Reading Response Journal – Is a College Education Worth the…

Please submit all work in MLA Format

Read the questions below. Then read Is a College Education Worth the Money and Plan B: Skip College featured in your Blair Reader or below your instructions. Annotate the text as you read, and think about what your response to each question will be.

Questions to ponder:

1. After reading these different perspectives on the cost of college education, what questions do you have? List at least 5 questions you would like to investigate further.
2. Who is the intended audience for Daniel Cheevers essay, Is College Worth the Money? What clues helped you understand who his audience might be?
3. What is the authors primary purpose in Plan B: Skip College? Does he succeed in achieving his purpose? Why or why not?
4. In your opinion, is a college education worth the money? Provide specific reasons and examples to support your claim.

In your journal, write out the answers to your questions.

Journal Assignment: “Is a College Education Worth the Money and Plan B: Skip College?”

Estimated Time to Complete: 2 hours

Purpose of Assignment:

• Write clear and organized expository essays expressing your opinion on the reading and why you feel a certain way. Do not submit a summary; focus on your thoughts about the reading.
• Read, analyze, and interpret professional texts to understand the author’s purpose, voice, and style.
• Avoid errors in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure.
• Demonstrate understanding of summarizing, paraphrasing, and critiquing texts.
• Apply critical thinking and writing concepts.

Instructions:

1. Critical Reading and Annotation:

• Carefully read Is a College Education Worth the Money and Plan B: Skip College? ? from the Blair Reader.
• Annotate the text to help you remember, understand, and question the content. Consider the following annotation strategies:
• Highlight or summarize main ideas.
• Identify the function of each paragraph (e.g., introduces, illustrates, addresses counterarguments, builds trust).
• Circle and look up new vocabulary.
• Look for deeper meanings and implications.
• Comment on interesting, significant, or powerful ideas or phrases.
• Express agreement or disagreement with the authors points.
• Connect the author’s ideas to each other or to ideas from other texts.
• Note anything you find confusing or would like to discuss.
• Observe how the author uses language, tone, and word choice to influence readers.

1. Writing the Reading Response Journal:

• Write a 2-page double-spaced essay in Times New Roman, size 12.
• Format the essay as a cohesive narrative, not as a series of questions and answers.
• Ensure the essay is approximately 600 words (no less than 550 words).

1. Include Scholarly Support:

• Use at least one scholarly peer-reviewed document to support your analysis.
• Cite this document in your essay and list it on a Works Cited page.
• Also cite “Is a College Education Worth the Money and Plan B: Skip College? in the text and on the Works Cited page.

1. Formatting Guidelines:

• Follow MLA Format.
• Use 12 pt Times New Roman font.
• Set 1-inch margins on all sides.
• Double-space the entire document.
• Include a four-line MLA heading on the first page.
• Center the title of your paper (remove centering before starting the first paragraph).
• Indent each new paragraph 12 inch.
• Cite all references in-text with the authors last name and page number (e.g., Brown 124).
• List all works cited in alphabetical order on a separate Works Cited page.
• Use hanging indents for citations longer than two lines.
• Proofread for spelling and grammar errors.

1. Submission Guidelines:

• Submit the essay as a Microsoft Word or PDF document (Canvas does not recognize Pages or other formats).
• Ensure your Turnitin similarity report shows less than 14% similarity to avoid a zero grade. Students may review their report before submitting it.