essay (iv)

ESSAY IV
Final Drafts Due: 4/28

This is a Research Based Argumentative Essay on a controversial topic of your choice. You will be expected to use a counter argument to support your point.

Your primary objective for this paper will be to make a well-informed, carefully considered contribution to an on-going conversation or debate about an important topic. Your audience for this essay is comprised of scholars who are interested in your topic and who may be aware of the important texts, thinkers, and arguments frequently cited within your chosen conversation. However, while your readers may be familiar with some of the more influential voices that you will cite, they will expect you to remind them of key words and statements. These academic readers like texts, and they respect well-read participants of the conversation, so you should use textual support as a way of establishing credibility as well.

Your academic readers, though, will not be reading your essay simply to “re-hear” authoritative voices; they want you to bring those voices into your argument ¾ and they want you to prove that you have understood them ¾ but they still expect your voice to predominate. So you must have something definite to contribute, even if it is only a revision, qualification, or correction of an existing belief or idea.

Examples of essay topics: Vocational School vs. College, is Tipping Right?, Organ sales benefit lives, and etc.

DO NOT WRITE ABOUT: Religion, Abortion, Anti-Evolution, Anit-Vaccinations, and Gun-Control.

► Using your planning document as a guide, take a few minutes to reread your previous exercises and review some of the “moves” your academic audience will expect you to make as you write your essay. For example, what are the larger implications of this conversation? Your readers will expect you to discuss established claims already in circulation within the conversation, and they will expect you to give these ideas a full and fair trial. But most of all your readers are interested in what your response is, and what your contribution to the conversation will be.

Remember that academic readers like a calm and methodical consideration of ideas; making an argument is not the same thing as being argumentative. Even though you may criticize another scholar’s position, your readers will not respond favorably to a strident or sarcastic tone. Also, as before, keep in mind that while your evidence provides the foundation for your work, you need to keep your voice and your thinking front-and-center.

Manuscript Notes: This essay should be 5 to 8 double-spaced pages and calls for MLA documentation; you must include a “Works Cited” list at the end of your essay. Additionally, you muse use and refute a counterargument. When you quote key phrases or clauses from your text(s), you must provide parenthetical documentation. Follow the guidelines in your handbook.

Option #2: Satire Essay

In the vein of Jonathon Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” you have the option of writing a satirical argumentative essay. You might want to extend Swift’s argument or even come up with a ridiculous stance on a hot topic subject of your own(all ideas have to be cleared with me before you start writing). This satirical essay must be cited, logical, and convincing. Respect your fellow classmates; your satirical essay can’t be hateful or insensitive.

Ex. Bringing back debtors prison for people who don’t pay back student loans

Execution T.V.

Requirements:

5-8 pages(@ least 5 full pages)
Need a Counterargument and Refutation.
MLA format/Works Cited
You should be using 3 sources (1 website + 2 academic articles/peer-reviewed articles)

Peer Review:

To receive full credit, you are expected to Read over 1 of your peer’s essays and give them good feedback on their essay. You will be assigned a peer-reviewer on 4/23, and you will need to give them feedback within 48 hours. Your peer review comments should go beyond what you liked or disliked about the text. Use these questions to guide your response.

Is their an interesting hook? Suggest one?
Has the author provided enough background information in their introduction?
Has the author previewed the main points of the essay?
Does the introduction end on a solid thesis statement that directly answers the prompt?
Does each body paragraph begin with a solid thesis statement that directly states the paragraph’s topic?>
Does the author contextualize each piece of evidence by introducing the article title, author, and a brief summary?
Does the the author provide enough background information to set up their quote organically? Who is speaking? When does this occur? Where ? Why?
Does the author use specific quotes/ or personal experiences in their essay?
Does the author analyze their evidence in detail? Are they explaining how their examples (both textual/ and personal) support their thesis statement(