Below are the requirements for your first essay. Adhering to these criteria will help you to do well on this essay. You will also need clear, intelligent thinking and writing. Not following the criteria will ensure that you receive lower than a C.

You will need to write an essay of at least four pages and no more than six in which you create an argument that supports your thesis. Your options are:

• Read Freeman Hrabowski’s “Colleges Prepare People for Life,” Charles Murray’s “Are Too Many People Going to College?” and Caroline Bird’s “College Is a Waste of Time and Money.” In the 21^st century, do the benefits outweigh the costs of a college education? Is college a necessity or a luxury? Use two of the three articles in your composition.
• Do you agree that students out of high school attend a two-year college or a four-year college? Read Liz Addison’s “Two Years Are Better Than Four,” and Mark Peters’ “Surprising Findings on Two-Year vs. Four-Year Degrees,” and evaluate, perhaps even using compare and/or contrast techniques to answer the question.
• Complete a rhetorical analysis of either Bird’s “College Is a Waste of Time and Money” OR Addison’s “Two Years Are Better than Four.” Examine either writer’s use of rhetoric and argue whether or not the writer is successful in presenting her claim.

Your argument should include analysis, relevant support, and interpretation of the readings.

In your introduction, create a “hook” that draws your reader’s interest. If you select one of the first two options, at some point, name the writers and the articles (put the title in quotation marks) listed within the instructions, and briefly summarize the article/s (no more than three-to-four sentences). If you select the rhetorical analysis option, you will need to summarize the article in the introduction.

Use at least one other outside source but no more than three (research) to support your views. (We have a library web page that allows our class access to credible, academic articles.) Use brief, selected quotations to represent the views or facts of these sources. Make sure that the sources are relevant to your argument – and that you simply do not use them to fulfill a requirement.

Cite your sources with the standard in-text and works cited MLA format (8^th edition).Remember that you are writing an argument