Purpose: Your performance on this exam will not contribute to your course grade. Yet this exam is to help your instructor determine your strengths and weaknesses in order to better meet your needs in this class.
Procedure:
1. First read the article. You may take notes and plan your own essay on the colored paper provided or on the article.
2. Write an essay based on the article, answering the essay question below. Your essay should include an introduction, body, and conclusion, and should use information from both the article (citing your source correctly) and your own insight and experience.
3. Be sure to take a clear stand and discuss it appropriately.
4. Support your opinions by using the article and your own ideas to strengthen your main points.
5. When you are finished, look over your essay and correct any errors before you turn it in.
6. You will have a total of 50 minutes to complete your essay.
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Essay Question:
A “trigger,” in the context of academia, is any course material that initiates (or “triggers”) a stressful reaction in students who have survived a traumatic situation. Oberlin College recently instituted a “trigger-warning policy” for their faculty, which advised professors to “[u]nderstand triggers, avoid unnecessary triggers, and provide trigger warnings.” Should UIUC implement a similar trigger-warning policy to protect students from potentially upsetting course material? Why or why not?
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Article:
Trigger Unhappy
April 14, 2014
By Colleen Flaherty
Trigger* warnings, which have begun to appear on college and university syllabuses, are supposed to signal to readers that forthcoming material may be uncomfortable or upsetting. Trigger warned-subject matter – in literature, films or other texts – usually relates to sexual