Researched Argument Essay

 Researched Argument Essay

Important Requirements for this Assignment:

• Word-processed, double-spaced, in Times New Roman font size twelve, with one-inch margins.
• Four (4) full pages or more, no less (-10% deduction per one half page for not meeting this basic minimumrequirement). Therefore, make sure to use correct font and type size, correct line spacing and margins, and to write no less than four pages. For a successful essay, aim for four and a half to five pages or more.
• Cite six or more academically-appropriate sources in-text and in the MLA list of works cited. A minimum of four (4) of these sources must be scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles. The fifth and sixth sources may be a book, e-book, website, newspaper, magazine, trade journal, documentary, scholarly encyclopedia or other appropriate sources. If you are unsure of a source, do not use it. Keep in mind that part of your assessment is based upon your ability to identify and use scholarly sources. All six sources, of courses, may be scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles, if you choose.
• The sources for this essay are to be chosen from the sources you researched and wrote about in the literature review assignment, plus others that you may choose to add. The position you take in this essay is up to you but must be one that is supported by the evidence in your literature review sources.
• Write in MLA Style and cite sources accordingly. Cite sources in-text and in a list of works cited at the end of the paper. The Purdue Online Writing Lab can provide answers to many MLA formatting questions, as can the MLA’s website at www.mlastyle.org (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
• Successful college-level writing typically requires multiple drafts and revising. This means working on essay structure and paragraph organization and development, thesis development and support, sentence style, word choices, and proofreading and editing (all the things students work on in English 101, prior to this class). Please be advised that sloppy, unedited writing may damage a grade significantly.
• Peer Review is required for this assignment. If you miss that day or show up unprepared, you will lose points.

Instructions for Writing:

In the literature review, you wrote objectively about the research in your topic, and now it is your turn to take a subjectivestand. Based upon the evidence you have read and learned about in your research, it is now your task to persuade an audience to take an action, or to acknowledge a problem, or to stand for or against an idea.

• Introduction:
  • Establish a Need: In the first one to two very important paragraphs of your argument essay, establish exigence, or a need for your argument. Gain your readers’ interest (the “hook”), then provide context so readers know why your topic matters. This “bridge” connects the hook to your thesis, so readers see the logic of your thinking from the opening line of the essay to the thesis, where you will state your essay’s argument. In the thesis statement (and thus, in the essay), state a need to take an action, or to acknowledge a problem, or to stand for or against an idea. The thesis is your essay’s main claim.
• Body of the Essay: The Argument
  • Support your claim with evidence: a good arguer relies on sound reasons and evidence. You made a claim in the introduction, so what is your proof for this claim? What solid, academic evidence backs up your assertions? What reasons, facts, and examples support your reasoning? Support your thesis persuasively with at least three strong examples that you can back up with textual evidence from your sources.
  • Anticipate disagreement: a good arguer understands that his or her position is but one of many that are possible, and that others may (and probably will) disagree or will at the very least have important questions they want to have answered. Keep in mind that reasonable people may have reasonable disagreements. A good arguer wins others to his or her side by employing rhetoric convincingly. For an excellent example of a writer countering his opponents’ arguments, read “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail/274668/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.). It is your job to discuss disagreements with readers and to counter them (we call this a refutation) with reasons, facts, and logic.
• Conclusion:
  • Wow the reader: a good arguer finishes strong, revisits the thesis (restating it, though not exactly word for word), and leaves readers, if not yet convinced of the rightness of your argument, at least accepting that your position is reasonable and worthy of consideration. Be realistic: consider that many arguments take time, sometimes many years, to bear fruit: in rhetoric, patience pays off over heated language and bluster.
• Aristotle’s Rhetorical Appeals:
  • (https://www.bhsu.edu/Portals/32/Rhetorical%20Appeals.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.) Writers use the appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos (Aristotle’s “Rhetorical Triangle”) to construct arguments, each decision in the rhetorical process affecting the other. The more you are aware of your audience(s), anticipate their needs, and respond to readers’ concerns and questions, the better chances you have of persuading your audience.
• Don’t Forget MLA Documentation:
  • In academic writing, writers must cite sources in-text (any quotes, paraphrases, summaries, uses of facts and information that are not common knowledge) and list bibliographic sources in an MLA list of