalypse, defining that term in a way that helps him make his argument -- he begins by defining Apocalypse as not just disaster, but something that reveals, and that definition is, in essence, his argument (though he develops it with recourse to natural/social disasters, into something a bit more complex and specific than that).You should have clear divisions within your argument and clear, creative (not academic) transitions between them (youll need to identify how Diaz does this).You should have a central case study or example that helps you narrow down and prove your argument (as Diaz does with Haiti -- Haiti helps him prove that we can see things in apocalypse, and helps him narrow down from apocalypse to natural/social disasters). Remember you need to show expertise in this example. Diazs example is not personal (for the most part), but yours can be, if you can make it seem applicable both to your overall argument and to your audience.You should enhance your ethos and increase your persuasiveness by taking writing styles, allusions, evidence from many disciplines, as Diaz does.Think of your audience as an intelligent, culturally aware audience outside of academia (they could be educated, but theyre just not at school/teaching school right now) and outside of any other profession (they could be social scientists, but theyre not social-sciencing right now). This is people on their free time, that they like to spend learning about the world, themselves, each other, and big ideas.Think of the genre as an online argumentative essay, published as an article in a location like Boston Review, or Atlantic Monthly, or New Yorker.resource Junot Diaz  "Apocalypse" :http://bostonreview.net/junot-diaz-apocalypse-haiti-earthquakeDavid Foster Wallace:http://www.metastatic.org/text/This%20is%20Water.pdfI uploaded Didon's essay as pdf 

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