Preparing definition essay
Prepare a definition essay establishing the legitimate status of one, specific subculture (to which you do NOT belong). Your final essay should be 1,000 words, typed and formatted according to MLA guidelines. You may only use three sources (“What is Culture” and two personal interviews). In your definition essay, you will argue that the specific subculture you have chosen has all the criteria for culture as defined by Richard Pearce in our reading. Your subculture will have its own specific institutions and conventions that are perpetuated through its own means of socialization and coercion. To begin, you’ll need to select a subculture to which you do NOT belong, but which you can access via interview. You’ll need to find three people you can interview, but you’ll only need to cite two of the interviews in your essay. Subcultures are based around a common ground that can either be classically cultural (an ethnic group), spiritual (less common religious groups like Wiccans), occupational (skydive instructors or computer hackers), or interest based (nudists, gamers, and renaissance fairgoers). [unique_solution]Wikipedia will give you an (all too) exhaustive list of subcultures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_subcultures. This is a nice list of “interest” type subcultures: http://subcultureslist.com/. And here’s a fun news story about them (although I can’t imagine you’ll find them around town): http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Entertainment/subcultures-strong-online-presence/story?id＝18511594. Our next six exercises will prepare you for this essay assignment. There are some research requirements (you’ll need to conduct some interviews) for this essay that will require some preparation. Please be sure to read all the way through this pack to familiarize yourself with the assignments and ensure that nothing catches you off-guard! Your essay will be MLA formatted. This includes font size and line spacing. This is described on pages 520-521 of your textbook and there is a sample that starts on page 534. It will include both paraphrase and quotation; all paraphrase and quotation will be properly cited (with parenthetical citation). It will be at least 1,000 words in length. It will be free of typographical and grammatical errors. It will have a Works Cited page (with citations for Pearce and each of your interviews). This is described in your textbook on page 503.