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The Coronavirus Crisis

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prompt: Write an argument that relates to the coronavirus crisis in the United States. This paper is not about your personal experiences, so please avoid using the “I” perspective, which is called 1st person perspective. Also, do not write it using the “you” perspective either, which is called 2nd person perspective. If you are writing about ways of coping with the added stress of staying at home, just make your statements without using the word “you” in them, so instead of writing, “If you are stuck at home, you can create a schedule to help you stay on track,” write, “For those who are stuck at home, writing out a schedule can help them stay on track.” Here are some possible ways you can organize your paper, although there are others. I would recommend the first example below, or something like it, because it is less emotionally draining. We’ve all been through a lot.  Ways of coping with the added stress, tension, or isolation of staying at home: connecting with online support groups, using calming techniques to reduce anxiety, creating routines with new activities, and so on.  Groups of people who are more vulnerable to the effects of this crisis.  Lessons from history about previous pandemics: the bubonic plague in medieval Europe, the London plague of 1666, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919.  Distinguishing features of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) or of the illness it causes, COVID-19.  Difficulties in treating hospitalized patients with COVID-19: testing response time, unpredictable course of the disease, impossible ethical decisions.  Three or four factors affecting the horrible, life-or-death ethical decisions doctors are having to make. Requirements: This paper should be an essay of at least 750 words, or 2-3 full pages (not including the Works Cited page). Your paper should have an intro with a thesis and plan of development statement, 3-4 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Use MLA for the documentation format. Sources: Choose 3 sources (total) from the following:  “New York Times (articles)” content area on our Blackboard site  “Other articles you may use” content area on our Blackboard site  https://www.nytimes.com/coronavirus (if choosing from here, your article should be relevant—for example, don’t choose an obituary of a famous person or an article with obviously outdated information)  https://www.theatlantic.com/category/what-you-need-know-coronavirus/ Note: You must use at least one quotation from each of the 3 sources you choose. Do not use any sources outside of those permitted in the above. Every source that you use must be listed in your Works Cited page. If you paraphrase, which does not count as a quotation, you must use a citation—and remember that for paraphrases you may never simply copy the text and change some words (that is considered plagiarism). Other things: Use a thesis and plan of development statement in your introductory paragraph, and use topic sentences at the beginning of your body paragraphs. Introduce each author with their first and last names before you refer to them by their last name, and mention the title of each article before you quote from it for the first time (and that part doesn’t have to be in your intro). I have provided PDF versions of some articles you may use, and I have written out the correct MLA Works Cited entry at the end for you. When you cite from them, however, they don’t have page numbers—so even if you quote from the second page of the document, don’t write a page number in your citation because those are not considered “stable” pages.
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