This introductory essay assignment is meant to acquaint you with the learning community with whom you will be sharing this course. Please read the directions carefully before you begin the assignment.

In the first paragraph of your essay, introduce yourself by including some personal information: Your name? Your job?  Your intended major? Your hobbies? Your skills or talents?  Your travels?  Your accomplishments?  Your goals? Your philosophy?   Choose whatever will make an effective introduction. This introduction should lead to a thesis statement that will be  the focus of the essay to follow:

For the topic of this essay, choose something that you value or devalue, for which you personally have a strong, fixed opinion—that something could be an idea (wearing masks; violence in films), a product (Starbucks coffee, Blaze pizzas) a favorite artist or entertainment (Big Bang Theory, Shakespeare), a person (Lady Gaga, Kamala Harris), something consequential (racism) or less consequential (speeding tickets) . What in your life experience has led you to this belief? What reasons can you provide for the opinion you have adopted?  Select and write your essay on ONE topic only.

Since this is an essay of 4-6 paragraphs (minimum 500 words), make sure to organize your essay according to paragraph structure.

Post your introductory essay below prior to the deadline of Wednesday 12 January.  Add a current photo to your profile that will serve as your identification on all posts and replies.

In the second part of the assignment, you will be responsible for reading the posts and writing replies to at least two of the posts. Read through the essays composed by your assigned group of peers. Identify a post which has had no more than two replies and respond in these two ways:

Find one peer with whose topic you most identify. Reply by clicking the “reply” button immediately under their post. and explain your common thinking or how your viewpoint on the topic compares to the one they expressed. Write a response of 100-150 words in which you discuss the topic with them.

Find another peer whose post has expressed an experience very different from your own. Maybe you have been unfamiliar with the topic or have a different approach to thinking about that topic. Reply by clicking the “reply” button immediately under their post. Write a response of 100-150 words in which you discuss your difference. You might even include a question to them as part of the response.

Lastly, read the replies that peers have made to your original post and briefly respond to at least one of the respondents. Your response can be as brief as 75 words.

The sooner you begin your post the better, since the deadline for completing all three parts of the assignment (your introductory writing, two replies, and final response) is Friday 14 January  at 11:59PM (when the submission window closes).

Note: This is the same process that you will follow for all DISCUSSION assignments in the course: (1) a specified deadline for your initial post; (2) the date the window closes by which you must have completed all specified follow-up replies.