Essay Guidelines

Directions: Develop one of the following prompts related to The Soloist into a reader’s response essay consisting of 1 ½ to 2 pages. Follow the guidelines listed below the list of prompts.

1. Imagine yourself in Steve Lopez’s position. What would you do differently? Cite specifics incidents to support your decisions.
2. Based upon what you have learned from reading The Soloist,  discuss possible reforms that could benefit individuals who are homeless and have mental illnesses. Cite specific incidents from The Soloist that caused you to consider these reforms.
3. Do some research on schizophrenia and compare what you find with the characteristics Mr. Ayers displays. In your essay’s conclusion, describe how you, as a person without training in mental health, can help people with this condition.
4. Research two or three myths about individuals with mental illnesses and discuss how these myths are portrayed in The Soloist. In what ways can you help to demystify these myths?
5. Discuss at least three lifelong lessons to be learned from reading The Soloist? Remember to cite specific examples from the text of the book.
6. Based upon incidents in The Soloist, discuss the redemptive power of music as related to this quotation in The Soloist: “Music is an anchor, a connection to great artists, to history, and to [Mr. Ayers].”
7. Analyze how Steve Lopez, the journalist in The Soloist, differentiates between Nathanial’s illness and Mr. Ayers’s talent. Cite specific incidents from The Soloist to support your analysis.
8. After Steve Lopez published an article about Nathaniel Ayers, his talent, and his homelessness, people from businesses and organizations expressed interest in helping Nathaniel by sending him stringed instruments and money. Why do people sometimes hesitate to help people with mental illnesses and without homes?  What about Lopez’s article encouraged strangers to want to help Nathaniel? Base your response on the book The Soloist and on your personal knowledge and experience.
9. In helping others, some people tend to neglect their own families. Indeed, these humanitarians are sometimes neglecting their own families to help others whose families have neglected them. How are either or both of these ideas portrayed or not portrayed in The Soloist?
10. Using examples from The Soloist, discuss at least three characteristics of true friendship.

Guidelines for Required Essay as Part of Summer Reading of The Soloist

1.  All students will submit a 1 ½-2 page essay related to one of the above prompts related to The Soloist.  Your APSU 1000 instructor will communicate with you at Freshman Orientation when the assignment will be due. Further instruction will be given at Freshman Orientation as to when the assignment is due if you want your essay submitted to the contest. The top ten essay writers will be invited to a dinner with Steve Lopez.
2. This essay must be typed in 12-point Times New Roman font and must be double spaced throughout.
3. The margins for this paper are to be standard 1-inch left and right margins and 1-inch for top for MLA style or 1-inch left and 1-inch top and right margins for APA style. Check with your APSU instructor for requirements for other formats that may be required.
4. In most cases, this paper is to contain a heading formatted in either MLA style or a title page in APA style.  Ask your APSU 1000 instructor which style is to be used. You may find both of these styles in your ENGL 1010 handbook or online. Some instructors may require a different style. You must follow the style your instructor requires.
5. Number the pages in this essay in a manner consistent with the style your professor requires for the essay.
6. Use parenthetical (in-text) documentation for any direct quotations you take from The Soloist. Again, consistently use APA or MLA style or another style your instructor requires.
7. At the end of this essay, include a page listing Works Cited, References, or Bibliography for sources used in writing the essay. At a minimum, you must include an entry for The Soloist.  Entries are to be consistent with the style your instructor requires for the essay.

Additional tips for writing your essay:

1.  Based on one of the prompts provided above, create a thesis for your essay and carry the idea expressed in the thesis throughout the essay.
2. Include the title and author of the book in the introductory paragraph.
3. Develop your essay with adequate details and examples.
4. Use standard formal diction.
5. If you write something in a reader response essay, your reader assumes you are writing what you believe, think, or feel. You do not need to tell your reader “I believe,” “I think,” and “I feel.” Avoid the pronoun you except in a direct quotation.
6. Write in complete sentences.
7. Avoid run-on sentences and comma splices.
8. Avoid indefinite and ambiguous pronoun references. Especially, avoid “it is” when it has no clear antecedent.
9. Avoid the expletive there followed by to be verb; for example, avoid there is, to begin a clause.
10. Avoid the reason is because.
11. Avoid subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement errors.
12. Create a title that reflects the thesis of your essay. The title of the book cannot be the title of your essay.

If you need more help with grammar, usage and mechanics, you may visit the APSU Writing Lab in the Marks Building or online at this site: 

http://apsu.edu/academic_support_center/writing.htm