INT 101 Formal Essay #3 on Persuasive Writing – 100 points
Due by Thursday, November 1st, 11:59 PM
Pick any one topic from the ten listed below. The purpose of a persuasive research paper is to get the reader to side with
you on a particular topic for the reasons that you present. You may use any or all of the subtopics listed under a topic.

Animals Have Basic Rights
o Discussion of whether animals have the right to be taken care of & not abused
o Any basic rights they have (food, water, medical attention); PETA
o Do they feel love, friendship, happiness, acceptance, and pain?
o Whether or not they should be hunted; the fur industry
o Eating Animals & humane meat
o Project Nim & animal experimentation; Temple Grandin & factory farming

Fast Food : Is it Really the Cause of Obesity in America?
o Obesity in America; Should large sodas be baned nationwide as they are in NYC?
o Super Size Me; Fast Food Nation

Is the Death Penalty Inhuman?
o Different Religious Views on Capital Punishment
o How is the U.S. different from other countries? (esp. Canada, Norway, Japan)
o The work of Sister Helen Prejean & Dead Man Walking
o See book Death Penalty : Opposing Viewpoints
o Story of the West Memphis Three (three men who were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the
1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas).
o 2011 execution of Troy Davis from Savannah
o “As long as state parole boards can calmly condemn a man to death and then go about their business as if
nothing were morally wrong with this, the U.S. is not the greatest country in the world.” Comment.

Do We Need Stricter Gun Control in America?
o Rise of Violence in America : What is causing it?; Relate to Lord of the Flies
o 2012 Aurora, CO Dark Knight Rises Shooting; 2011 Tucson, AZ Shooting; 2007 VA Tech massacre
o How is the U.S. different from other countries? (esp. Canada, Norway, Japan)
o A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths

Doping Should be Legalized in Professional Sports
o Lance Armstrong doping scandal & whether he should be stripped of titles

College Athletes Deserve to be Paid
o Ed O’Bannon’s class action lawsuit against the NCAA that players should be compensated for NCAA’s
use of their likeness & name. See October 15, 2012 Sports Illustrated.

Should Colleges Censor the Posts and Tweets of their Athletes?
o UDiligence app that will alert athletes, coaches, and administrators of “flagged” posts
o See October 22, 2012 story in Time

Euthanasia : The Right to Die?
o What is it? Origins & history. Should it be legal? How is the U.S. different on this?
o Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Is Health Insurance the Right of all Americans?

Nuclear Proliferation : Will Development of Nuclear Weapons Fuel a Third World War?
Prewriting Strategies for your Persuasive Essay
As with any essay, you should take some time to organize your thoughts. Choose a side of the argument that you feel
most comfortable presenting.
Components for your Essay
Your paper should be 3 – 5 pages, double spaced, and include an interesting title. It must contain the following five
common elements.
1) Introduction
The introduction should present the topic of your paper. Clarify the relevant values of the topic so that
the audience can see the position of the paper. Remember that there are many parts of any argument.
The topic of the paper should be specific to the issue that you plan to address. The introduction most
often begins with a general reference to the topic and narrows down to your thesis within four to six
sentences. The thesis should be clear, concise, well stated and identifiable. In other words, the reader
should have no question about what will be argued within the paper.
2)
Present facts that support the side of the argument that you plan to present and to persuade for or against.
Facts can consist of statistics, researched information, and other materials that are found in scholarly
journals, government publications and other academic or professional fields. Remember to cite all
information that is not your own original idea. All sources should be cited in a bibliography.
3) Sequence or prioritize the facts in a manner that builds the argument in the most influential way.
The presentation of facts for the argument should follow the same organization presented when clarifying
the relevant values. The first issue stated in the thesis should be the first topic approached in the
persuasion/argument section of the paper and so on.
4)
Refutation
In the refutation section of the essay, you will have the opportunity to refute any claims made against
your argument. This section will make your argument that much stronger if you can show that opposing
ideas have been considered and disproved.
5)
Conclusion
You must remember that this is your last chance to state your case. Think of the conclusion as the
summation in a court case; you have to be convincing. The conclusion should never be thought of as just
a summary of the essay. If you answer the question, “So, why am I writing this paper to this audience?”
you can create a stronger conclusion that does what it was intended to do, persuade.
A General Summary of Aristotle's Appeals . . . The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade your audience that
your ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else's. The Greek philosopher Aristotle divided the means of
persuasion, appeals, into the three categories below.
Ethos (Credibility), or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author. We tend to believe people
whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are
someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well
as someone who is likable and worthy of respect.
Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. Language choice affects the audience's
emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument.
Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. It was Aristotle's favorite. It can be broken down into both
deductive and inductive reasoning. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough.