The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Essay 1
John Hoenig
Using only the primary source document reader The Triangle Fire, write an essay of approximately 900-1100 words (about 3 pages) that describes and evaluates the ethical issues facing the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. These are your central questions: Did the owners of the factory have a responsibility to protect the health and safety of their employees? How did their decisions affect the health and safety of their employees? What choices did they have that would affect their workers’ health and safety? What were the predictable consequences of making any of these decisions? Make sure to address each of the above questions over the course of your essay.
Don’t focus on one set of decisions – try to give a variety of possible decisions. Consider decisions that the owners could have made, but consider all stakeholders – what decisions would only consider the owners needs? what possible decisions would consider only the employees needs? What kinds of decisions might represent a middle ground between the two?
Begin by reading the introductory essay (a secondary source) for context, but make sure you read all of the primary sources, as those are the sources you should use and reference in your essay. When writing your essay, draw directly from the primary sources as evidence for your points. My suggestion is to include at least 5 of those sources in your essay, but make sure you’re using the sources you choose in a substantive way to advance your argument.
Your essay should be typed, double-spaced, and well-written. Write in complete sentences with an introductory, concluding, and body paragraphs. Do not answer each question individually; rather, construct a cohesive essay that addresses these questions throughout. Proofread your essay carefully for grammatical, punctuation, and capitalization issues, as well as to comply with MLA style. You should aim to provide only the background material necessary to make your argument. Your focus should be on making a clear argument (made clear by the use of a thesis statement in your essay) and providing ample evidence in support of that argument.
Citations and Source Attribution:
You should provide a works cited page that provides a full citation for the required book, and you should give parenthetical citations any time you draw from any part of the book. See the links to citation guides for the MLA Style Guide in the “Resources” module. You should cite quotations (which should be in parentheses), but they should also be provided any time you are influenced by something stated in the book (or its readings). Your citations should be included at the end of a sentence or section/paragraph where you are drawing from the book and should look like the following: (Argersinger, page number), as in (Argersinger, 27) for page 27.
Scholastic Dishonesty:
Please familiarize yourself with the stated syllabus policy regarding scholastic dishonesty. Students who I believe are responsible for scholastic dishonesty will be referred to the Dean of Students Office, who will determine if the student is responsible. If so, the student will receive a 0 on the assignment with no opportunity for replacing the grade. This includes using any source other than your textbook (American Yawp) and The Triangle Fire. If you have any questions regarding what constitutes scholastic dishonesty, please ask me prior to submitting your essay.