Topic
Scan the headlines or tune into radio and television stations to find an issue under debate in the
public sphere (for the radio, I recommend 90.1 FM in the mornings and evenings; for television,
the PBS NewsHour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ ). Possible topics include:
 Whether abortion is morally justifiable
 Whether euthanasia is morally justifiable
 Whether the US should close down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
 Whether Edward Snowden should be offered clemency
 Whether Marijuana should be legalized
 Whether airport security screeners should use profiling
 Whether handguns should be outlawed
 Whether capital punishment should be abolished
 Whether the Affordable Care Act should be repealed
Paper Content
This is an argumentative essay. You are writing in order to prove a conclusion. The conclusion
you set out to prove will be determined by the topic on which you write. For instance, if you
want to write on whether Marijuana should be legalized, you may wish to argue that Marijuana
should not be legalized. The statement that explains what a paper is about is called the ‘thesis
statement’. Regarding the topic of the legalization of Marijuana, a thesis statement might read ‘I
believe that Marijuana should not be legalized’. Make sure to include your thesis statement in
the first paragraph of your essay. The rest of your essay will develop (which, in an
argumentative essay, means prove) your thesis.
There are two ways you should attempt to prove your thesis. First, provide one or more
convincing arguments in support of your conclusion. Arguments require premises, so this is
where your research comes in. For instance, you may want to argue that capital punishment
should be abolished. In this case, you might use as a premise the proposition that it costs more
to execute a prisoner than to keep him or her in jail for life. You will need to prove this
statement. To do this, you cite your source. I picked up the information here:
http://www.ncadp.org/index.cfm?content=5 (style manuals will tell you how properly to
cite your source). Once you have your premises, you build them into an argument. For
instance, ‘Since it costs more to keep a person in jail for life than to execute him, we should
abolish the death penalty’. Make sure to fill in the details to flesh out your premises. For
instance, how much more does capital punishment cost and are these costs irreducible?
Second, don’t ignore obvious and well-known arguments against your position. There are
reasons that the issues I have suggested are still being debated. Find out the arguments
against your position and show why, despite these arguments to the contrary, you are right.
Sources
You need a minimum of four sources. Your aim is to persuade as many persons as possible. For
this reason, steer away from using controversial sources to justify your claims. While it may be
commendable to draw inspiration from religious writings, such writings are often controversial
and should not be introduced as evidence in favor of your position. Likewise, try to draw most
of your information from reputable newspapers, universities or peer reviewed literature such
as is found on Galileo. This way you can be fairly certain that the information on which you rely
is correct and relatively free from bias.
Style and Format
 Submit papers via D2L Dropbox.
 Use footnotes or endnotes to document your citations.
 Cite all quoted or paraphrased material.
 Length: 300-500 words (not including cover page and bibliography).
 Title, name, etc. on a separate cover page.
 A bibliography is required.
Final Note
Your grade will be determined by the extent to which you adhere to the guidelines in this
document and on your syllabus, as well as your ability successfully to articulate and defend a
thesis in accordance with conventional rules governing syntax, grammar and spelling.