Fahrenheit 451 Could it really happen?

What is the end goal? You will ultimately be writing an essay arguing whether or not Ray Bradbury’s prediction can come true. You will have to use historical events, the novel, and information about the current state of humanity to defend your position statement. This essay will be 2 to 4 well-orchestrated pages. You need to think more toward the 4th page in order to ensure you are citing and explaining enough information to firmly support your position. Please come ask me about any deficiencies in your previous essays (especially if it is a repeated error) to help ensure you do better on this one.

Premise of your research today You need to find 3 societies from any time period that have attempted to restrict the knowledge people were allowed to have. You may use anything from an ancient civilization to a modern civilization. They did not have to literally burn books for this to apply. You need to discover the political motivation for making the people ignorant. You need to discover whether or not they succeeded at their endeavor. Make sure you note the level to which they were successful (what percent of the population if you can get an accurate measure or a general most/some/majority/minority type statement) You need to discover how they got the people to follow their plan. You need to discover why the people went with what the government was doing.

What to do with your research information You can use Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Be sure that you save it to your student drive and not the computer’s My Documents if you use Word. You need to create a document where you will: Copy and paste information that you will need Copy and past the URL that goes with the information you need Note the webpage title and author (when available) with the information you copy The URL, webpage title, and author will become extremely important when you create your works cited page at the end of this assignment.

What you need to accomplish today: Based on your own knowledge of the world today, your research yesterday and the novel, you need to determine your position statement. (Could Bradbury’s prediction come to pass?) You will need to begin sorting your information and grouping it based on ideas that are similar. This is going to assist you with writing your paragraphs. This essay is due Friday and Friday you have to make the works cited page. You do not have time to waste.

Essay Organization Suggestion Introduction Hook, Bridge, Position Statement (please realize you need more than 3 reasons to support the position statement) Body Paragraphs Topic Statement (1 reason why your position is accurate) Idea (why is this reason relevant) Evidence (Parenthetical citations are required) Explanation Repeat 3 or 4 times per point (you will need evidence from history, current society (your knowledge) and the novel Conclusion Summarize your reasons (body paragraphs) Restate your position (new words, be firm)

Parenthetical Citations – Paraphrase/Summarize/Restate/Quote If it did not originate in your brain, you MUST give credit. Novel (Author’s last name page #) (Bradbury 7). Webpage (Author’s last name). OR (“Webpage Title”). Article (Author’s last name). Encyclopedia entry (“Entry Title”). Newspaper Article (Author’s last name). Please note the . after the parentheses. Your citation should be at the end of the sentence and should be followed by a period. This is for quotes, paraphrases, summarizations, restatements, etc. This is required and failure to do so will make your test grade a 0 and you will NOT be able to do anything to fix that grade.