For this assignment, students will produce a 2000-word persuasive research argument essay that includes secondary sources. Although the final essay will be due near the end of the semester, various projects (Affirmative Contention, Debates, Annotated Bibliography, Peer Review) will be due earlier. Please check with me before beginning research on a topic, especially if you are not sure if your topic will conform to the guidelines.
Major guidelines:
►You must choose a topic that relates to one specific area of study, not a general overview.
►I expect you to have a solid, clear argument; this is not an overview or background of an issue. Please explore and explain your position, but you must also persuade the reader to acknowledge and agree with your ideas. You can choose what the applicable scope for your argument is and manufacture your argument accordingly. It is generally better to have a focused idea of a solution to an issue or a way to approach the problem, rather than a perspective on an issue.
►I also expect you to have at least two major lines of argumentation. These lines of reasoning may be close to each other or they may deal with radically different approaches to your argument. To fulfill this expectation, you will have to consult a variety of sources.
►You must use a relevant body of literature, which includes at least six scholarly resources, taken from legitimate ***-library-based sources (we will discuss this stipulation in class).
►You must be persuasive and attempt to convince your reader that (i) your ideas are sound and stable and (ii) that your analysis delivers a creative interpretation of how you can explore a specialized area of the world (i.e. your subject area).
Prompt:
First, choose an area of study that you are interested in (politics, the economy, science/medicine, technology, philosophy, religion, the arts, athletics, etc). Next, choose an issue within your area of study; this is the step that requires creative interpretation and contemplative thought. Of utmost importance, I want you to study an issue that intrigues and interests you and that you cannot “solve” easily. The issue should be somewhat personal to you—and can even be fun or odd.
Whatever direction you take, I want you to be creative and to explore your subject area thoroughly. After you have the area of study and issue of interest, your next step will be to thoroughly analyze all aspects of the argument. When doing your research, you may find yourself agreeing with one side, two sides, or coming up with an argument of your own. I hope that you keep your mind open to multiple possibilities and not just settle for an easy solution or the one that most people agree with or the first argument that you find. Again, thorough, complex, multifaceted analysis is the crux of this paper, and I expect to see scholarly, complex research allowing you to support a clear, detailed argument.
I do not want you to select a topic that yields few argumentative possibilities. You are not writing just a research paper—so you need to find a topic that has a persuasive component. In addition, I would try to stay away from the more typical (read: basic and overdone) topics (like legalizing marijuana, raising the drinking age, etc) unless you have a unique perspective and argument on it. As stated above, it is generally better to have a focused idea of a solution to an issue or a way to approach the problem, rather than just a perspective on an issue.
We will discuss possible topics, ideas, and ways that you can approach this paper. Plan to take copious notes on those discussion/research days, and plan to start deciding on your area of study quickly. Feel free to talk to your peers and me outside of class to find a topic that interests you.
