View the list of American Essayists.Select an essayist who wrote after the Civil War (note, the listincludes some pre-Civil War essayists. Do not select a pre-Civil Waressayist). Search the internet for an essay by your selected author andread it. Compose a thesis that has a persuasive, debatable claim aboutthe significance of the message or theme in the essay or thesuccess/effectiveness of the essay as a whole. Summarize the essay inyour intro paragraph, end the paragraph with your thesis, and be sure toinclude your three points of evidence in your thesis statement. Citethe essay as you would any article on the internet as you examine yourpoints of evidence.

Your essays should be in MLA Style and approximately 1500-2000 words,not including the Work(s) Cited page. Meeting the minimum wordrequirement makes you eligible for a C grade. Meeting the maximum wordrequirements makes you eligible for an A grade. As with most academicwriting, this essay should be written in third person. Please avoid bothfirst person (I, we, our, etc.) and second person (you, your).

Shouldyou choose to use outside references for prompt one or two, these mustbe scholarly, peer-reviewed sources obtained via the APUS library(select Advanced Search and check the Peer Reviewed box). Reliable open web sources may be used for prompt three. Becareful that you don’t create a “cut and paste” paper of informationfrom your various sources. Your ideas are to be new and freshlyconstructed. Also, take great care not to plagiarize.