RS 361E Essay Guidelines Page 1 of 1
Essay 4: A Public Policy Position
 In the upper right hand corner of your essay include your name, the date, and RS 361E: Leininger.
 Provide your own creative, thoughtful title that points to the thesis of your essay and grabs the reader’s attention.
 After your title, and before starting your essay, state the thesis of your paper (preceded by
“Thesis:”).
 Use every inch of the allowed two pages single-spaced. Papers that fall short of a full two pages are ineligible for a “B” or higher grade.
A) No more than 1/4 of essay : explain the central reasons offered for a specific public policy position advanced in the assigned readings and lecture notes by either an evangelical author (or authors) or the Cochrans, e.g., a policy to set the minimum wage at a living wage.
B) 3/4 of paper or more : Construct an argument concerning this public policy stance and the relevant evangelical or Catholic principles that underlie it. For example, you might argue against the policy and provide an alternative policy solution that better embodies the underlying principles. Alternatively, you might argue against the underlying principles and the policy by providing a different policy based upon different principles.
Consider the counterarguments to your thesis.
The key is to demonstrate your grasp of the position you critique and your ability to construct a well reasoned argument for a particular public policy. For example, if you support a policy from the readings, you would need to construct a far more developed set of arguments (and responses to possible counterarguments) than those contained in the assigned readings.
Be sure to do the following:
1.
Provide a clearly stated thesis within the first paragraph (this is in addition to the thesis statement after your title). Provide clear topic sentences for each paragraph—generally at or near the beginning of the paragraph. A topic sentence is the thesis of a given paragraph, i.e., its main point.
All other sentences in the paragraph should support this topic sentence. All paragraphs in the paper should develop your overall thesis in the paper.
2.
Minimize or avoid summary (of stories, assigned readings, etc.) and maximize argument and analysis. This means thinking through the connections or tensions between the ideas in the assigned texts rather than paraphrasing what the texts and lecture notes say.
3.
Evaluate your essay drafts by asking: “What level of understanding of the course concepts does this display through its application and analysis of these concepts?” “How can this essay demonstrate an even deeper grasp?”
4.
Never go beyond 1/4 of the essay for the first task. Make it shorter than 1/4 if you can do so effectively.
5.
For most people, writing a good two-page essay requires writing at least four pages and then selecting the best of those four pages for your two-page essay. The Writing Center can help you edit.
6.
In constructing your argument, avoid statements such as I feel, I believe, my opinion, and instead offer arguments (reasons) that support your thesis (and consider counterarguments that might challenge it.)