Assignment Directions

Core Values Essay

Overview

The readings and learning activities for this week have focused on core values, their origins, and the role that they play in our society and in our professional and personal lives. This essay will be informed by the class readings and discussions on core values.

Connection to other Course Assignments

• This essay will help guide your thinking for the remaining course readings and learning activities.
• This essay will also serve as the basis for your analysis in the case study project.

Step 1: Initial Submission (earn up to 85% of the possible points for the assignment)

Your initial submission should include all of the following components:

Content

• In this essay you will identify and explain 3-5 of your core values.
• You will also discuss how you came to adopt these as your core values.

Organization

• Include an introductory paragraph, where you grab the reader's attention, provide a transitional statement, give a clear thesis statement, and map out the 3-5 key points that will support your thesis. (review elements of an introduction)
• Include 3-5 body paragraphs where you include details and examples to help you develop and support your key points. (review body paragraph structure)
• End your essay with a concluding paragraph where you restate your thesis, summarize your key points, and leave the reader with the "so what?" (review successful concluding paragraphs)

Language Choices

• As a writer, you are free to decide how you use language, keeping the following in mind:
  • style: your language choices should result in a consistent writing style that is purposeful and aligned with your goals
  • readability: your language choices should ensure that your ideas are clear and easy to follow
• When composing your paper, think about the conventions for academic writing, including:
  • punctuation: this includes things such as recommended use of commas, colons, and apostrophes.
  • word-level accuracy: this includes things such as capitalization, spelling, word-tense, and usage.
  • sentence-level accuracy: this includes things such as sentence boundaries, subject-verb agreement, and pronoun-antecedent agreement.
• Take time to review your language choices after you've written your essay. Think about your goals for the style of this essay and your own writing habits (like using "text-speak," omitting capitalization, or writing sentence fragments). Revise as necessary to accomplish your style and readability goals.
• Reading your paper aloud is a helpful technique when reviewing your language choices for style and readability.

Sources and Documentation

You are not required to use sources for this assignment.

• Your final product should be a minimum of five paragraphs (about seven hundred to one thousand words) in length. However, the quality of the content of this essay is most important. Be sure to fully answer the prompt.

Artificial Intelligence Attribution

When submitting this assignment, you must disclose what (if any) artificial intelligence tools you have used for the assignment and how you used them. Examples of tools to be disclosed include but are not limited to ChatGPT, Gemini, QuillBot, and Grammarly. You must name the tools used and include a sentence on how they were used in the "comments" box when submitting your assignment.

Reflection Questions

The reflection questions are to be answered separately. (They are not part of the essay.) Post these in the "comments" box when submitting your assignment. You can number your answers or write them in paragraph form. Be sure to address all four questions.

1. 1. Aside from simply meeting the requirements, what were your personal goals for this assignment?
   2. When reviewing your language choices, what choices did you make for staying within or moving beyond conventions for academic writing and what impact did the Grammar Lab content have on those writing choices?
   3. What parts of your work on this assignment are you most proud of?
   4. What challenged you in this assignment and/or where do you need additional support from your instructor?