Background: For this unit we are studying Orozco’s “Orientation” and using our engagement of his story to practice and evaluate some negotiating meaning reading strategies. Please note that the two topics below give you a choice. You can just write about the story and your experiences, or you can write about your experiences with these new reading strategies and discuss how well they helped you deepen your understanding of Orozco’s story. To review and learn more about how the concept of negotiating meaning with a text can help you as an active reader, read “Active Reading versus Passive Reading” page and review the instructions of the “Difficult Working Conditions” and the “Essay #1 Idea Board” discussion boards.
Topics: Write a thesis-driven, five-paragraph essay addressing one of the following two topics.
Topic: identify three workplace issues Orozco’s story addresses with satire. Share what Oroczo’s story satirically says about these issues, and then use what you have experienced and witnessed in various workplaces to comment on how accurate and relevant you Orozco’s critique of these three workplace issues is. To help your audience understand Orozco’s social commentary and what you are saying about it, you will support an develop your topic sentences by presenting and discussing examples from the Orozco’s satire as well as from your work experience, or from the work experiences of people you know.
A thesis-driven essay uses
a shorter introductory paragraph that ends with a thesis statement that names the point you are selling;
THREE focused and very well-developed body paragraphs that use an evidence-driven showing, telling, and closing to to help your reader remember, understand, and appreciate your points. Each body paragraph should present and discuss two to three examples from Orozco’s story as well as from your experience testing out the negotiating meaning reading strategies (for essays addressing topic #1) or your work experiences for essays addressing topic #2).
and a shorter concluding paragraph that reflects on everything you shared in your essay and comments on what you think is most interesting and important.
Format and Target Length
You will write a five-paragraph essay that is 750-1000 words long. Please make that sure each of your three body paragraph are at least fifteen sentences and that your introductions and conclusions are five to ten sentences long. But more importantly, you should make sure that the stretches of telling after showing each piece of evidence.
We will write this essay in MLA format. Please advise the Purdue OWL (Links to an external site.) web site for basic MLA format information concerning internal citation conventions for quotations.