In the Forest of Gombe

362 Words2 Pages
English Basic Composition Budd—Fall 2014 Essay #1 Required text: Jane Goodall: “In the Forests of the Gombe” Essay goals: Avoiding summary, engaging the quotations “In the Forests of the Gombe”, Jane Goodall confronts some very profound issues—topics ranging from life to death, nature to science, and evolution to God. She writes, “What is our human responsibility? And what, ultimately, is our human destiny? Were we going to go on destroying God’s creation, fighting each other, hurting the other creatures of His planet? Or were we going to find ways to live in harmony with each other and the natural world?” (110) For your first essay you must address the following question: How does her time with non-human primates help her better understand humans? What does she learn about grief, or the divide between science and religion? Be specific in your answer. The above quotation is a starting point for your essay. Using details and quotations from her essay, try to answer the questions contained within it, as best you can. Draw upon the rich examples from her own life (the rain storm, the conversation with the bellhop, etc.) to illustrate your point. The real work will come in how you select passages to craft a position. Since this is the first paper, here are some ground rules: 1) No block quotations. Anything over four typed lines is considered a block quotation. 2) Omit conversational language (the use of “I” and “you”). 3) Watch out for unsubstantiated positions. All claims you make must be supported by something in the text. 4) Avoid the “tricks”, big fonts, courier, wide margins, etc. What to focus on in this first essay: ❖ Avoiding summary—hard to do with only one essay on which to write ❖ Locating key terms and important passages—you will discuss these at length in your draft ❖ Avoiding conversational language ❖ Writing strong topic

More about In the Forest of Gombe

Open Document