Instructions

2006-7 Essay Contest
 

 

Subject: You and Your Connection to Community

 

This exercise may correctly be called a project rather than an essay assignment. Research is required and writing will be evaluated but the tools required may not be familiar to some of you.

 

The required reading is the culmination of your experiences up to now. The questions are questions you ask yourself and the answers will become part of your. There is no right or wrong and no writing involved up to now.

 

Take some time to reflect---engage in “internal research”—take time to listen to what some people refer to as your “gut feelings” or “your heart”.  You need to be alone, perhaps outdoors. Get in touch with yourself by asking questions and finding the answers from within rather than from the Internet or a printed publication or visual-audio resource.

 

Be sure and do this reflection before beginning your paper. Then, in 750-1000 words tell us:

 

What is community?

 

How you personally feel community?

         

Some of you may not realize it but you do feel community. The feelings may not be strong, may not be consciously felt and may not all be positive, but they are there. Instead of spending time pursuing the academic research you are accustomed to, find a quiet place by yourself and ponder.

 

The following are communities that are common to every human being alive today.  Include a paragraph or two about how you personally connect or feel about each one listed and then add at least one additional community to this list that is uniquely yours and write about it. (i.e club, sport, religious etc.)

 

The World Community

National Community

Local Community

Your Nuclear Family

Your Extended Family (relatives living)

Your Ancestors

Your Close Friends (for this exercise consider other friends and acquaintances as part of your local community)

 

1- Email submittals only

All essays must be submitted via email. Do not send print copies.

We suggest that the most computer-literate student in the class assume the responsibility for seeing that all essays reach the Foundation via email.

Please do not submit essays until all are ready. The body of the email should list the name and address of the school, school fax and phone numbers, teacher’s name and email address and the name of every student-participant exactly as he/she would like it to appear on a certificate. We will accept essays as attached MS Word documents, or in Rich Text Format (rtf). We are not responsible for documents that are lost or distorted during transmission or that reach us in a format that we cannot open.
 

2- Grammar, Spelling and Misconceptions

     All essays must be checked by the teacher for grammatical and spelling errors and these must be corrected by the student. In the past we have done a great deal of editing for the sake of the public that visits our web site. We recently decided that a better policy is to allow the students to benefit from editing their own papers under the teacher’s guidance.  Faulty reasoning and misconceptions should also be corrected under a teacher’s guidance, if possible in the form of a classroom discussion.
 

3- Quotations
All quotations used in essays must be noted and cited at the end of the work. The only notation in the body of the paper should be quotation marks. No quote should exceed four sentences.
 

4- Format

Example for centered Heading for each essay:

Green Valley High School
Green Springs, Kentucky
Teacher: Jane Doe

Title of Particular Paper
By John Doe
12^th grade

line 1= name of school (address and phone/fax)
line 2 = town and state
line 3 = name of teacher
line 4 = student's own title for the essay (not subject title)
line 5 = student's name
line 6 = grade

Single spacing 14 pt font. (Arial preferred but we can change any font submitted) No indented paragraphs.  Use doubling spacing between paragraphs.
 

5- Photos
If you want student photos displayed, send email attachments clearly labeled with the student’s name.

Please be sure to keep copies at your end until you receive your awards.

Essays will be posted on the Foundation web site as they are read. Entries, upon submittal, become the property of The Harry Singer Foundation.

If you have questions or problems: email staff@singerfoundation.org or phone (831) 625-4223   fax (831) 624-7994
        

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