One of your friends has shared some of his/her problems with you. Your friend wants advice on how to handle these difficulties because things seem to be going from bad to worse. In fact, your friend is becoming panicky. Write a post/comment/letter to your friend, giving both your advice on how to relieve the panic and your suggestions about how to proceed next. In the opening paragraph, identify the problem and make sure it is serious enough to warrant such a response from you.
Author: D. Sader
A Dark Time
Each of us probably has experienced a “dark” time in our lives when events or relationships were not going well. In a post, identify that dark period and comment on your feelings (ie. depression, frustration).
Alternative Approach
Select a news or magazine article, editorial, blog, or letter to the editor in which a writer’s solution to a problem is morally or ethically unacceptable to you. Write an essay in which you argue against the writer’s position and offer a more reasonable and acceptable alternative approach or solution to the problem.
(Hint: try a parody in the style of Jonathan Swift)
A Modest Parody
Using Swift’s structure and technique in “A Modest Proposal” as a model, write a mock argument in which you create a speaker whose proposal for solving a current problem is opposite to the real issues you want to raise in your essay.
Problem Faced by a Minority Group
Write an essay in which you argue for a solution to a problem faced by members of a minority group of which you consider yourself a member.
A Strong Conviction
Write an essay in which you illustrate your reasons for holding a strong conviction or belief on a subject in order to convince readers to accept and possibly act on the validity of your viewpoint.
Contemporary Electronic Technology
In a well-organized and well-developed causal analysis essay, explain both the causes and the effects of the development of one specific kind of contemporary electronic technology for a general audience.
The Difference Between Winning and Succeeding: John Wooden
What is the difference between winning and succeeding? Write a post about leadership in which you feature John Wooden’s presentation at ted.com.
The Effects of Computer Technology on You
What are the effects of computer technology on you? Organize the most significant efforts as either a casual process or a casual classification, and write an essay based on your analysis. Be sure to establish a clear thesis for your discussion and support that thesis with specific details and examples from your own experience.
The Life Cycle of …
Analyze the life cycle of a particular person, animal, place, or thing, dividing the cycle into appropriate stages and steps within each stage. Write an informational process analysis of this life cycle, describing the specific details of what occurs at each stage and how they are related to the whole process.