Bachmann Essay Prompt

Overview and Purpose

In the first essay, we are using the concepts from one text to analyze the ideas in another text. We will work on carefully reading and understanding the texts, and we’ll be choosing strong specific examples to illustrate the connections we make from text to text and explaining these analytical connections to our readers.

The Assignment

For this assignment, you will argue whether or not Angie Bachmann should be held accountable for her gambling debts based on what you learned about addictions from “Rat Park: The Radical Addiction Experiment” by Lauren Slater and habits from Charles Duhigg’s “The Neurology of Freewill.”  Should other people or entities be held accountable to some degree?

You should write your essay for people who are NOT in this class and are not familiar with Duhigg’s book or Slater’s chapter.  This means you’ll need to spend some time summarizing key ideas, defining any unfamiliar terms, and choosing short supporting quotations.  

Basic Requirements:

• Focus your essay with a strong thesis statement  that argues wether or not Angie Bachmann should be held accountable for her debt.
• Provide effective and developed support for your claim with ideas from both Slater's and Duhigg's texts.  Explain WHY a particular party should be held accountable.
• Effectively summarize Angie Bachmann’s story and ideas from Duhigg’s and Slater’s chapters that support your claim.  You must refer to both texts.
• Create organized paragraphs  that focus on one main point and divide your argument into manageable chunks for your readers.
• Introduce the sources and quotations properly.
• Talk about the complexities and grey areas of the situation, or consider alternative views—for example, you might think the casinos are partly responsible because they encouraged Bachmann’s habits, but in the end, you might believe she is ultimately responsible.
• The essay should be 3-5 pages.
• The essay should be formatted according to MLA style.