Center for Academic Excellence Writing Assessment ... - eGo Main

For 30 years, Denmark has topped international happiness surveys. But Danes
are hardly a sanguine bunch. Ask an American how it’s going, and you will
usually hear “Really good.” Ask a Dane, and you will hear “Det kunne være
værre (It could be worse).” “Danes have consistently low (and indubitably
realistic) expectations for the year to come,” a team of Danish scholars
concluded. “Year after year they are pleasantly surprised to find that not
everything is getting more rotten in the state of Denmark” (p. 11 of the printed
version of the article).
Is there a correlation between the level of people’s expectations of life and their sense
of fulfillment and happiness? What evidence in the article supports your answer to this
question? Can we become a little happier by lowering our expectations?
Formulate your position in the paper’s thesis and proceed with outlining and analyzing
evidence from the article. Very likely, your answer will be more complex than a simple
“yes” or “no.” In the introductory paragraph, formulate your position as a thesis.
Elaborate on it in the body of the paper. Can you think of possible objections? If so,
address them in the essay. The essay’s conclusion should include a summary of your
main claims and not only a restatement of the thesis.
Instructions
Your essay should be 4-5 double-spaced pages long. This is not a research paper. Do
not cite any sources other than the text of the reading assignment. Should you quote
any passages from the article, be sure to enclose them in quotation marks. The use of
APA style is encouraged but not required. Your essay will be evaluated according to
standard criteria for academic writing (e.g., sentence structure, paragraph structure,
clarity of thesis and concluding statements, support of thesis, quality of analysis and
argument, overall organization and clarity, etc.).
Double-space your essay and make sure the paragraph divisions are clear. Create an
appropriate title and number the pages. Take the time to review, revise, and edit your
work to avoid inconsistencies, grammatical mistakes, and typos.
Please write your essay using a word-processing program such as MS WORD or
WordPerfect and save it as a .doc or .rtf file. If you are using MS Word 2007, please be
sure to “save as” an earlier version file.
Submitting the Essay
Please title your file for submission using your name in one of these styles:
1. firstname_lastname.doc, or
2. firstname_lastname.rtf
Be sure to type your name on the first page of the essay.
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