Research essay 3
Assignment goals:
Essay 3 is an opportunity to weave together the readings, ideas, and discussions of the semester, showcasing the skills you’ve learned about introducing and analyzing sources while connecting them to your overarching thesis. This assignment will also introduce you to the research process, and you’ll learn how to find and vet academic sources using the library databases.
Assignment overview:
Many of our readings this semester explore ideas that challenge the traditional American understanding of what it means to be successful. Most people associate success with a respectable career, material wealth, social influence, and advanced educational degrees. But in 2025, growing wealth inequality, crushing student loan debt, weak community ties, and an environment in crisis suggest that it may be time to rethink this somewhat limiting definition of success. In essay three, you’ll argue that Americans need a new definition of success. In order to develop your thesis, you’ll need to decide on the terms of success. How would career, money, status, and material possessions factor into your updated definition? Are there other ways of measuring success that are healthier for the individual and society?
Once you have a thesis statement, you can start outlining and organizing your essay:
→ First, you’ll need to give your reader some context about what Americans think about success, and why it’s problematic or outdated. This will help you persuade your reader that a new way of thinking about success is necessary. For this section of your essay, you should select the most relevant source material from class. This section of your essay should be about 2-3 pages long.
→ After you’ve painted a clear picture for your reader of the mistaken ideas Americans have about success, you can begin to make your case for a new definition. This will be a good moment in your essay to bring in the scholarly sources you’ve found on your own, as well as any additional articles from class that help you support and develop your updated definition of success. This section of your essay should be about 2-3 pages long.
→ Finally, as you move toward your conclusion, bring in an example of someone who you believe embodies your new definition of success (in other words, someone who exemplifies a life well-lived). This could be anyone (a friend, relative, mentor, artist, celebrity, innovator, or athlete, for example). The idea is to give your reader a vivid and specific example of a real person who illustrates the version of success that you have described.
You’ll need to focus your topic as you generate material for the essay. Here are some ideas to consider as you prewrite:
• The American belief that work is the main path to meaning and fulfillment
• Social media pressures to show of success and compete with peers
• Student loan debt / the high cost of education
• Materialism / environmental damage
• Worker exploitation
Writing tips:
Spend a lot of time in the brainstorming/ discovery phase of the writing process. In addition to free writing and revisiting your annotations, you should be carefully re-reading the texts you’re interested in using with the research topic in mind. Create an interesting and debatable thesis, one that you feel is urgent and that you can write about passionately but fairly. Avoid simply summarizing the texts and sources that you wish to use. Demonstrate that you know how to select and incorporate outside sources in a way that helps you advance your thesis efectively (remember to use the citation sandwich with all of your outside sources!). Treat this take home essay as an opportunity to show what you’ve learned. Try to create an essay that opens up a discussion with your audience and promotes understanding.
Source requirements:
□ You’re required to use at least two scholarly journals from the library databases.
□ This is an addition to three articles that you’ve chosen from class.
□ You may use your own relevant experiences and observations, but be selective.
□ You may also use additional outside sources besides the academic journals, but be sure to verify that they are credible.
Show them to me if you have any doubts or would like my feedback on credibility. Keep track of all your sources to avoid unintentional plagiarism; I can help with the format, but you need to save all the necessary citation information for the in-text and works cited entries. Remember to keep the borrowed language and material to a minimum.
□ A works cited page in MLA format is required (I’ll show you how to do this in class).
□ Any plagiarized work (this includes work written by AI) will receive an F.
Important dates:
→ We’ll attend a research orientation on Wednesday, 5/14; meet in the library at 11:30am.
→ A source list and 2-3 page rough draft are due on Canvas on Wednesday, 5/21. Bring a copy of your rough draft to the writing conference, which will take place on either 5/21 or 5/28.
→ The final draft is due 6/8 on Canvas. It must be MLA formatted and 6 full pages minimum (not including the works cited page). You’re highly encouraged to conference with me throughout the process, and to visit the Writing Success Center. Reach out if you’re struggling at any point or if you’d just like some feedback and encouragement!