Assignment:
Topic: Second Chances Over Steel Bars: Why Juvenile Offenders Deserve Rehabilitation
Criminal justice is my major
Assignment Objectives:
- Construct an argument using various methods of argumentation
- Utilize the three persuasive appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) to persuade the intended audience(s)
- Gather, summarize, synthesize, and explain information from various sources
- Incorporate in-text and Works Cited (MLA) or Reference (APA)
- Use research from sources (direct quotes, summaries, paraphrases) to provide evidence that supports the reasons, and ultimately, the claim
- Explain and discredit one counterargument to establish an understanding of the opposing point(s) of view and to aid author credibility
- Practice producing coherent, organized, readable prose for different rhetorical situations and audiences
- Engage in writing as a process, including invention (such as brainstorming for ideas), developing a thesis statement, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading
- Use grammatical, stylistic, and mechanical formats and conventions appropriate for different audiences and writing situations
Assignment Description:
1. For this assignment, you will write an argumentative essay in which you research controversial (or often debated) topics within your intended career field. Need Assignment Help?
- For example, if you are an Education major, a possible topic could be: Should the government divert funds from public schools in order to partially fund charter schools and/or school vouchers?
- Or as another example, if you are a Social Work major, a possible topic could be: Are harming reduction strategies ethical, or do they compound the problem?
- You will most likely need to do some preliminary research to determine what the current topics of debate are in your prospective field.
2. Once you have selected your topic, you MUST choose a side and determine your claim (position).
3. Include at least FOUR reasons that support your claim (position) on the topic.
4. Each time a reason is stated, evidence (information from sources) must be provided to support that reason.
5. Students MAY NOT write about the following topics:
- Legalizing marijuana, death penalty, assisted suicide, sex education/birth control availability in schools, dress codes/school uniforms, creationism vs. evolution, gay marriage, conspiracy theories, issues of faith/religion, prayer in public schools, smoking in public places, video game violence, lowering/raising the legal drinking age, English as the national language, gun control, paying student athletes, or any other topic that has been written about so much there are few (if any) new viewpoints to share.
6. Students will identify and discredit at least one opposing point of view. Develop the counterargument in a body paragraph within the essay. You will need at least 5-8 sentences to state the opposing point of view, discredit the opposing point of view, and then provide evidence to support your assertion.
7. Write a direct thesis in which you state your position and list your reasons. Keep in mind that the body paragraphs should reflect the order of the reasons listed in the thesis.
Essay Requirements:
- Word Count: A minimum of 1000 words (This will be roughly three to four pages.)
- Include the Word Count on page one below the date.
- In-text citations and Works Cited (MLA) or Reference (APA) citations are included in this word count.
- Use MLA (Modern Language Association) or APA (American Psychological Association) format.
- Use a minimum of four sources.
- You may not use Wikipedia or other similar sources (such as Encyclopedias)for this assignment.
- You may use first- or third-person point of view.
- If you wrote an argumentative essay for ENGL 102, you may NOT submit that essay. That constitutes multiple submissions, which is an intentional form of plagiarism.
- Only original work will be graded. Students should not submit an essay or assignment that was previously submitted for another course or instructor. Students should not use Generative AI to create the draft. Doing so will result in a score of zero for the assignment.