ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES:
Your 6-8 page research paper should: a) use academic and professional sources to explore a question at issue; b) articulate an informed position on an issue, making a well-reasoned argument based on your research; c) proceed along a line of reasoning that supports the argument; d) correctly document the use of three or more sources; e) direct diction, voice, tone, and evidence to a diverse, academic audience; and f) do all of the above in accordance with the conventions of standard written English.
Articulate an informed position on the issue, and address your argument to a general, academic audience. You must make an argument in this paper, and that argument should reflect the information you find as well as your assessment of the research done by others. Address information that challenges your view to show that you are aware of other perspectives and have valid critiques of them. Maintain an academic tone and present reasoning and evidence, not inflammatory rants. You should assume that your audience is general, diverse, and educated but not specialists on your topic nor particularly sympathetic with your positions.
Structure the paper according to your line of reasoning. Use your sources to formulate and complement your own ideas on the subject but retain a focus in the paper on your own line of reasoning. Make sure that your paper is organized around a clearly defined thesis and that you use topic sentences and transitions to make the paper’s organization and argument clear. Do not simply compile a laundry list of subtopics on a general topic OR summarize all of your sources. Bear in mind as well that you can have entire pages without sources IF the ideas you are presenting are your own ideas and are necessary to ensuring structural unity, integrity, and rhetorical effectiveness.
Use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation (of course), and use absolute precision in applying MLA conventions for signal phrases, in-text citations, and works cited.
ENGLISH 102 LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Develop a full understanding of rhetorical principles
2. Develop strategies for revising and editing prose
3. Develop carefully worked out positions on selected issues and questions
4. Construct strongly supported and carefully reasoned arguments regarding those issues and questions
5. Learn to locate, evaluate and organize information
6. Conduct independent research and integrate it into a written essay