Length: No less than 1,000 words. No more than 1,050 words. (Not including Works Cited.) Turning in an essay of less than 1,000 words or more than 1,050 will result in 50 points being taken off of your 100-point essay before I begin reading it.*
How to turn it in: Turn it in to this Canvas Assignment module. This is the only place I will accept it. Do not email it to me. You will get a 0.*
Voice: Third person*
Due date: September 23, 11:59 p.m. Turning it in late will result in points being taken off. Exactly how many will be deducted is denoted in the syllabus.*
Purpose and Tools
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to help you become comfortable accessing databases available to you in the SCF Library and elsewhere. It also will be a great opportunity for you to show that you understand the appropriate structure of an essay and proper grammar.
Library databases to try
Many of the newspapers that can be found online are behind paywalls. However, many newspapers are available for free on an SCF Library database.
America’s News (NewsBank)
Meanwhile, some newspapers are behind paywalls but offer free stories that you find by going to those sites and searching for “coronavirus” or “COVID-19”.
New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com)
That’s all of the websites and library databases you probably will need. However, if you want to use a typical newspaper website (www.heraldtribune.com
Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Local News, Politics & Sports in Sarasota, FL
Get the latest breaking news, sports, entertainment and obituaries in Sarasota, FL from Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
www.heraldtribune.com
) or two and have no problem getting past paywalls, at home or school, please use those websites as well.
Task
Thousands of newspaper articles have been written about the coronavirus pandemic. You are tasked here to use 10+ of them to write a chronological timeline of the first 18 months as a 1,000-word essay. You are to break your timeline down into five time periods, from March 2020-August 2021, and select at least two articles to write about from each time period (5x2=minimum of 10 sources):
2020
• March 1-June 30
• July 1-August 31
• September 1-December 31
2021
• January 1-April 30
• May 1-August 31
Question: What is the difference between a source and a citation?
A source is the record (newspaper, book, website, conversation, essay) used in locating information. A citation is a notation within a source that connects the source to your research and supports any conclusions made. In a typical essay you may have the same number of sources and citations, or more citations than sources, but you will never have more citations than sources.
Essay structure
After your complete your research, write a 1,000-word essay using this structure:
(Note: Essays less than 1,000 words will be given a “0” grade.
Your Name
Essay Title
Abstract
(Recommend: 100 words)
(More on this soon.)
Introduction
(Recommend: 200 words)
Summarize where we stand as a nation in September 2021 regarding the coronavirus. State two or three interesting and important things that have happened in the past 18 months as a result of the pandemic to get the reader interested in your essay early on. For each sentence you write, if it is general knowledge (schools closed, restaurants sold take-out), write it but don’t cite it. But if you use specific details you found in a newspaper or an online source, cite it. Example: Sixteen states and Washington, D.C., had postponed or canceled some or all fall sports seasons by the beginning of the 2020-21 school year (Stevens). You must cite it using a highlighted in-text citation, such as (Stevens). If you cite a source in your Introduction or Conclusion, that’s great, but you still must cite 10 sources in your chronological timeline in your literature review. That’s why I write 10+.
End the Introduction with an Informative Thesis Statement.
During the Introduction, successfully transition from your two or three interesting and important things about the pandemic to an informative thesis statement. A successful informative thesis statement will:
1. State the topic the author is going to explain in the essay. [Hint: Coronavirus timeline]
2. Describe how the author will explain this topic [Hint: Newspapers for first 18 months].
Example by teacher: The purpose of this essay is to create a timeline of events during the first 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic using newspaper sources.
Literature Review
(Recommend: 650 words)
(Include at least 10 MLA Style in-text sources highlighted in yellow in your Lit Review. I say at least 10 because you can cite the same source more than once. But you must cite 10 sources at least once. Failure to include at least 10 accurate and highlighted sources/citations in the Lit Review will result in a loss of up to 20 points from your overall grade.)*
Subhead 1: “March 1-June 30, 2020”
Example of an alternative subhead 1: “America shuts down”
Citations from at least two newspaper sources
Subhead 2: “July 1-August 31, 2020”
Example of an alternative subhead 2: “School will still look different”
Citations from at least two newspaper sources
Subhead 3: “September 1-December 31, 2020”
Example of an alternative 3: “Virus a political football”
Citations from at least two newspaper sources
Subhead 4: “January 1-April 30, 2021”
Example of an alternative 4: “Vaccination on the horizon”
Citations from at least two newspaper sources
Subhead 5: “May 1-August 31, 2021”
Alt Example of an alternative 5: “Delta variant wreaks havoc”
Citations from at least two newspaper sources
Conclusion
(Recommend: 50 words)
Summarize how your Literature Review explains the brief history of the coronavirus pandemic. You may cite a source (new or old) in the Conclusion but that is not required. Keep it brief so you can use more space to write your Literature Review. You don’t want your Conclusion to be too long or cover too much new ground.
Use MLA style
Works Cited Requirements:
At least 10 citations.
At least 10 sources (You may cite the same article more than once, but you still must have 10+ sources in your Works Cited.)
Remember the difference between a source and a citation.
A source is the record (newspaper, book, website, conversation, essay) used in locating information. A citation is a notation within a source that connects the source to your research and supports any conclusions made. In a typical essay you may have the same number of sources and citations, or more citations than sources, but you will never have more citations than sources.
Make sure your sources in your Lit Review and your sources in your Works Cited match precisely. For example, it would be bad to have 12 sources in your Lit Review and 13 in your Works Cited, or vice versa.
How points will be taken off
1. -50 for not meeting the minimum/maximum word requirements. (see above)
2. Up to -20 for not including essay title and subheads in the proper places (Title, Abstract, Introduction, Literature Review, Conclusion, Works Cited)
3. Up to -20 for not including an informative thesis statement (see above).
4. Up to -20 for not including at least 10 in-text citations, highlighted in yellow. (Highlighting in-text citations is not common practice when submitting essays to academic journals. You are highlighting these in-text citations so we both can find them easily and compare them with your Works Cited.)
5. Up to -20 for not including an Abstract written like you are learning in class to do correctly.
6. Up to -20 for not including a Works Cited with at least 10 sources that precisely match the sources in your Literature Review.
7. -.5 for each grammar error.
How to get a 0
1. Plagiarize
2. Turn it in extremely late
3. Refuse to turn it in to this Canvas Assignment module. Do not email it to me.
*-There will be no exceptions to this requirement.
Finding sources
How to use America’s News (NewsBank)
Go to scf.edu
Click on Libraries
Click on Databases
Click on “A”
Click on America’s News (NewsBank)
Log in if required
Scroll to bottom under image of old library and click on “USA” in blue box
Type “coronavirus”, “Covid-19” or you other preferred search term(s) in the search box at the top
Now you have a large list of results, and we need to whittle it down. To do so, look at the options in the far left column.
Best options:
Sort By
Oldest (Puts results in chronological order from top to bottom)
Date range (Choose one at a time and click Apply)
March 1-June 30, 2020
July 1-August 31, 2020
September 1-Dece 31, 2020
January 1-March 31, 2021
April 1-August 31, 2021
Click on Apply
Source Type
Click on Newspaper
Source location
Choose a state
USA-Florida (example)
Your results are at right. Click on a headline/link that you want to read.
Read the article. If it’s one that you don’t want to save, back out and go to a new article.
When you find an article that you want to save, click on the Email button at the top (Icon is third from left and looks like an envelope.)
Email the article to YOU from YOU.
