Assignment #4: Fiction Arguments.
Due on the final day of the semester.
It’s been a long, productive semester, so let’s take this last assignment and have some fun. We’ve learned a lot about how to tailor our vocabulary, our register, and our overall rhetoric to a certain audience or purpose. In this assignment, we will enter the world of creativity. However, I’m not asking you to abandon all of the lessons we’ve learned: I want
arguments
in these pieces.
Take Kurt Vonnegut’s
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian
as a model and create
three fictional interviews with
deceased
people
in order to advance an argument about our society, culture, or existence in general.
To be clear, I am asking that each of you write THREE brief “interviews” that follow the same format/style as Vonnegut’s text. Each should be approximately 200 words in length, so that they combine to be 600 words or more.
The arguments can be nearly anything you want, but they must matter to a significant portion of society. In other words, you cannot make one that argues something in your own private life. It must have
societal
implications. The best ones tend to focus on
existence
more than politics or policy.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Your subjects do not matter as much as the arguments you select, so try to be creative about who you choose! I’d much rather read three excellent arguments interviewing unknown people that you found in old newspaper articles than three ordinary texts interviewing Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, and Gandhi. Remember that I read at least 90 of these per semester, so if a person is wildly famous, they’ve been done before!
Last thing to note: emulate Vonnegut instead of relying on too much dialogue.
STEP 1:
Think of three separate arguments that you want to make in these pieces. Examples are hard to give because it’s so broad, but yours may look something like this:
– Our society gives up on people after one mistake and we should not do that
– Working too much makes life unbearable so we should do more that brings us joy
– Prioritizing our online images takes away from authentic interactions with people
STEP 2:
Attach a deceased person to each idea so that you can make your point through them. Examples related to those above could be:
– Bill Buckner, whose error in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series haunted him the rest of his life
– Day Davis, a man who died on his first day working in a factory in Florida
– Henry David Thoreau, whose writings about being in nature inspired readers for generations
Try to avoid the
major
religious figures, such as Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, etc. They are simply too difficult to encapsulate in a 200-word assignment at the end of a college semester.
Also, consider avoiding figures who are so popular that they are the first that come to mind in an industry. For example, every semester, 5+ students select Robin Williams, Michael Jackson, or other major pop figures. If your argument about depression is perfect for someone like Robin Williams, consider researching others who have suffered similar fates. Try to be original!
STEP 3:
For that nice finishing touch, try to format it in the way that Kurt Vonnegut did. While I don’t mean you all need to find the right font and margin settings (though this can look nice), I really want to see you break your arguments up into small chunk paragraphs rather than just writing in dense ones.
YOUR GRADE WILL
be a combination of effort, emulation of Vonnegut, and writing mechanics/revision. The vast majority of the points you earn will be based on your genuine engagement with the activity, so have fun but really show me that you dive into the exercise (it’s short!).
Rubric
Some Rubric
Some Rubric
Criteria
Ratings
Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Effort
How much effort did the student put into this final assignment?
90.0
to >
88.5
pts
Full Marks
The effort bleeds through the page. Details include formatting and clear use of imagination for the assignment. The word count is not only met, but sufficiently so. The student clearly wanted to create engaging interviews that convey an argument about the world.
88.5
to >
69.0
pts
Solid
The effort is clear here, but there are small portions that indicate they could have put slightly more into the work. For example, the formatting and style may not match Vonnegut’s in any meaningful way. The word count might be just barely at or over the limit. The choices for subjects may be suboptimal for the task.
69.0
to >
64.5
pts
Meets requirements
The effort is enough to pass, but at or near the base level. This may include a lack of engagement with elements such as formatting or character choice. The word count may be at or just over the minimum.
64.5
to >
0
pts
Below requirements
There is evidence the assignment was rushed. The arguments may be largely unclear or missing altogether, the length may be too short, the characters selected for interview may not fit the assignment (or even be deceased), or a combination of these. In the end, it seems the student may not have read the prompt carefully.
90.0
pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Emulation
To what extent did the student engage with the essence of the assignment? Are the pieces using irony to convey a clear argument?
30.0
to >
27.0
pts
Full Marks
The pieces are essentially ironic arguments about existence, humanity, or the world. They are clearly persuading the audience to believe something they value. The student really attempts to channel the original author’s purpose in writing his piece.
27.0
to >
22.5
pts
Good
The pieces largely emulate Vonnegut in format, style, and purpose. Perhaps the arguments aren’t entirely clear or the format isn’t broken into pieces in quite the way Vonnegut’s text suggests. There may be too much dialogue. In the end, it’s solid, but not COMPLETELY devoted to emulation.
22.5
to >
19.5
pts
Sufficient
Student does not devote the pieces to emulating Vonnegut, but they are close enough to the prompt to merit a passing grade.
19.5
to >
0
pts
Developing
Student’s pieces do not resemble the original text in any meaningful way.
30.0
pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome
Revision
Is the piece revised to illustrate the care and usage of a college graduate?
30.0
to >
24.0
pts
Full Marks
Pieces are clean and revised, with few (if any) grammatical or mechanical errors.
24.0
pts
Developing
Student did not carefully revise the assignment. There are too many errors, typos, or issues with writing mechanics.
24.0
to >
0
pts
Good enough
There may be a few errors that detract from meaning, but for the most part the student revised carefully and illustrates college-grad level writing.
30.0
pts
Total Points:
150.0
