Essay Instructions

Placement essays are one tool (among others) that the Writing Program uses to assign incoming students to appropriate Writing Seminars.

Guidelines
When writing the essay, please observe the following guidelines.

• Limit the length to 500-750 words (which translates to between two and three double-spaced pages).
  
  
• Be sure to include an essay title and your name.
  
  
• Compose the essay without any assistance, in the form of either other people or outside commentary. Don’t use the web or the library for research. You are, however, permitted to use a dictionary (online or hardback) for words which are unfamiliar to you. And you can use reference tools (online or otherwise) to identify names which you don’t recognize. Your best interests will be served only if the Writing Program can make an honest appraisal of how you write on your own. This will be your first opportunity to put Haverford’s Honor Code into practice.

Assignment
Read the 1894 Court case The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens

Here’s the assignment:

The court felt that there was not sufficient justification for the sailors’ killing of the boy. Evaluate the court’s decision. In a thoughtful and well-composed essay of 500-700 words, respond to the principle elements of the court’s argument or those points which you think are especially important in deciding this case. Do you agree with the court’s reasoning, which resulted in its sentencing these soldiers to death? Why or why not?

When evaluating your essay, Writing Program faculty will attend to the following criteria:

• Engagement and reasoning: How well do you demonstrate a grasp of the court’s argument while still establishing and supporting your own position?
  
  
• Structure and style: Does the organization help or hinder readers? Is there sufficient control of particular sentences to allow us to follow your reasoning?