In our third unit, we have been studying Tara Westover’s Educated and exploring library research. The varied themes and issues in Educated relate well to many academic topics in psychology, sociology, science, and education. As we study Educated, we are seeking to understand Westover’s experience and its connection to academic inquiry through the following questions:
How do the characters and themes in Educated challenge our thinking about specific subjects, such as the role of memory, the definition of education, or the relationships in families?
How does our study of Educated relate to what you are learning or have learned in your other courses? What subjects in the memoir provide further insight about those concepts or academic subjects?
This kind of synthesis is useful because it helps us to not only make meaning of the details in Westover’s narrative, but also it helps us to locate those experiences in the concepts that you may be learning in other courses and/or through academic research. As we studied in our first unit, those types of connections are what make reading and learning meaningful for us.
In this essay, you will write an analysis of a character’s development or a theme in Westover’s Educated and synthesize that analysis with academic research on the subject. Your purpose in the synthesis is to reveal the significance of your subject in the memoir to the broader academic conversation (as published in scholarly, peer-reviewed texts) in order to discover Westover’s contribution(s) to that conversation.
As you plan your essay, keep in mind that your essay should have a stated thesis, which both identifies the significance of the subject in the memoir and in academic research. You will need to introduce and summarize the Westover’s memoir, and your body paragraphs will trace the subject (character development or theme) in the book and in academic research. Use quotes and paraphrases from all three texts throughout to provide support for your analysis.
Your final essay should have a clear thesis statement, provide support for your analysis from Educated and synthesize it with at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed texts, and organize information so that it is easy for readers to follow. The minimum requirements for this essay are the use of those three sources (including the memoir) with no more than 10% of the total word count coming from direct quotes, the use of MLA format for citing your sources and setting up your document, and a minimum word count of at least 1500 words. please use the two sources i uploaded including mental illness with Tara and Dad