Take a stand on or make an original claim about your topic in an explicit thesis statement. Conduct research to help you form or strengthen your argument..
Format: All drafts must be typed according to MLA style guidelines (12-point Times New Roman font, double spaced with no additional spaces between paragraphs, 1″ margins, with proper header). Include a works cited page listing entries for and all sources consulted (not included in page count). Take a stand on or make an original claim about your topic in an explicit thesis statement. Conduct research to help you form or strengthen your argument. Support your claim in a well-organized, focused essay, using ethos, logos, and pathos. You must include an acknowledgment of opposing views through concession, refutation and/or counter-argument. Use 4-6 credible sources, including at least 3 scholarly sources (scholarly books or peer-reviewed journal articles). Use at least one journal article (online or print), one book (print or digital), and one (credible!) website. Google Scholar and the LRC online library database are great places to start. What conversations are unfolding among academic writers on the issue? Speak with a librarian about which research tools will be most effective for finding recent scholarly articles on this issue. Consider drawing not only on resources from your discipline, but also on materials from sociology, psychology, or other fields that may give you a broader understanding of the dynamics you analyzed in your essay. Using your persuasive diagnostic essay as a starting point, write an argumentative essay about a problem that you see at our university or in universities in general, in your hometown or community, or in the larger world. All of us have situations in which we encounter problems—as consumers, in our jobs or schools, or in our homes or communities. What is something about which you have a major complaint? What is a problem that has occurred recently? What is an area that needs immediate attention because matters are not being handled well? Write an essay to convince responsible parties to take action, laying out the issues involved and suggesting appropriate changes. Your topic must be pre-approved by me via your diagnostic. Discuss with me if you change topics. These topics are OFF LIMITS: abortion, who (or which party) to vote for, legalizing marijuana (or any drugs), gay marriage, death penalty. If you have chosen one of these topics for your diagnostic, we will need to discuss an alternative focus. You should have an overarching claim or argument about the topic which you will present in your thesis statement and prove through evidence. Be sure to cite appropriately within your text and also be sure that your overall claim is your own, formed from your understanding of the topic, and not borrowed from a source.
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