english question and need guidance to help me learn. How to prepare & write your

english question and need guidance to help me learn.
How to prepare & write your Final Essay Test
Reading assignments: Read 2 (two) articles as assigned below:
Read – “Time to Rethink Our Consumer Society” (Final Draft / p. 236/ Chapter 8).
Read – “Will It Make You Happy?” – Final Essay Test Reading (Canvas / Modules/ Final Essay Test)
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For this test, you will be asked to write a 5-paragraph long academic composition (essay) with an ‘argumentative’ tone.
You will be required to start your introduction as anecdotal or general, and develop a bridge.
You will be required to finish your introduction paragraph with a clear Thesis Statement, answering the question, and including 3 points of view in parallel structure.
You will be required to develop 3 body paragraphs, each starting with Topic Sentence (topic + controlling idea), and follow up with explanation statements.
You will be required to develop each body paragraph with at least either a summary of a paragraph from the readings and /or a paraphrase from the readings.
You will be required to end each textual reference (summary or paraphrase) with correct source documentation in parenthesis.
You will be required to use at least ONE personal observation example in each body paragraph.
You will be required to build some argument to support your point of view in each body paragraph.
You will be required to NOT use any quotes / copy-paste sentences from the readings (summaries and paraphrases are not quotes!)
You will be required to end your essay discussion with a brief conclusion paragraph.
You will be required to use the grammatical structures that you have learned in this class. You should also use topic-appropriate vocabulary throughout the essay.
Writer’s Checklist √
(Take a print out and use to review your essay)
Introduction & bridge are developed _______
Hook is either anecdotal or general – not a mixture _______
Thesis statement has 3 points and parallelism _______
Read – the question to see – Thesis Statement answers _______
Each Topic Sentence hast topic + controlling idea _______
Each body paragraph / summary has a paraphrase with source _______
Each paragraph has a personal observation example _______
Each paragraph has some argument _______
The conclusion paragraph has no textual references / examples _______
Grammatical sentences and vocabulary are correctly used _______
1 Will It Make You Happy? By Stephanie Rosenbloom. The New York Times. ______________________________________________________________________________ SHE had so much. A two-bedroom apartment. Two cars. Enough wedding china to serve two dozen people. Yet Tammy Strobel wasn’t happy. Working as a project manager with an investment management firm in Davis, Calif., and making about $40,000 a year, she was, as she put it, caught in the “work-spend treadmill.” So one day she stepped off. Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation during which it was relegated to a closet. Eventually, they got rid of their cars, too. Emboldened by a Web site that challenges consumers to live with just 100 personal items, Ms. Strobel searched her wardrobe and toiletries to precisely that number. Her mother called her crazy. Today, three years after Ms. Strobel and Mr. Smith began downsizing, they live in Portland, Oregon, in a spare, 400-square-foot studio with a nice-sized kitchen. Mr. Smith is completing a doctorate in physiology; Ms. Strobel happily works from home as a Web designer and freelance writer. She owns four plates, three pairs of shoes and two pots. With Mr. Smith in his final weeks of school, Ms. Strobel’s income of about $24,000 a year covers their bills. They are still car-free but have bikes. One other thing they no longer have: $30,000 of debt. Ms. Strobel’s mother is impressed. Now the couple have money to travel and to contribute to the education funds of nieces and nephews. And because their debt is paid off, Ms. Strobel works fewer hours, giving her time to be outdoors, and to volunteer, which she does about four hours a week for a nonprofit outreach program called Living Yoga. “The idea that you need to go bigger to be happy is false,” she says. “I really believe that the acquisition of material goods doesn’t bring about happiness.” While Ms. Strobel and her husband overhauled their spending habits before the recession, legions of other consumers have since had to reconsider their own lifestyles, bringing a major shift in the nation’s consumption patterns. “We’re moving from uncalculated consumption — which is ‘buy without regard’ — to a calculated consumption,” says Marshal Cohen, an analyst at the NPD Group, the retailing research and consulting firm. On the bright side, the practices that consumers have adopted in response to the economic crisis ultimately could make them happier. New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material
2 objects, when they enjoy what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo neighbors. If consumers end up sticking with their newfound spending habits, some tactics that retailers and marketers began using during the recession could become lasting business strategies. Among those strategies are offering merchandise that makes being at home more entertaining and trying to make consumers feel special by giving them access to exclusive events and more personal customer service. While the current round of stinginess (lack of generosity) may simply be a response to the economic downturn, some analysts say consumers may also be permanently adjusting their spending based on what they’ve discovered about what truly makes them happy or fulfilled. So just where does happiness reside for consumers? Scholars and researchers haven’t determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce & Gabbana. But they have found that our types of purchases, their size and frequency, and even the timing of the spending all affect long-term happiness. One major finding is that spending money for an experience — concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco — produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff. According to retailers and analysts, consumers have gravitated more toward experiences than possessions over the last couple of years, opting to use their extra cash for nights at home with family, watching movies and playing games — or for “staycations” in the backyard. Many retailing professionals think this is not a fad, but rather “the new normal.” “I think many of these changes are permanent changes,” says Jennifer Black, president of the retailing research company Jennifer Black & Associates. “I think people are realizing they don’t need what they had. They’re more interested in creating memories.” Buying luxury goods, conversely, tends to be an endless cycle of one-upmanship, in which the neighbors have a fancy new car and — bingo! — now you want one, too, scholars say. A study published in June in Psychological Science by Ms. Dunn and others found that wealth interfered with people’s ability to savor positive emotions and experiences, because having an embarrassment of riches reduced the ability to reap enjoyment from life’s smaller everyday pleasures, like eating a chocolate bar. . ——————————– (The following article is adapted from The New York Times, August 7, 2010. This is only for the use of a specific class purpose. )