all requirements are posted below

Required Texts to Needed to Write This Essay:

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave from The Republic
Chapter 10 “The Dark Side of Flow” on Jeremy Jones snowboarding revolution from Steven Kotler’s Rise of Superman (Links to an external site.).
Your own research articles and sources on your chosen superheroes and extreme sport athletes including films, videos, and comic books / graphic novels.

Choosing An Extreme Sport Athlete On Whom to Focus This Research Paper:

Choose an extreme sport and pick a professional athlete you admire who excels at that sport and has been featured in the media. Do not choose an athlete already featured in Kotler’s Rise of Superman, and please make sure you had selected an extreme sport athlete rather than a conventional sport athlete. You are welcome to choose an athlete doing an extreme sport discussed in Kotler’s book.

You will write about your one chosen athlete in all sections of this Research paper. You are encouraged to consider researching articles, books, videos, and other media on your athlete, including those created by their sponsors and in the mainstream media as well more scholarly sources. Include some photos of your athlete in sections of your research paper that you deem fitting.

List of Extreme Sports (not exhaustive): BASE jumping, sky diving, wingsuit flying, rock climbing, skiing, snowboarding, surfing, freediving, whitewater kayaking, BMX and mountain biking, skateboarding, etc.

Research Paper Structure

Essay Formatting: Break your essay into the following sections, each of which is a mini-essay. Skip a line between sections. You will need to decide where to divide paragraphs within each section. No section should look like one long paragraph.

Each section shall be a mini-essay with

its own title,
introduction paragraph that ends in a thesis,
body paragraphs that each start with a topic sentence and end with a concluding sentencing
body paragraphs that contain correctly cited information from research sources
a conclusion paragraph.

Sections (skip a line between sections):

Section One: Origin Stories of Your Extreme Sport Athlete and a Superhero (3 pages)
Section Two: Your Athlete and Superhero’s Connection to the Wider World (3 pages)
Section Three: The Dark Side of Flow for Your Athlete and Superhero (3 pages)
Works Cited Page (1-2 pages)

I. Section One: Origin Stories of Your Extreme Sport Athlete and a Superhero (3 pages)

Introduction (limit to one paragraph and should be no longer than 1 full page)

1) Introduce your extreme sport athlete’s sports history and / or contributions to the sport as well as a description of that sport.

2) Then summarize the story of the superhero you will compare with your athlete in this section.

· The superhero you choose must have had a film made about her or him. It doesn’t matter if your superhero is from Marvel or DC comics, or was the brain child of a movie director. In your summary, you are not limited to the film version of your superhero; you can refer to comic books and graphic novels etc..

·

3) Define “origin story.”

Thesis Question: What are two specific and complex similarities regarding early childhood or adolescent influences that helped your athlete and superhero grow strong (such as mentors, key traumatic events, family dynamics, etc)?

In your research, consider your athlete and superhero’s origin stories: “In comic book terminology, an origin story is an account or back-story revealing how a character or team gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains. (Definitions.net).
Stay away from similarities that are merely factual such as “Both my athlete and Spiderman had parents who passed away during childhood.” Instead that fact needs to be analyzed and could make the more complex argument: “Both my athlete and Spiderman turned to the all-engrossing experience of flow in order to cope with traumatic early childhood loss in a way that helped them excel at death-defying feats of skill.”

Don’t forget to add a title, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph to this section. Follow outline chart.

III. Section Two: Your Athlete and Superhero’s Connection to the Wider World (3 pages)

Introduction (limit to one paragraph and should be no longer than 1 full page)

· Describe the story of the superhero you will compare with your athlete in this section. (The superhero you choose must have had a film made about her or him. You can choose the same superhero from previous sections or choose a new superhero for this section.)

Thesis question: Compare and / or contrast how your extreme sport athlete and superhero significantly impact their wider world such as their communities, nature, and / or the society of their elite peers.

Don’t forget to add a title, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph to this section. Follow outline chart.

IV. Section Three: The Dark Side of Flow for Your Athlete and Superhero (3 pages)

Required reading for this section:

· Chapter 10 “The Dark Side of Flow” on Jeremy Jones snowboarding revolution from Rise of Superman

· Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” from The Republic.

Introduction (limit to one paragraph and should be no longer than 1.5 pages):

· Briefly summarize Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

· Briefly describe the story of the superhero you will compare with your athlete in this section. (The superhero you choose must have had a film made about her or him. You can choose the same superhero from previous sections or choose a new superhero for this section.)

· Lastly, define what Kotler means by the dark side of flow.

Thesis question: Compare and / or contrast who your extreme sport athlete and superhero resemble more when having to cope with flow withdrawal: the philosopher who leaves Plato’s cave or the prisoners who stay behind? Provide two supporting reasons in your thesis.

Don’t forget to add a title, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph to this section. Follow outline chart.

V. Works Cited Page (1-2 pages)

Be sure to follow MLA format for your Works Cited page.
You are required to provide five sources or more in addition to our class readings. Make sure to cite class readings on Works Cited page.

III. Individual Section Mini-Essay Organization Tips

1) Thesis formation: The thesis should subdivide into the same number of points as your total number of body paragraphs. If you have two body paragraphs, your thesis would subdivide into two points. Thesis needs to be the last sentence of your introduction. The thesis should fully answer the essay question. It should also be specific, concise, and arguable.

2) Body Paragraph Organization and Unity: Each body paragraph should discussion one idea that supports the thesis; in other words, body paragraphs should not repeat ideas from previous paragraphs and should not contain more than one main idea.

3) Topic Sentences: Each body paragraph must begin with a topic sentence that tells the reader which thesis idea that paragraph will be about.

4) Concluding Sentences: Each body paragraph should end with a concluding sentence that restates topic sentence main ideas and adds supportive reasoning. The goal is to summarize the main examples you covered in that body paragraph.

5) Quotations: You will need to support any assertions you make with a discussion of quotations from the texts assigned. All quotations should have an introductory phrase and should use the following MLA format: Westwick and Neushul write, “XX” (24).

6) Quotation Analysis: All quotations should be followed by 4-5 or more sentences that provide a detailed explanation of how the quotation supports your body paragraph’s main idea.

7) Section Titles: Divided into two parts separated by a colon. Centered. Double-spaced like your heading and the rest of your paper. Capitalize all key words. Should be a fragment. Not underlined or in boldface. No period at the end of the title. Your title should not just copy the title of this essay prompt or the title of the readings. Example:

Section Topic: Your Two Thesis Ideas

8) Conclusion: A place for you to summarize your thesis and add any last reflections on your topic. Should be no longer than half of a page.

9) Essay formatting: Use MLA format. For help, see Purdue University OWL website and click on the MLA section.