Leadership for the 21st Century – Winter 2011
Essay 1 Assignment: Analysis and Reflection
How has leadership been defined in the past? How do we see it today? How do models of
leadership reflect society? What are the benefits and disadvantages of different kinds of
leadership? How are they reflected in literature?
We start with two traditional images of leadership, and one current model. Machiavelli’s Prince
reveals a lot about his society of 16th century Italy and the kinds of leaders who succeeded.
Shakespeare depicts a struggle for power, set in ancient Rome, reflecting the values and norms of
his own society in Elizabethan England. Both of these works have been part of the canon of
Western education, read for generations. William Isaacs proposes a set of skills for leaders,
rooted in contemporary and ancient ideas, that paints a different picture of human nature.
Your assignment is to write a 3-5 page essay that analyzes one of these works as a model of
“leadership.” Look deeply into the leadership shown and its consequences. Develop a central
idea to focus your analysis, a thesis that is both arguable (you find evidence for it in the text) and
debatable (not obvious, not merely a fact, but an interpretation). It’s a statement about the text
itself: not about the world we live in or history.
The thesis should narrow your focus enough that you can dig deeply into just one aspect of the
text and say something interesting about it. Broad, general statements (“Machiavelli thinks a
leader should be strong”) can only lead to broad, general summaries. Instead, focus on just one
central idea or element. If you’re writing about Julius Caesar, you might focus on just one
character – what sort of leader is Caesar himself? How about Brutus? Mark Antony?
Examples of possible thesis statements:
o The Prince proposes that a leader must act unjustly to establish a predictable society.
o The character of Brutus demonstrates that a thoughtful introvert who leads a violent
conspiracy will also do violence to himself.
o Isaacs argues that poor listeners make bad leaders, and that effective listening is a path to
good leadership.
Due Dates and Format
 Rough draft: Monday, January 24 Bring 4 copies of your typed rough draft.
 Revised draft: Monday, January 31. 1 copy.
 Also due Monday, Jan 31: the sentence outline. Directions will be provided.
 Final: Monday, February 7. Include one copy of each draft in the 2-pocket folder.
Follow format guidelines in the class syllabus.
Parts of the Essay
 A unique Title that captures the essence of your idea in just a few words,
 Introduction that introduces the author and the text, as well as your thesis,
 An arguable, debatable, clear, concise, and bold Thesis,
 Body Paragraphs to support your thesis using PIE format (more on this below),
 A Conclusion (1-2 paragraphs) that reflects on how the leadership you’ve explored
matters – the So What piece, and
 Works Cited.
Focusing your argument
The thesis statement should narrow down your argument. You need not discuss the whole book.
Instead, identify a handful of key places in the text that seem most important and focus on a
thoughtful interpretation of those.
Body paragraph organization with PIE
PIE format is a way to organize body paragraphs when writing about a text. This allows you to
keep an argument on topic and sort out what goes in each paragraph. Briefly, this means:
 Point: A one-sentence statement of how the evidence relates to the thesis.
 Illustration: A quotation, paraphrase, summary, or some combination of these. What’s in
the text, your evidence or data.
 Explanation: Your discussion and analysis of how the illustration supports your thesis.
Look at details, break down words, explain why it matters, answer “so what.”
Explanation should be the longest part of each paragraph.
Citations: Use MLA style for in-text citations. Prepare a Works Cited, on the last page of your
essay. Most likely it will have only one entry. Handouts will be provided. The text should be:
1) Introduced briefly in your introduction.
2) Cited in-text using MLA style, as for seminar papers.
3) Listed in Works Cited, in alphabetical order.
Your Own Work
Your essay should reflect your reading of the text, supported by conversations with your
classmates and teachers. This is not a research paper: please refrain from outside research via
internet or library. You may use introductions and other material from the text, properly cited.
Evaluation
This essay will be graded and is worth 12.5% of your final grade, using these criteria:
 Does the essay meet the requirements of the assignment as described here?
 Does the essay show good understanding and thought about the text?
 Does it have a thesis that is arguable, debatable, clear, concise, and bold?
 Does the whole essay clearly support to that thesis?
 Does the introduction engage the reader and set up your argument?
 Do body paragraphs use good PIE structure with ample explanation?
 Does the whole essay show logical organization of an argument?
 Does your conclusion show why this idea matters ?
 Is the writing clear and easy to follow, with mostly correct sentence structures?
 Has the essay been carefully edited for spelling, punctuation, and other mechanics?