SELF & SOCIETY
RYAN 11-2009
WRITING ASSIGNMENT: DENSE QUESTION ESSAY
PRE-WRITE
OUTLINE
DRAFT
FINAL
DUE: MONDAY, 30 NOV
DUE: FRIDAY, 4 DEC
DUE: TUESDAY, 8 DEC
DUE: TUESDAY, 15 DEC
OVERVIEW
You will write an essay about an abstract concept, an important element that pertains to American identity. So, you’re essentially
defining what it means to be American in this essay.
GOAL
Define ONE of the concepts listed below using a variety of expository modes. Each writer we’ve read during this unit has offered
definitions and insights into the concepts. Your job is to explore those definitions and insights, then synthesize them into a new
understanding of your own. You will use your dense questions to guide your writing.
freedom
society
freak/loser
individuality
authenticity
conformity
identity
cool
happiness
Any other ideas? Talk to Ryan.
innocence
personality
character
SKILLS YOU WILL PRACTICE
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@
Develop a definition using a variety of strategies: synonyms, negation, extended definition, etymology, anecdotes (i.e. brief
stories), observations, analogies, comparisons, metaphors, examining others’ definitions, analysis, showing functions
Exploring a dense, combustible question
Creating solid body paragraphs with topic, developing, and concluding sentences
Creating a flow of ideas between body paragraphs & the whole essay
Composing clear sentences and varying sentence types—simple, compound, and complex
Practice using a dash
Bringing your knowledge together in a title, introduction, and conclusion
TASKS & PROCESSES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Review the assignment criteria & ask clarifying questions
Establish personal goals
Generate: select a concept, develop questions, pre-write & share with writing group
Plan: write an outline & share with writing group
Compose: write a draft & share with writing group
Revise: add, subtract, rearrange, reword
Evaluate your performance on process & product
REQUIREMENTS:
What you’ll hand in:
 PRE-WRITE
 OUTLINE
 DRAFT 1
 FINAL
 EVALUATION FORM
Length: long enough to provide a full and meaningful definition, short enough to be interesting & engaging
EVALUATION:
For this assignment, we will follow the six-traits rubric with one change. The Ideas and Content trait will be split into two
distinct categories to measure the work we've been doing on expository forms.
RYAN 11-2009
EXAMPLES
NEGATION
ETYMOLOGY
ANECDOTES
IMPLICATIONS
ANALOGIES
DENOTATION/CONNOTATIONS
METAPHORS
COMPARISONS
OTHER DEFINITIONS
ELEMENTS
TYPES
RYAN 11-2009
SELF & SOCIETY
(((WRITING ASSIGNMENT: PRE-WRITING DENSE QUESTION ESSAY)))
THE CONCEPT I WILL WRITE ABOUT & WHY I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IT
DENSE, COMBUSTIBLE QUESTION(S) I WILL USE TO FUEL MY DEFINITION
OBSERVATIONS FROM EXAMINING MODEL ESSAYS
GOALS I HAVE FOR THIS ESSAY
QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU WRITE ABOUT AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
What color is ______________?
What shape is ______________? Imagine that shape moving around: what is its mode of
locomotion?
Give the worst, most biased definitions of ______________?
Imagine this word or phrase did not exist. (Imagine a people with no word for it in their
language.)
What would be different because the word did not exist?
Imagine______________ is a place. Describe it.
What animal would make a good insignia for ______________?
What persons are connected in your mind with ______________?
If ______________ fell in love with something else, what would that something else be?
What would they have for children?
Design a flag for ______________.
Think of three or four abstractions that are bigger than ______________ or can beat it
up; and three or four which are smaller or can be beaten up by ______________.
Think of ______________ as part of an ecological system: What does it depend on? What
depends on it? What does it eat? What does it emit? What eats it? What emits it?
What are the most memorable sounds associated with ______________? Smells?
