Topic: Should women fight on the front lines alongside men?
ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT: Follow the guidelines – don’t get caught with your pants down!
• Title is original, not vague or generalized. Not bolded, no all caps, no quotation marks, no
italics. The title should indicate the slant or direction your paper will take.
• Introduction
Thesis statement (underlined) is last sentence in the introduction. It is a clear, narrowed, specific
idea that lets readers know exactly what will be discussed in the paper – and provides the one way
/ reason that the main idea will be examined throughout the paper. (Because the paper calls for
just one body paragraph, there will be just one reason.)
• ONE BODY PARAGRAPH that develops and advances the thesis statement (underlined).
Again, in this one assignment, do not submit 3 body paragraphs. Based on time constraints,
this is a shortened assignment.
• Topic sentence in the body paragraph advances the thesis statement (underlined). The idea does
not merely repeat the thesis statement – it advances it.
• Ideas clearly presented and supported with specific details about the topic.
• Sentences free or almost free from errors.
• For an example of MLA format, see the handout “Sample MLA First Page” in Canvas. MLA
style is important – I’ll be looking at this closely.
• Because this is your story, you are free to use the first-person pronouns I, me, my, and mine.
However, please do not use second person you and yours.
• About one-half to a page in length.
4. When you are finished writing the essay, you should upload it as an attachment in Microsoft Word
file (doc, docx) to the Assignments tool in Canvas (no PDF file or email).
5. Again: while this essay will not be graded, it will give me an understanding of where you are in the
writing process, so do take it seriously. Try to be concise and thorough – avoid wordiness – filler words,
phrases, or sentences that really don’t add meaning to your paper, just length. Also, read this entire
assignment handout for guidelines.
Do the best that you can with the assignment. You’ll read a lot of information about strengthening your
writing throughout the semester. Remember: the diagnostic essay will not be graded. You will not be
kicked out of the course, but I may recommend extra help.
6.ACADEMIC HONESTY:All work you submit must be your own.
•Anyassignments(essays, reader responses, discussion posts, reflective essays, tests, midterm, research
paper, and final essays – any assignment) that use AI tools (like ChatGPT) is a violation of the Academic
Honesty Policy at HCCS, and an automatic zero on the assignment will be recorded.
ChatGPT and similar Artificial Intelligence tools, though useful in many contexts, are inappropriate for
use in this course. An important outcome of this course is to strengthen your own abilities as a thinker and
communicator. That is only possible when you do your own work. You may not submit work that is written
wholly or partially by an AI tool. Failing to cite a direct quote, an idea, or source of information is an academic
integrity violation – and. this includes AI-generated content. Work wisely.
§ Academic dishonesty is f r a u d : knowingly presenting another’s work / words / ideas, and it means an F in the
course – this includes use of AI. According to the Student Handbook for the Houston Community College
System, scholastic dishonesty includes cheating, plagiarism, and collusion as defined below:
• Cheating means copying another student’s work / words / ideas – including using AI; using materials not
authorized by the instructor; collaborating with another student without authorization; knowingly using, buying,
selling, stealing, transporting, copying, or soliciting in whole or part the contents of an un-administered test /
words / ideas; bribing another person(s) to obtain a test or paper or words or ideas that are to be evaluated; AND
using any form of AI.
• Just so there is no misunderstanding, plagiarism (using another’s ideas /words, without giving credit, collusion
(unauthorized collaboration with another person or using AI in preparing written work offered for credit),
contract cheating, unauthorized disclosure, and other forms of cheating will not be tolerated .
Plagiarism (including the use of AI) means the appropriation of another’s work in one’s own written work
offered for evaluation and/or credit. Plagiarism involves but is not limited to the action of a student submitting as
his or her own work / words / ideas entirely or in part written by someone else (including AI) ; submitting a
paper in which he or she has included without acknowledgement material or ideas by others – whether
copyrighted or not, printed or recorded; or submitting a paper in which the student has included without
acknowledgement the work or words or idea developed by others, even though the exact words are not used – in
sum, “revising” and / or passing off all or part(s) of someone else’s work as your own is both academically
dishonest and unacceptable.
Collusion (including the use of AI) means the unauthorized collaboration with another person or AI in preparing
written work offered for evaluation and / or credit.
Contract cheating (including the use of AI) shall include, but is not be limited to:
o Willingly allowing and/or paying for a third party to complete papers, exams, a course, or assignments;
o Willingly providing a third-party access to your student accounts to include Canvas, PeopleSoft, email, or
any other academic sources provided by your instructor to access or submit classroom content.
o Facilitation and/or coordination of such activities.
Unauthorized Disclosure occurs when any student provides instructional materials and/or assessments to other
students in violation of a clear prohibition by the instructor. Examples include: using Artificial Intelligence.
(AI), posting assessment items or downloading information from online sites, such as Chegg, CourseHero,
Luminary.com, etc., posting questions or downloading information/ideas from forums like Reddit or Yahoo
Answers ; discussions of confidential questions using WeChat or GroupMe, etc.