Details

Academic essays value clear expression of well-supported ideas/arguments, rather than mere opinion. This assignment asks you to explain the idea of dignity offered by Himes and the Catholic Bishops; it then asks you to explain how the idea of dignity might present a challenge and a promising impact in the life of an individual.  Try to focus on your ideas and how they are supported. Use Himes and the Catholic Bishops to think through dignity and the way it either is or is not a “promise” in people’s lives. Remember, this is an interpretive essay, so although your voice is present in the challenge and promising impact you choose, your own personal opinion about ‘dignity’ is not a main focus of this essay. Instead, you are being asked to think critically about the concept that has been presented to you.
Your essay should be well structured, with a main idea sentence (a “thesis”) that puts forth the two things (challenge and promising impact) you will discuss and the point you want to make about them. The next sentences should be dedicated to the interpretation you are offering for each point, including citations for material you use to support each point. Finally, you are to conclude, summing up and synthesizing your claim about the concept of dignity, namely what promise and peril it may offer as one reflects on it for life.

Be sure to cite specifically from the video and the USCCB page. In APA style, full, direct quotations are rare. Instead, you must paraphrase or summarize what you are using from these two sources, being sure to cite what you summarize or paraphrase.