RYAN 11-2009
NAME:
SELF & SOCIETY
OUTLINE
TITLE:
INTRODUCTION
 HOOK:
 THESIS:
MODES OF DEFINING A CONCEPT
SYNONYM
NEGATION
ETYMOLOGY
MAIN IDEA:
ANECDOTE
OBSERVATION
ANALOGY/COMPARISON
FORMAL DEFINITION
STIPULATIVE DEFINITION
EXTENDED DEFINITION
MODE OF DEFINING:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 1:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 2:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 3:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 4:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 5:
 CONCLUDING IDEA:
MAIN IDEA:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 1:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 2:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 3:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 4:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 5:
 CONCLUDING IDEA:
MODE OF DEFINING:
IMAGES/CHARTS
METAPHOR
OTHERS’ DEFINITIONS
RYAN 11-2009
MAIN IDEA:
MODE OF DEFINING:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 1:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 2:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 3:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 4:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 5:
 CONCLUDING IDEA:
MAIN IDEA:
MODE OF DEFINING:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 1:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 2:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 3:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 4:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 5:
 CONCLUDING IDEA:
MAIN IDEA:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 1:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 2:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 3:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 4:
 SUPPORTING IDEA 5:
 CONCLUDING IDEA:
CONCLUSION
 SYNTHESIS:
 EXTENSION:
MODE OF DEFINING:
RYAN 11-2009
NAME:
SELF & SOCIETY
MAIN SUBJECT:
OUTLINE
PARAGRAPH #:
TOPIC SENTENCE ( = MAIN IDEA)
DEVELOPING SENTENCES ( = SUPPORTING DETAILS)
CONCLUDING SENTENCE
SYNONYM
NEGATION
ETYMOLOGY
MAIN TELLING STRATEGY(S) FOR THIS PARAGRAPH (HIGHLIGHT/CIRCLE 1 – 3):
ANECDOTE
FORMAL DEFINITION
IMAGES/CHARTS
OBSERVATION
STIPULATIVE DEFINITION
METAPHOR
ANALOGY/COMPARISON
EXTENDED DEFINITION
OTHERS’ DEFINITIONS
MAIN SUBJECT:
PARAGRAPH #:
TOPIC SENTENCE ( = MAIN IDEA)
DEVELOPING SENTENCES ( = SUPPORTING DETAILS)
CONCLUDING SENTENCE
SYNONYM
NEGATION
ETYMOLOGY
MAIN TELLING STRATEGY(S) FOR THIS PARAGRAPH (HIGHLIGHT/CIRCLE 1 – 3):
ANECDOTE
FORMAL DEFINITION
IMAGES/CHARTS
OBSERVATION
STIPULATIVE DEFINITION
METAPHOR
ANALOGY/COMPARISON
EXTENDED DEFINITION
OTHERS’ DEFINITIONS
RYAN 11-2009
MAIN SUBJECT:
PARAGRAPH #:
TOPIC SENTENCE ( = MAIN IDEA)
DEVELOPING SENTENCES ( = SUPPORTING DETAILS)
CONCLUDING SENTENCE
SYNONYM
NEGATION
ETYMOLOGY
MAIN TELLING STRATEGY(S) FOR THIS PARAGRAPH (HIGHLIGHT/CIRCLE 1 – 3):
ANECDOTE
FORMAL DEFINITION
IMAGES/CHARTS
OBSERVATION
STIPULATIVE DEFINITION
METAPHOR
ANALOGY/COMPARISON
EXTENDED DEFINITION
OTHERS’ DEFINITIONS
MAIN SUBJECT:
PARAGRAPH #:
TOPIC SENTENCE ( = MAIN IDEA)
DEVELOPING SENTENCES ( = SUPPORTING DETAILS)
CONCLUDING SENTENCE
SYNONYM
NEGATION
ETYMOLOGY
MAIN TELLING STRATEGY(S) FOR THIS PARAGRAPH (HIGHLIGHT/CIRCLE 1 – 3):
ANECDOTE
FORMAL DEFINITION
IMAGES/CHARTS
OBSERVATION
STIPULATIVE DEFINITION
METAPHOR
ANALOGY/COMPARISON
EXTENDED DEFINITION
OTHERS’ DEFINITIONS
RYAN 11-2009
TO CONFORM OR NOT TO CONFORM? THAT’S NOT EVEN THE POINT.
A boy walks into his first period classroom and sees a group of kids wearing tee shirts of his favorite band. So he
strikes up a conversation with the group and becomes friends with them, and they eventually attend a concert together. This
seems like a happy story, but wait–the boys are conforming! Some might say that they are limiting their personal individuality
and becoming slaves to an outer establishment. But it looks like this group may be beneficial to the boys. This shows the
conflict over the concept of conformity: Is conformity a bad thing or is it something positive for mankind?
