summary of Chapter 6 from Thomas L. Friedman’s book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, titled “The Untouchables.” (A PDF of the reading can be found in the Week 2 Module in Canvas, under the page name “Your First Major Essay Assignment: Essay #1- Summary and Response Instructions and Required Text”). Additionally, after completely summarizing Friedman’s chapter, you’ll write a brief, but thoughtfully considered personal response to the reading.
The first part of your essay should completely and effectively summarize Friedman’s text. Make sure that your summary is a clear and concise restatement of his work, including his argument, main ideas, and most important examples. The summary should be written in your own words for an audience unfamiliar with Friedman’s work or the concepts related to the forces of globalization and the outsourcing of jobs as it relates to becoming an “untouchable.”
As you draft your essay, make sure to introduce your reader to the necessary background information needed for them to understand the text, as well as reiterate for them the main elements of the chapter and Friedman’s main points in your own words.
For example, make sure to consider incorporating the following into the summary portion of the assignment:
• The concept of globalization – What is it? How does it work? What are the benefits/ consequences?
• The “Flattening of the Earth” – What is it? Why is it important? How is it tied to the need for an education in a highly competitive global environment?
• Explaining Friedman’s main argument – What is Friedman’s thesis or primary argument presented within the text?
• Restating the main points brought up – What points does Friedman bring up to back up his primary argument? What are the sub-points of his argument?
• Are there any impactful examples that should be shared with your reader to help reinforce your summary and/or help illustrate Friedman’s point? Like the example of Bill Greer and his journey of becoming an untouchable after so many years in the same industry.
• How does Friedman end his chapter? What examples and reasons does he provide that highlight the strengths of the U.S. that should be nurtured and championed? Lastly, are we, as a nation, doing enough to prepare for this new world? What about the children and future generations?
For the second part of this assignment, after you write your summary, start a new section to your essay where you will write a 1-2 paragraph response to Friedman’s chapter. In your response, I want you to write about the impact this article has had on you and the conclusions that you’ve drawn from it.
Possible questions to use as starting points might be:
• Do you agree or disagree with Friedman’s assertions and overall strategies regarding outsourcing and becoming an untouchable?
• Have you or someone you know been impacted by either the rise of technology/automation?
o What about outsourcing in the workplace?
▪ How so?
▪ What happened?
▪ What if anything could have been done to prevent it?
• Where have you seen the effects of globalization, automation, and/or outsourcing in your everyday life?
o Are these changes all bad? Are these changes all good? Or is it somewhere in between? Is this just a fact of modern life that people must accept and learn to deal with?
• Are you considering changing your major or future career goals?
o Why or why not?
o Is your job untouchable?
• The technological advances of our time have enabled globalization to spread at a rapid pace; so, how are you going to ensure that you and your skillsets remain untouchable commodities in an uncertain future?
o What are you doing, or what can you do, to safeguard your future employment?
• Lastly, when you turn it your final draft, make sure that it conforms to MLA style and formatting.
Content
• The essay should include a relatively brief, objective summary of Friedman’s essay, including his argument, main ideas, and most important examples.
• The summary should provide necessary explanation for an audience who is unfamiliar with Friedman’s essay and its concepts.
• The essay should include a response that 1) describes your experiences regarding globalization, automation, and/or outsourcing and 2) explains how those experiences relate to Friedman’s observations. That is, how do your stories confirm, contradict, or add to Friedman’s observations?
• Superior responses will focus on a few important points about your experiences, discussed at length, and provide detailed examples and clear explanation of them. Essentially, how does your experiences align with what Friedman described?
Organization
• The essay should include a clear transition between the summary and the response.
o For this assignment, you may write your Response on a separate page, or under a separate heading below your summary.
o For example, you may title your essay “Summary of The Untouchables.” After the summary portion of your essay, you may write a new title, for example, “Response to Friedman” and type up your response below it.
• Within each section, the essay should include topic sentences and transitions to help the reader move from main idea to main idea, paragraph to paragraph.
Format and Citation
• The writer may include quotations, but they must be contextualized, well explained, and formatted in MLA. (Use of quotations are not required for this assignment.)
• The essay should include an MLA works cited entry for Friedman’s chapter at the end.
• The essay should be in MLA general format throughout.
Style and Mechanics (10 points)
• The essay should exhibit correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
• The writer should utilize an appropriate authorial voice and academic style.
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|