Argumentative and Interpretive Essay

500-600 words, double-spaced, MLA format
(MLA header, numbered pages, 12-point, Times New Roman font, 1” margins) Secondary sources are not required, but textual sources must be cited accordingly to MLA guidelines. Please refer to PurdueOwl online for help with in-text and Works Cited formatting.
Worth: 100 points (10%)
Choose one of the following topics and offer an argumentative and interpretive essay, based in a close reading of the specified passage and centered around a recognizable thesis.
1. Recall the urban expansion of this time period: 6% of the American population living in cities in 1800 to almost ten times that amount of 51% in 1920. Drawing from Robinson’s “The Clerks” and Masters’s excerpt from Spoon River Anthology, discuss how these authors reflect their concerns of the city’s role in modern life.
2. Both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois fight for African American education and progress in a post-Civil War America. Drawing from the excerpts from Washington’s “Up from Slavery” and DuBois’s “Souls of Black Folk,” discuss the types of education one or both of these men advocate for and why members of the African American community might support or not support these convictions.
Feel free to email me at macy.skipworth@ttu.edu with any further questions.