To help answer this question one must first discover where conformity comes from and when it begins to affect a
person’s identity. But what is someone’s identity? Gerry Spence writes that people are born with “fresh, un-compromised souls”
like a “blank, white canvas when no commitments, no relationships, no plans, no values, no moral restraints have been painted
on” (682-683). Nobody has an “identity” that they have inside him or her. People create, or are forged into an identity by the
parents, culture, and pressures around a person as they grow. No one has an identity that they can call their own because they
have been affected by some outside force that has welded how they act, talk, live or what they believe, do, or say. Carson
McCullers would argue that as a person develops “self-consciousness” and the “relation between himself and the world in
which he finds himself” he develops an identity that he sees himself as. Then, conforming comes into play “after the first
establishment of identity” as “there comes the imperative need to lose this-new-found sense of separateness and to belong to
something larger and more powerful than the weak, lonely self.” Conformity sprouts out of the need for the individual to
instinctively be like the successful around him. The person will adopt a system of how to live because his parents will bring him
up that way, and he will not be able to rebel and survive as a child. As a person becomes more responsible and has the
possibility to live independently, he is thwarted in any attempt to rebel by punishment, peer pressure, and the grueling
consequences that would follow in the pre-existing system. It would be impossible for one to live without some type of
conformity placed upon him. For without conformity, one is in a state of complete freedom, which is “pure terror…a state of
nothingness” (Spence 682).
A state of no conformity and complete freedom is not desirable. Some, like Evan Cooper, believe that complete
“anarchy works” and that people “just need to give it a shot” because it is the “only way to be truly free.” Although it may be
the only way to be in a complete state of freedom, it is not a more positive alternative than conforming. How is anarchy working
for the people in modern examples such as Somalia and Iraq? Clearly, the average human individual cannot survive without
“Law and order and rules” that “provide safeguards by which we are free to live with reasonable safety among” (Spence 686).
The human race has become so cemented into a system that shooting back into the wild to be in a free anarchy would be
impossible and destructive. Gene Rosellini, a highly educated yet revolutionary mountain man described in Jon Krakauer’s Into
the Wild, hated how modern technology and systems were making humans “progressively inferior beings” (Krakauer 74). So,
he rejected the conformity of the modern society and lived as a Neolithic caveman, free from the seemingly oppressive shackles
of conforming. Yet, after decades of experience in this almost perfect state of freedom, Gene “recast his goals” and concluded
that it was “not possible for human beings as we know them to live off the land” (Krakauer 75). Anarchy, true freedom, or a
world without conformity isn’t desirable and in reality, not even possible except in death.
Since conformity is a necessary, why does it have to be so destructive and oppressive at the same time? Conformity is
sometimes evil, only when it becomes so restrictive that it drives people into a role, system, or group that makes the person
unhappy for a long period of time. Most people choose to conform to people “they can relate to.” If they “can conform and be
happy” and “it’s something that you enjoy,” then it’s constructive to conform. Why “free the happy slave and cast him into the
chaos and horrors of pure freedom” (Spence 688)? The key is that one must not choose to join a group where he will be
unhappy, unfairly treated, and a “prostitute” to arbitrary methods (Salinger 1). If one is enjoying himself by placing himself
among those he loves, why is it evil for him to be conforming to that group? Just because one doesn’t think, act, or believe
something completely different than his peers dose not mean he is a weak. There is nothing wrong in one conforming to a
system that works for him. Simply rebelling to cast off the image of being a conformer is unhealthy and the opposite of the
human race’s instinct. Humans are social beings, thus a society is beneficial, natural, and helps the greater good.
If the boy who entered the classroom decided to not even acknowledge the presence the other kid with the tee shirt, he
would feel like a non-conformist. He successfully resisted the urge to conform and associate with another human. Hoo-ray for
him? Simply choosing to rebel for the sake of rebelling is unwise and limits a person. However, if the boy decided to join a
group that participated in activities that were harmful or un-enjoyable for him, then conforming would not be in his best
interest. Conforming is never always good or always bad. In fact, basing a decision on whether or not to conform is irrelevant. It
doesn’t matter if one conforms. Rather, what matters is if the person can physically, emotionally, and spiritually thrive in the
society in which he chooses to join.
RYAN 11-2009
WHERE ARE MY GLASSES? – CLEARING UP SOCIETY’S VIEW OF CONFORMITY
You hear the steady beat of boot against pavement, no not one boot… thousands. This distinct, thunderous sound
fills the air before they approach. They turn the corner in perfect rows: identical, powerful and terrifying. They are
perfectly synchronized as they shout “Hail Hitler” in unison. This is conformity at its worst, and when we think of the
word conformity… this extreme pops into our minds almost immediately. Most of the time we overlook and downplay
the conformity we show everyday. We also tend to accept the myth that everyone is unique. In reality, conformity is
inescapable; the wise man not only sees this, but also understands how complex conformity really is. We look at
conformity as the killer of the individual, and we don’t look to see how sometimes it is productive to conform. We often
prefer to have things definite and easy to determine, but when it comes to conformity, it is never laid out so nicely. It is
often hard to determine whether conforming is or is not the right choice.
