Angie Bachman

Prompt: In order to focus your own argument, you’ll need to answer the following questions for yourself and identify the reasons for your opinion. Do you think Angie Bachman should have been able to control her behavior and, therefore, should be held responsible for her debt? Do you believe she was unable to control her behavior due to her addiction and, therefore, should not be held responsible for her debt? Do you think the casinos share some of the blame? Do you think other people share some of the blame? Introduction: Taking the advice to “begin with what others are saying,” you’ll need to begin your essay with what Duhigg is saying AND with what Slater is saying. Therefore, your introduction will need to include at least two summary paragraphs (one to briefly summarize Duhigg’s article, and one to briefly summarize Slater’s article). You’ll also need to establish a clear relationship between these two articles. In order to do that, you’ll need to answer this question for yourself: How do Bruce Alexander’s claims that “there is really nothing ‘inherently addictive’ about any drugs” and that “repeated exposures to even the most enticing drugs do not usually lead to problems” complicate, add to, or take away from Duhigg’s claim that people should be held responsible for remaking their own habits.   Thesis Statement: Focus your essay with a strong thesis statement about the degree to which Angie Bachmann should be held accountable for her debt. Your thesis statement should come at the end of your introduction, and it should look something like one of these examples:  Although some might see elements of Alexander’s rat park experiment as suggesting that Angie Bachman might not be solely responsible for the consequences of her gambling addiction, I will explain why I believe that no matter what other people did or didn’t do, Bachman is the only person responsible for losing so much money. Although his claim that nothing is “inherently addictive” appears to support Duhigg’s argument, I will show why Alexander’s rat park experiment actually supports my opinion that while Bachman certainly bears some responsibility for the consequences of her gambling addiction, others are also partly to blame for what happened.   To effectively support this thesis statement, you will need to explain everything in enough detail that people who have not read either of these articles will understand your reasoning.  Formal Requirements: Length: 2,000 words, minimum. In order to earn any points, you should make sure your essay meets the minimum length requirement. Sources: For this essay, you may not use any sources other than the two articles provided. Formatting: In order to earn maximum points, you should make sure your essay is properly formatted according to the current rules of MLA style (MLA 8). Templates: In order to earn maximum points, you should use templates from Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in “They Say / I Say” to help you structure your essay, generate ideas you might not have thought of, and write in an academic style. Highlight all the templates you use, and make sure you are using them often! In-text citations: In order to earn maximum points, you should make sure you follow any summaries, paraphrasing, and direction quotations with a correctly formatted in-text citation. Generally speaking, you should not include the author’s name in the parentheses (because if you are using templates to introduce such material, you will have already named the author). The only time you need to include an author’s name in the parentheses is when, for stylistic reasons, you have not already made it clear to readers who is speaking. For example, you might sometimes choose to insert a bit of quoted language within your own sentence in your analysis of a summary, paraphrase, or quotation. In this case, you would need to include the author’s name in the parentheses. Here’s an example of how your in-text citations should look: In “The Neurology of Free Will,” Charles Duhigg examines the concept of personal responsibility as it applies to our habits. Duhigg argues that “once [we] understand that habits can change, [we] have the freedom–and the responsibility–to remake them” (271).   Works Cited Entries: For your convenience, I have included the correct citations below for each of the articles you’ll need to use in your essay. You may copy and paste them into your works cited page, BUT YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THE FORMATTING!