Final Exam Assignment Fall 1999

In Writing 101 you have learned to read critically; plan, organize, and develop an essay for a specific audience; revise your work; and document it correctly without plagiarizing. Your final exam will test all of these abilities. You will have 150 minutes to complete your exam on the date required. In that time, you will be required to write and revise an essay about a reading from Lunsford & Ruszkiewicz=s The Presence of Others. That essay will require you to incorporate at least one direct quote and at least one paraphrase from the reading, both documented correctly in MLA format.

Therefore, you should bring

1. Your copies of both Lunsford and HarrisByou can write notes in the books
2. At least one blue book (I will not have any to give youBmy stash is gone)
3. Scratch paper if you want it
4. Something reliable to write with (and to erase with, if you want)
       You may also bring a dictionary/thesaurus if you wish.

The final exam will be set up much like the midterm, except that it will expect you to answer in more depth, since you have twice as much time. You will be given a selection from the chosen reading, and asked to agree or disagree (partially or completely) with it. You will be asked to support your answer with evidence drawn both from the entire essay with commentary and from your own experience. You will be asked to show that you can both quote from and paraphrase the reading, without plagiarism and with appropriate MLA documentation, as part of your answer.

The assigned essay is Ayn Rand=s AThe Soul of the Individualist,@ pp. 443-451. Make sure you read all the prefatory material and the AAfterwords@ to this essay. The eight study questions after the essay will be excellent guides for studying for this exam. If your answer indicates that you don=t realize that the reading is actually a speech from a novel and that Howard Roark is a fictional character, I=ll assume you didn=t read this material and prepare very well, and that will affect your grade!