Background: In his memoir, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), tells the story of EJI, from its early days with a small staff facing the nation’s highest death sentencing and execution rates, through a successful campaign to challenge the cruel practice of sentencing children to die in prison, to revolutionary projects designed to confront Americans with our history of racial injustice.  One of EJI’s first clients was Walter McMillian, a young Black man who was sentenced to die for the murder of a young white woman that he didn’t commit. The case exemplifies how the death penalty in America is a direct descendant of lynching — a system that treats the rich and guilty better than the poor and innocent.  Essay Task:   Write a 6-7 page argument paper on a topic from Just Mercy.  Your topic should be focused and specific.  To support your argument, you will need to integrate evidence from Just Mercy plus at least three (3) more credible and outstanding sources.  Essay Purpose: Your purpose is to situate yourself within an ongoing conversation about race and justice in America, to identify a topic of interest from Just Mercy, to conduct an inquiry via research, and to formulate your position on this topic.  Your goal is to enlighten your reader on your deeper understanding of race and justice in America.   Skills Required: In order to complete this paper, you will need to know how to locate credible sources, smoothly integrate them into the paper, and use these sources + Just Mercy to support your position.  Grading Criteria:  Successful papers will:  introduce the topic, provide background/context for the topic, and articulate a powerful thesis; establish claims to logically support the thesis; present relevant, credible, and interesting researched evidence that supports the claims and thesis; synthesize evidence from Just Mercy and three (3) more credible and outstanding sources to support the position; smoothly integrate relevant phrases and passages from your sources – incorporate both direct quotes and paraphrases – to support your claims and thesis; engage and persuade your intended audience; establish credibility and trust with the audience (ethos) use strategies to appeal to emotion (pathos) and logic (logos); conclude paper effectively and leave your reader with something to ponder further; discuss the greater significance of this topic and consider a “call to action;”   use correct MLA citation format and include an MLA formatted Works Cited page; be organized in a logical manner that guides the reader from one idea to the next; be thoroughly edited so that sentences are readable and appropriate for an academic paper;  Steps to follow as you develop this research paper: DECIDE on a particular topic/issue from Just Mercy for investigation. THINK:  What topics/issues from the book interest you the most?  What do you question?  What do you want to investigate further.  UNDERSTAND how Bryan Stevenson represents your topic of interest in Just Mercy? What is Stevenson’s position on your topic of interest?  What particular evidence does Stevenson include in Just Mercy on this topic.  VIEW the pages from the Weeks 10 and 11 Modules on how to conduct credible research on a topic and on how to formulate a focused research question.  SUBMIT your Project 2 Proposal.  ENGAGE in strategic research to find credible sources that explore and respond to this research question.  DEVELOP a Source Synthesis Matrix to organize your thinking and sources.  DRAFT your thesis statement or major claim. Grading Criteria for the Project 2 Essay For reference, consult the Project 2 Student Sample that was included here in the Week 13 Module.  Successful papers will:  1.  introduce the topic, provide background/context for the topic, and articulate a powerful thesis;  Here is a page on what to Include in an Academic Essay Introduction  Here are suggestions for how to word your Thesis Statement 2.  establish claims (or points) to logically support the thesis;  Here is a page on the P.I.E. paragraph format -- a great method for paragraph structure.  3).  present relevant, credible, and interesting researched evidence that supports the claims and thesis;  synthesize evidence from Just Mercy and at least three (3) more credible and outstanding sources to support the position;  smoothly integrate relevant phrases and passages from your sources – incorporate both direct quotes and paraphrases – to support your claims and thesis;  Here is a page on what it means to Synthesizing Sources  Here is a page on how to integrate quoted and paraphrased evidence into an essay.  Here is a page on academic templates to integrate sources.  4).  engage and persuade your intended audience;  establish credibility and trust with the audience (ethos)   Demonstrate your knowledge of your topic based on the evidence you integrate from Just Mercy and your two credible outside sources.  Only cite from outside sources that are credible to help YOU to build cred!  Make sure your sources are cited accurately in your essay and that you include a Works Cited page formatted in MLA Style.   Proofread your essay!  Pay attention to mechanics and sentence clarity.  Review this MLA Style page for how to refer to titles of works and this page on how to avoid and fix run-on sentences.  use strategies to appeal to logic (logos);  Integrate wisely chosen evidence from Just Mercy and outside sources to logically support your points and thesis.  Draw logical conclusions throughout your essay.  Establish continuity and flow through your essay structure and transitions.  

Developing a Reflection Essay for this project requires analysis of written work in a discipline. Students should focus on their major, or a major they might be interested in, to complete this analysis. In order to analyze, we must consider concepts about writing and how they help us understand what is written and how information is presented.Part 1First, revisit this PowerPoint. (Once you get to the web page, scroll down below the works cited to the PowerPoint). You might also revisit the Writing Situation. Consider the rhetorical situation in your own writing or in your life – apply it to a movie you’ve seen, to the web site you just accessed for the rhetorical situation PowerPoint, and to something you’ve written for school or some other purpose.Complete this reflection exercise as you think about the rhetorical situation for each. Explain the rhetorical situation for each in about 250 words:What are the audiences for each of those examples? List all audiences for each.How would you define the genre of each – what are its conventions. A good way to think about the conventions of a genre is to consider what the audiences for each expect from each genre? Start with the movie, then the web site, then your own sample writing – what conventions of each are expected by a reader or “consumer” of each genre?For example, a horror movie’s conventions might be blood and gore, suspense, and characters who always go somewhere they should not. It’s purpose is to scare and entertain by scaring. It’s audience is broad, and is comprised of movie-goers who enjoy the genre – what can you assume about the audience?Now think about your research essay. What might be its purpose? Movies are straightforward – they are generally intended to entertain, although documentaries are meant to inform or educate. Research essays might be more difficult to consider, but they have a purpose or a role. What was your essay’s role or purpose?What other concepts of writing can you identify from the Rhetorical Situation PowerPoint that you can link to your Research Essay? Explain how any additional concepts might be important and how they might also be defined in connection to your research essay.Look back to Project 1 and the exercises you did for that project – what writing concepts can you identify from across the semester that you might consider important to understanding your own writing?Why do you think understanding the rhetorical situation might be important to know when you’re writing something?Part 2In your major, or a discipline you choose for this project, conduct some quick research to find a few sources or publications that are somewhat representative of the discipline. A scholarly journal article that is appropriate to the major, a web resource, a report or professional document of some kind, are all things you might find depending on the major field, or the discipline. Review each publication you find and consider the rhetorical situation – what are the elements you can find in the publication that tell you about the rhetorical situation?Who is the intended audience? Is there more than one? Describe all the audiences you can identify for this publication.What is the purpose of the communication the publication is conveying? In other words, is there a message intended for the audience (or multiple messages)?What is the genre, and why is the genre appropriate for communicating whatever the publication is intending?What other writing concepts can you identify in each publication and discuss?How does understanding these concepts and analyzing them help you understand the writing in a publication?In reflecting on the writing concepts, and on each publication you’ve found, what are the connections you can make across them all? What are the similarities and differences you can identify? Do you see similarities in audiences, or genres, for example? Are there differences you might point out between a purpose for one and purpose for another publication? Reflect on all the similarities and differences you can find.