Analyzing the Role of Labels in Identity Formation: An Essay

Compose written ideas in standard, grammatically-correct, formal English with no lapses in usage, mechanics, and spelling (CLO 1)

Employ a variety of strategies by which to invent, develop, and modify writing and writing topics (CLO 3)

Construct thesis-driven essays that adhere to a specific purpose, context, and audience (CLO 4)

Illustrate proper use of MLA format (CLO 5)

Quote and analyze sources in writing (CLO 6)

Consider the role that categories or labels play in determining a person’s identity—we are labeled as “shy” or “loud,” “artistic” or “not creative,” “athletic” or “bookish” among many, many other terms. What is a category into which you have been placed by society, or what is a label that has been applied to you? 

To effectively analyze the concept, you will closely examine that label and interrogate the assumptions that keep it in place. How has this concept determined your identity? Do you (and society) have positive or negative associations with this category, label, or concept? With concepts or labels generally? These are just a few questions to consider as you analyze the role of concepts or labels in society generally and a specific concept that has been applied to you. 

Your essay will include the following components:

I. Introduction (1 paragraph): Introduce the idea of applying concepts or “labels” to people. Then, move into introducing your chosen one, specific concept and, perhaps, how it applies to you. Conclude with a clear, unified, specific thesis statement in which you express your particular view on the concept and its effect on you. 

II. Analysis of Concept (1-2 paragraphs): To analyze is to break something down into its component parts. For this section, you will discuss one, specific concept or label that has been applied to you. To analyze this concept, you will first explain the meaning of the concept using the word’s definition as provided by the Oxford English Dictionary (accessed via the library’s databases). This definition must be cited in-text and the OED must be included on a Work Cited. 

In addition to the word’s definition, you should explain what this concept or label means in your own words and based on your own experiences by using at least three of the five approaches that we will discuss in class (comparison, examples, classification, synonyms, and negation). 

III. Analysis of Self -- Examples, Anecdotes, and/or Descriptions (2-3 paragraphs): Each paragraph in this section should focus on giving your readers a better idea of how this label has come to be applied to you by providing specific examples, brief anecdotes (short, tightly focused stories), and/or vivid descriptions of yourself as someone who has “earned” this label. Be sure, also, to clarify how the particular example, anecdote, or description conveys the meaning of concept as you’ve defined it in Section II.

Be careful not to slide into one extended narrative here—each of the paragraphs should focus on specific, separate examples.

To support your assertions, you must provide a sufficient number of examples from your life. This supporting evidence must be logically arranged, relevant to your thesis statement, and detailed enough to satisfy the essay’s length requirement.

IV. Public Resonance (1-2 paragraphs): Here you will make your concept relevant to your readers. Consider societal assumptions that keep this label in place. Are the traits associated with the concept or label fair to the people to whom it is applied? Are there positive or negative associations with the concept? Should changes be made to how we view people who fall into this category? Why? 

Note that in this section you are moving beyond the personal and moving into the global—how does this concept work or affect people generally (both those who apply the concept and those to whom it is applied). You are no longer focusing on yourself and your personal experience (that’s what Section III is for).