Argumentative Research Essay Your essay should make an effective argument about your chosen topic to

Argumentative Research Essay

Your essay should make an effective argument about your chosen topic to an academic audience. A strong argument establishes the relevance of the argument, addresses the opposition to your claim, and supports the argument with specific, credible evidence and analysis. To support your ideas, you must integrate at least four (4)scholarly sources, two(2) of which will be academic journal articles.

Assignment Guidelines

Your essay must follow a formal essay structure, to include an introduction with a detailed thesis, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Your essay must be at least four (4) complete pages in MLA format with an additional Works Cited page to document at least four sources.

All source material must be credible and appropriate to the academic community.

Two of your four sources should be academic journal articles. When in doubt about a source’s credibility, please ask!

In your introduction, you should open by engaging your reader in the topic. After you introduce the purpose of your paper generally, move into a specific thesis to state your position and your major reasons. This thesis sets up the organizational frame and focus of the paper.

In each body paragraph, you should use specific examples (quotes or paraphrases) to “show, not tell” yat evidence is relevant to your point. You should organize each paragraph using M.E.A.L., and include transitions, both within the paragraphs and between them, to guide your reader smoothly.

In your conclusion, you should summarize your main points and then end with the “so what?,” where you explain your paper’s significance and greater implications.

You should smoothly and ethically integrate your quotes with proper in-text citations. These citations must correspond to the Works Cited page. All documentation must be in 8th edition MLA format (textbook pp. 193 ff.)

Public Piece Project

As you decide on your topic and craft your argument for the research paper, remember that you will be creating/writing a public representation of your argument for a different audience. This will be final major assignment of the semester.

Public Piece Project

Background

Throughout this course, we have been examining how audiences are persuaded by various styles, rhetorical appeals, and ways of presenting information based on their specific needs and expectations. For this final major component of the semester, you will be taking the argument of your research paper and restructuring in a creative and purposeful way for a new audience.

How to Approach the Assignment Consider your research paper argument. Who would benefit from knowing the information you learned in your research? Choose a new audience for your focus.

Once you have your audience in mind, what purpose do you have in connecting with them? What information from your research do you want them to know and what would you encourage them to do with it?

Choose a medium for presenting your research argument to your audience.
How you choose to restructure your argument is a vital part of this assignment.
Make sure the genre you choose has value and purpose for the audience.

Possible public pieces include: brochure, public service announcement, commercial, magazine article, newspaper editorial, letter, podcast,original poetry/music, video, poster presentation, etc. Creativity is encouraged as long as it thoughtfully conveys your argument! Note: PowerPoint presentations are not allowed, because they are evil. Create. Compose/create a high quality, professional product. Any scripts, transcripts, or other written components should accompany the actual product. Documents, videos, and images will be uploaded to Blackboard.

Near the end of the course, you will present your argument to the class, briefly. You will need to discuss what your argument is, the audience you chose, and how your public piece connects effectively with the audience. You may choose to present your actual piece as if the class is your intended audience.

Grading Criteria

Your public piece will be graded based on how well you do the following: Demonstrate that the audience is appropriate for the topic/argument Demonstrate that the medium of the public piece is effective for your audience Connect your public piece content to your research paper argument Create a professional, appealing product Present your ideas in an engaging and articulate manner