Inquiry Essay Prompts

Not this Friday but next Friday, your Inquiry Essay will be due. Here's the original post which has a few general ideas for how to approach the assignment.

I also want to give you a few examples:

1. Check out Jennifer 8. Lee, a New York Times reporter, whose new book is The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. Here's a little blurb about the book from her website (which also includes her blog [!!] and excerpts from the book):

There are more Chinese restaurants in this country than McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined. In The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, author Jennifer 8. Lee takes readers on a remarkable journey that is both foreign and familiar: penetrating this subculture by traveling the world (and almost every American state) in her quest to understand Chinese food and the people who make it.

Obviously you're not going to write a book. But a miniature version of this project would certainly fit the inquiry essay prompt. Lee got interested in the blending of food and culture, and so she researched and wrote about it.

2. Here's a NY Times Magazine article about young Egyptians voicing their protests of the recent military action in Gaza. Where did they voice said protests? Facebook. Again, this article is a little longer than what we're asking for, and it does some in-depth reporting that we don't expect you to do. The project, however, fits.

3. And here's an open letter to Al Gore re: climate change, etc.

The main thing to remember is that, regardless of the topic, this is a personal essay. Write about something you care about passionately. Don't shy away from the pathos here. Create an emotional bond with your reader by sharing relevant personal anecdotes/stories. Be funny. Be smart. Be sincere. Be the kind of person with whom your reader wants to sit down and have a cup of coffee.

This isn't a research paper. Think of it as an extended and slightly more formal blog entry. The emphasis is on your own personal experience and analysis.

Does that mean I'm suggesting you drop logos and ethos altogether? Pshaw! Key word: BALANCE. There may, in some cases, be a place for a little research. But what's most important is not what other people have said about your topic; it's what you have to say about it.