Staying on Topic in Your Essay

All,

A critical aspect of an essay assignment is to stay on topic. The overall theme for Essay Three is 'the justification of control,' and your essay must partake in that discussion.

Whether or not you have arrived at a specific essay subject, use the following to ensure that you are on topic and that you are beginning to develop profound analysis:

1) Given this spectrum:

Violence (V) - Threat of Violence (TOV) - Manipulation (M) - Reason (R)

Where does your subject land? Or, if you do not have a subject yet, what interesting example of one of the above comes to mind when you ponder this spectrum?

Ex: Violence manifest in the formation of the United States as a nation.
Ex: Threat of Violence/Violence implied in Foucault's analysis of quarantine during a plague.

2) Now that you have a precise starting point (subject), is/was the use of this form of conflict resolution [V, TOV, M, or R] justified or just?

3) Analyze the 5WH involved in your subject matter. (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How)

4) Analyze the power relationship. Who benefits? Who gets to make the decision? Who does not get to make the decision? How did the 'deciders' and 'non-deciders' arrive at their positions in the power relationship? Who gets to assign qualitative judgment of 'good' or 'bad?' (Remember dialectic?) Apply more 5WH.

5) Determine further incidents of justice/injustice present in this power relationship.

6) Outline your essay utilizing the QI, CLAIM, REASON, Em, Burden of Proof, Audience, Counter Argument, and Cited Sources tools.

Best of luck,

-Josh G.