English 1A/Clara McLean
SECOND ESSAY ASSIGNMENT: Research and Argument
Paper Length: 7-9 pages
First draft due for Peer Review in class Th 11/6. Final draft due online on
Blackboard (through SafeAssign) by class time T 11/11.
Assignment: Write an argumentative research essay about a key issue in the
current election. Argue for your position on this issue, using your
research to support your argument.
In the research projects leading up to this paper, the class has worked in groups on
the following issues currently under debate in this election year: Health Care, Global
Warming, the War in Iraq, and Immigration. Groups provided Annotated
Bibliographies for their classmates on the sources they found and did presentations that
gave an overview of their issue and showcased a range of different positions on it.
For this paper assignment, you may pick any topic that has been presented on
(yours or any of the other groups’), and write a 7-9 page argument paper, drawing your
evidence from the sources provided in the group’s Annotated Bibliography. Because the
research was limited to high-quality, nationally recognized sources, you have a strong
body of research already provided for you through which to make your argument. Read
and annotate your sources carefully.
In your paper, you must accomplish the following things (not necessarily in this
order):
1) Provide information on the issue. What is the issue? What are the basic
facts? What’s the background information that will help your reader
understand it? Explain and define key terms and concepts, and set the issue
up for your reader as clearly and objectively as possible.
2) Make your own argument about it. Drawing on the information you have
researched and the range of arguments and evidence you have looked at, what
is your own view about this issue? What, as you see it, are the key causes of
the problem, and what are the solutions? Where do you fall among the
spectrum of viewpoints you have looked into?
As you are making your own argument, providing strong evidence is particularly
important, utilizing the sources you have at your disposal. Therefore, think of your thesis
as a claim, and your illustrations as evidence: you are trying to prove your claim to a
reader who may not agree with you. Quote from writers that you agree with and writers
that you disagree with, so as not to “stack the deck” in your argument. If you disagree
with a writer, provide a counterargument. In other words, explain this other writer’s
opinion and then explain why you disagree with it. (If you only provide the other
writer’s opinion without explaining your response to that opinion, you haven’t provided a
counterargument.)
Your essay should be formatted and documented in MLA style. In other words,
you should have in-text citations and a works cited page (like a bibliography). (This time
the works cited page will not be annotated.)
Like any essay, this one should have an introduction with a clear thesis, body
paragraphs with P-I-E, and a concluding paragraph that both sums up what you have
argued and leaves the reader thinking.
Persuasive writing will be important to convince your reader, so think about
organization and wording that will help you persuade.
Finally, the paper should be carefully proofread, with few sentence-level errors.
Give it an apt title, and make sure it is long enough to meet or exceed the minimum page
requirements for this assignment.