Title: Otherness: Exploring Connections between Poetry and Personal Experiences

Topic and Essay Requirements
Topic and other Essay Expectations
For this essay, your task is to write an argumentative essay about otherness, as reflected upon in our required sources and as you have seen and/or experienced in our world.
Content Expectations
Your thesis statement should provide a clear argumentative claim that connects the poem and TED Talk to your experiences and/or observations about otherness.  Do NOT use an announcement-style thesis (e.g. “In this essay, I will discuss…” or “This essay will cover…”).
The essay should provide a combination of reasoning and examples to support that thesis statement. When you provide examples to illustrate your ideas, use specific details to support these points and to retain the interest of your audience. 
Your essay will need to do the following (though not necessarily in this order):
discuss the meaning of the Diane Burns’s “Sure You Can Ask Me A Personal Question,”
explore connections between the poem and your own experiences and/or observations about otherness, and
explore connections between Maysoon Zayid’s TED talk, “I got 99 problems … palsy is just one,” and the rest of these ideas.
Source Use Expectations
Within your essay, you are expected to use cited source material from the following:
“Sure You Can Ask Me A Personal Question,” by Diane Burns
“I got 99 problems… palsy is just one,” by Maysoon Zayid
You should use the versions of these sources that are provided here in Canvas. You need to include at least one source sandwich from EACH text.
This is not a research-based essay, so you are not expected to use any other sources.  If you do wish to use any additional sources, you need to obtain my permission to use them at least twenty-four hours before the assignment is due; if you use sources without my permission, you may lose credit on the assignment.
You will need to document your use of all sources according to MLA format. For help with documentation, see the citing resources provided for this unit (in the reading and viewing assignments linked above) and Purdue’s Online Writing LabLinks to an external site..
Structure Expectations
A successful essay will have a clear thesis statement.
A successful essay will have topic sentences that guide a reader through each paragraph of the essay and link the supporting material to the thesis.
See Essay Structure: Visual for more help.
Audience and Style Expectations
Imagine that you are writing this essay for the greater Ohlone College community.
Assume that your audience is not familiar with this assignment or other materials for this course.
You may use the word “I” if you are discussing a relevant personal experience.
Do your best not to use “you” except when directly quoting.
Other Expectations
Your essay must be 1000-1500 + words in length.
Your essay must adhere to MLA format and documentation guidelines.