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EN 106 > Final Exam Guidance

The final examination for EN 106 requires some preparatory reading; since some of you will
take the final exam very early in Week Eight, it is imperative that you know about, and
prepare for the final exam, during Weeks Six and Seven.
The final exam in EN 106 asks you to produce a thesis-driven academic essay. Your essay
must have a clear, original thesis, well-developed supporting points, a logical organization,
and writing that is free from major mechanical errors. In addition, you are required to
incorporate (via direct quotation or paraphrase) information from two readings. These
references to outside work must be correctly cited with an in-text parenthetical citation of
the author’s last name and the page number); however, you will not be required to
compose a Works Cited page. You will be allowed to bring only your textbook (Greene and
Lidinsky) into the exam.
In many ways, the final exam for EN 106 mirrors the Writing Competency Test (WCT) that
all students at Park University are required to pass. For the WCT you will be given a number
of readings, diverse in genre, source, and perspective, but loosely linked by topic. The WCT
asks you to identify a particular conversation of interest within those readings and to
develop a thesis-driven essay in response. The WCT requires you to incorporate at least two
readings, including a correct in-text citation. However, unlike the WCT, the exam for EN 106
does not require you to craft a Works Cited page, and you are not allowed to bring any
notes or pre-writing with you to the exam.
Because the two writing tasks (the EN 106 final exam and the WCT) are similar, you may
find it helpful to review the WCT resource material available through the Academic Support
Center’s website. You will note that although we have discussed in this course how to
expand beyond a traditional five-paragraph essay to create a more complex and
sophisticated essay, the Academic Support Center suggests using the five-paragraph essay
as a model because it is often helpful in timed writing situations. If you do go the route of
the five-paragraph essay, make sure to avoid its common pitfalls by articulating a clear
thesis and explaining the connections among the claims and evidence you use in your body
paragraphs.
You will compose a thesis-driven essay that makes use of two of the following four essays
(all essays are in Chapter Seventeen of Greene and Lidinsky):
• Jim Tarter’s “Some Live More Downstream than Others: Cancer, Gender, and
Environmental Justice,” pp. 822-835.
• Curtis White’s “A Good without Light: The Seamy Side of Sustainability,” pp. 836-
844.
• Anna Lappe’s “The Climate Crisis at the End of our Fork,” pp. 852-865.
• Michael Pollan’s “Why Bother?,” pp. 871-876.
Each of these essays addresses the broad topic of environmental sustainability—how
humans interact with the natural world, our responsibilities as citizens of the natural world,
and the gap that sometimes exists between the rhetoric of the environmental movement
(“organic,” “sustainable,” “community-owned”) and the economic and social realities of the
movement.
EN 106 Page 1 out of 3 © Park University, 2011 You will write a critical, thesis-driven essay on some conversation raised in the readings or
suggested by them. In order to write your essay, you will need to hone in on a specific
conversation of interest represented in the readings, and then craft your own thesis that
makes a contribution to that conversation. Your thesis must articulate your own
contribution, not simply reiterate arguments made in the readings. Remember that you
must incorporate two of the above readings into your essay. There are many possibilities;
you will need to develop your own topic/define your own conversation, and it should not be
simply a summary of the articles. You should create a thesis statement and write an
argumentative essay that seeks to prove your claim. Your audience is educated peers who
have not read the texts you will mention in your essay.
As you prepare for the exam, use the questions below to help you determine themes and
conversations of interest:
• What topics are common to the readings?

• Which issue or idea discussed do you find most interesting?

• What evidence or support from your own experience could you use to develop an
argument?

• What evidence or support do the readings provide?

• What social, political, or economic questions do these article raise? How do you
respond to these questions?

• What value questions do these article raise? How do you respond to these questions?
Can you articulate an arguable claim about these questions?

• Are there aesthetic or scientific dimensions to the issue that would be interesting to
explore?
Here are some tips, adapted from the Academic Support Center, that you may find helpful:
• Read the material in advance. Highlight significant passages from the readings so
that you can find material quickly during the exam.

• Prewrite to get ideas for your essay. Find out what the readings say to you. What
meaning do you make from the readings? Brainstorm, ask questions, freewrite,
etc. to come up with ideas about the topic.

• Develop a working thesis. (FOCUS) The thesis is one or two sentences which
state the main point of your essay. It is more than a topic: it tells what point you
are making about the topic. A working thesis may change somewhat once you
have the essay planned. Consult the thesis models in Greene and Lidinsky for
help.

• Prove your point. (DEVELOPMENT) Once you have a thesis, come up with at least
three main ideas to prove your thesis. (Your prewriting should be helpful in
providing these ideas.) Each major point should be supported by at least three
details. Some details should come from the readings while others should be
based on your own thinking. Remember, you will be required to incorporate
EN 106 Page 2 out of 3 © Park University, 2011 EN 106 Page 3 out of 3 © Park University, 2011
material from two readings into your final exam essay for EN 106.

• Organize the essay. (ORGANIZATION) The essay should include three sections:
an introduction, body, and conclusion. Your thesis statement should appear
clearly in the introduction. The body of the paper is made up of the information
you use to prove your thesis (See IV above). The conclusion should restate your
thesis in slightly different language. An outline might help you organize your
thoughts.

• Write a draft. While you may not take a completed draft into the exam, you
may find it helpful to practice writing the essay in advance. Time yourself so that
you get a feel for the amount of time available. Do not try to memorize the draft.
You will only panic if you cannot remember what you wrote and cause yourself
needless anxiety and wasted time. A prewritten draft should help you with
organization and development and give you a sense of what you can accomplish
in a limited amount of time.

• Determine correct citation for the sources which you intend to use – although the
final exam in EN 106 does not require you to write a Works Cited, you will be
required to include a correct in-text citation for each reference.
You will get a chance to discuss these questions in Week Eight, but for those of you who
wish to get started earlier, I suggest using the “Virtual Café” discussion area under Course
Home as a discussion venue.