Essay: Research Paper-Here’s the directions and requirements
Rebels, Outcasts, Adventurers, Social and Environmental Warriors
After he ditches his car and gives away his trust fund, Chris McCandless steps off the road into the Alaskan wilderness carrying only what will fit in his backpack. In doing so, he joined a small, but committed group of individuals who in some way reject the ideas and lifestyles of their culture. Who are these individuals? What are they looking for? Why are they dissatisfied with their lives, or the way others live? For this research paper, you will choose one rebel, outcast, extreme adventurer, or social/environmental warrior to research and write about.
For this essay, you will need to use the school’s library databases, locate several (academic) articles about the individual you have chosen to research. After reading, be prepared to answer the following questions:
- Who steps out of the traditional bounds of society and why?
- What do they hope to accomplish?
- What do they find?
- How does society respond to them?
Below is a list of a few examples, for you to start brainstorming. (This is by no means an exhaustive list.)
Henry David Thoreau, Edward Abbey, Jack Kerouac, Captain Paul Watson, Cheryl Strayed, Anne LaBastille, Beryl Markham, Chen Sheng, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Zhu Yuanzhang, Edward Snowden, John Muir, Timothy Treadwell, Ted Kaczynski, Paul Gauguin, Allen Ginsberg, Rosa Parks, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Daniel Ellsberg, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Morton (see Hawthorne’s “The Maypole of Merry Mount”), St. Francis, Hermann Hesse (see Siddartha), Rudi Putra, John Brown, Dean Moriarty, Nelson Mandela, Ho Chi Minh, Malala Yousafzai, Galileo Galilei, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., Holden Caulfield, Che Guevara, Getra Thunberg, Acción Ecológica…
Once you have a comprehensive understanding of the person you have chosen to research, write a well-developed essay about him or her. In your essay, you should analyze this individual’s choice to live or operate outside the usual bounds of society. Your thesis should address at least one of the following: Did this individual find success in his/her quest? What stumbling blocks did this person encounter along the way? What did the individual learn? Be sure to support your argument with specific and relevant evidence from the researched information you found, citing the material accordingly.
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