Conformity comes from the word conformite, meaning to shape. We are the clay and society is the potter, shaping and
molding humans to its benefit. I often think of conformity as a fact of life, and in its most basic sense, it is. Many
times conformity is a survival mechanism. Doing what is expected of you, saying the appropriate thing and using
common sense are examples of conformity being a part of social survival. As a child we are taught that you don’t put
the square block in the round hole, in fact, we may spend our whole lives trying to figure out how to better fit in and
perform our role perfectly synchronized to others. Conformity can, in fact, be harmony when it is not forced.
Conformity is a tool. The trait evolved many millennia ago when you ate the same food because you knew it
wasn’t poisonous. Conformity is an effective survival mechanism. Back then it was ‘conform or die’. Now it’s: ‘conform
or die a social death’. It’s almost an instinct. Conformity protects you when you’re exposed to new situations. We learn
how to act by mimicking others, so not to humiliate ourselves. Its ironic how we think of conformity as a bad thing when
we frown at the person with a different way of living. Many times we want people to conform because it’s what we
expect. It makes us uncomfortable when someone doesn’t follow society’s unwritten rules. The individual is often outcast
and called: strange, awkward, or insane. So then, why is it so common to look down on conformity?
Conformity leads to sameness, which leads to boredom. A life without surprises, where there are no new ideas
and everything is constant, that is the worst thing conformity can do. Suburbia, where each house is so identical that it
would be easy to walk straight into your neighbor’s house without noticing, is a painful example of this monotony.
Conformity has gone too far when we lose ourselves in that glazed-over daze. If it is easy for us to live our life by
assuming that everything will always be the same, then we see the bitterness of conformity. When everything is
unpredictable, we are quickly confused… but is that such a bad thing? Why do we shy away from change? Conformity
doesn’t always lead to boredom though, it can help us become more efficient, leading us to different discoveries.
Conformity can be used to make our lives easier. We have expectations. In most situations you can assume people
will conform to society’s expectations. This helps us predict the actions of others. Conformity creates patterns; these
patterns are something we recognize and are comfortable with, they illustrate the social routines that make up American
Society. It makes life predictable, an incredibly useful device, a facet that must not be ignored.
When we use conformity to define people, like creating stereotypes, we’re creating consistency, a crucial
component to help us understand our world. The problem is that this consistency soon becomes shackles. We become
defined, thus limited by other’s expectations. People strive to live up to other’s expectations and as a result, they feel
confined to their former beliefs. When conformity gets to the point where it is holding you back, then it is wrong. We
should not accept society’s beliefs as the truth without questioning ourselves first.
Sometimes the line between the negative and positive side of conforming is blurred. How can you tell when to
and when not to conform? Before you can figure that out, you must make a list of the good and bad aspects of conforming
specific to your situation. How much freedom are you forfeiting when you decide to join a group? Will the cost outweigh
the benefits? Kenneth Tynan asked “How far should one accept the rules of the society in which one lives? To put it
another way: at what point does become corruption? Only by answering such questions does the conscience truly define
itself.” It is bad to let conformity cover up who you really are.
Simply put: conformity is bad when it changes you and when it creates inescapable consistency and boredom.
Conformity is good when it is used to coexist with others and get things accomplished. Choosing to conform can lead to
great power, but with that you have a significant loss of freedom. Conformity can be an efficient tool or it can be a
constraining cage. It’s unavoidable at times, but it is not always the root of evil. There is always a need for balance, to find
that balance, well that’s your job.
RYAN 11-2009
QUESTION

EXPLORATION
(STORIES, OPINIONS,
METAPHORS,
EXAMPLES,
DESCRIPTIONS,
EXPLANATIONS,
QUOTATIONS)

INSIGHTS &
SHARPER QUESTIONS
RYAN 11-2009
WRITTEN REFLECTIONS
PROCESS - “I used these processes (or steps) to complete my essay . . . and
they worked/did not work because . . .”
PRODUCT – “My essay is good/needs work because . . .”
GRADE – “I gave myself the grade I did because . . .”
PROGRESS – “I made progress/no progress on my learning targets
...”
RYAN 11-2009