Essay Homework: Argumentative Essay
Length: 3 to 4 pages.
Your third essay is an argumentative / persuasive piece. The purpose of an argumentative or persuasive essay is to convince your reader that your position on a particular issue is credible. Argumentation is not about proving that you are right or wrong, but instead about demonstrating that you can support your position with solid evidence, thus presenting a viable perspective.
Topic
In this paper, you should persuade your readers that your position on a specific issue is credible. Your issue may come from a local, regional, or national issue. It may be political, related to current events, or important to a specific community or sub-group of a community.
Note that the following topics will not be approved, as in my experience, they do not lead to successful papers. Papers on these topics will earn a grade of 0:
o Abortion
o Gun control
o Capital punishment
o Police brutality
o Any topic that is exclusively faith-based, as it will not be appropriate to an academic audience.
Develop three distinct and specific reasons why your position is logical, and then support those reasons through your use of sources and evidence. These reasons must be clearly stated in your thesis statement.
Task
To successfully complete this homework, you should follow these steps:
A. Choose an issue that you consider to important and about which you feel strongly.
B. Take an unequivocal position on your issue.
C. Develop 3 to 4 major points you will make in support of your position.
D. Consider effective ways to account for the opposition.
E. Include at least three outside sources in your paper. These sources must be from a library resource (ie: a book, a database, an e-text). Note that each source that comes from a web site will cause the grade on the essay to be reduced by one letter per improperly located source.
Getting Started
Try answering the questions below to help you get started.
1. What is my issue? How can I define it?
2. What readers am I trying to reach with my discussion of this issue?
3. Have I chosen an arguable issue? (see page 3 of this document)
4. What are some related issues that I may need to address?
5. How can I narrow the issue for an essay-length discussion?
6. What are my views on the issue? What is my position on the issue? How can I state my position?
7. What 2 to 4 major points will I make in support of my position?
8. What evidence supports my position?
9. Does my argument include a call for action? What do I want readers to do, if anything?
10. Does the issue have a compromise position, or is there no middle ground?
Format your homework according to the give formatting requirements:
1. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the homework, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.