ESSAY #1—English 1A
Dr. Leiby Spring 2016
For Essay #1, you will write a five-paragraph essay about either Pasi Sahlberg’s article “Teachers
as Leaders in Finland” (Option A) or the excerpt from Mike Rose’s book Lives on the Boundary
(Option B).
Option A
Your essay should answer the following questions in its body paragraphs:
1. What main points does Pasi Sahlberg make in his article “Teachers as Leaders in Finland”?
2. How do teachers in Finland differ from those in the United States, and why are these differences
important?
3. Which K-12 public education system is better: Finland’s or the United States’? Why?
Option B
Your essay should answer the following questions in its body paragraphs:
1. What main points does Mike Rose make in the excerpt from Lives on the Boundary?
2. Why does Rose use a variety of student examples?
3. What is the significance of Rose’s points for students attending universities and community
colleges, for educators, and for policy makers?
Content and Organization. Your essay should include an introductory paragraph that gives some
background information on the author you are writing about, the title of his text, and the main issue it
addresses; the paragraph should end with your thesis statement. For the body paragraphs of the
essay, you should not only quote and paraphrase, but set up your examples as well as provide
commentary on them (use the “sandwich method”). Each body paragraph should begin with a solid
topic sentence linked to your thesis and then support it with examples from the text and with your
own reasoning and commentary. DO NOT begin paragraphs with paraphrases, summaries, or
quotations from the text. Instead, start with a topic sentence, and then provide support for it. Utilize
brackets and ellipses to make quoted material flow with your prose (you can also use a combination
of quotation and paraphrase, even in the same sentence), and be sure to include transitional words
and phrases to link examples to make paragraphs unified. Your essay should be logically organized
and include appropriate transitions between paragraphs. Include a conclusion paragraph in which
you re-emphasize your thesis and wrap up the essay.
Format. You should use MLA format for the essay, including correct margins, a heading and
header, a centered title, and double spacing, as well as putting the page numbers of the quotations or
paraphrases in parentheses and punctuating these properly. (Punctuation like periods and commas
should go after the parentheses for correct MLA format.) The last page of the essay should be a
Works Cited page that includes the article or book, as well as any other source you used (for
example, if you included biographical information about the author in your introductory paragraph).
Style and Grammar. Be sure to use formal academic style (no contractions or use of second person
point of view). Review the Guidelines for Academic Papers handout to help you revise and
proofread the essay before you submit the final version.
Essay Submission. On the due date (Jan. 29), submit the essay in a two-pocket folder, with the final
essay in one side and all rough drafts (including any Writing Center reviewed drafts) in the other
side; also bring a copy of the paper on flash drive in Word 2010 or earlier, as well as email a copy
in the text of an email to your MyECC email as a back-up. We will create Turnitin.com accounts
and submit the essay in class on Jan. 29, so please DO NOT submit the paper to Turnitin.com sooner.