Argumentative Research Paper

MLA Sample Paper 1

Last Updated 9/10/09

MLA Sample Paper: Text

Velasquez 1

Rosa Velasquez

Professor Nguyen

English 1A

2 June 2004

Personality and Birth Order: First-Borns and Later-Borns

Does birth order have any effect on personality? The naysayers,

including psychologists, Monica A. Seff, Viktor Gecas, and James H. Frey,

argue that "research on birth order effects has been remarkably inconsistent

and inconclusive with regard to various personality and behavioral

outcomes." MIT historian Frank Sulloway disagrees. In his book, Born to

Rebel, he offers proof of the relationship between birth order and personality.

Researching the lives of historical figures, Sulloway observes that

later-borns tend to champion liberal or unconventional ideas while first-borns

do not: "Later-borns were more likely than first-borns were to support each

of the 61 liberal causes . . . surveyed, from the Protestant Reformation to the

American civil-rights movement" (qtd. in Cowley). Rule-breaking later-

borns include Susan B. Anthony, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr.,

and Charles Darwin. In contrast, first-borns defend the status quo (Sulloway

79). Naturalist Louis Agassiz fits this mold. The most influential naturalist of

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MLA Sample Paper 2

Last Updated 9/10/09

MLA Sample Paper: Works Cited

Velasquez 2

his day, first-born Agassiz staunchly opposed Darwin's radical notions about

biological change:

When Darwin proposed a revolutionary solution--that all

nature's variety stems from a simple process that preserves

useful variations and discards harmful ones--the authorities

were appalled. "A scientific mistake" thundered Louis

Agassiz, [. . .] "untrue in its facts . . . and mischievous in its

tendency." (Cowley)

Velasquez 5

Works Cited

Cowley, Geoffrey. "First Born, Later Born." Newsweek 7 Oct. 1996: 65+.

Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 23 May 2004.

Seff, Monica A., Viktor Gecas, and James H. Frey. "Birth Order, Self

Concept, and Participation in Dangerous Sports." Journal of

Psychology 127.2 (1993): 221+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web.

23 May 2004.

Sulloway, Frank J. Born to Rebel. New York: Pantheon, 1996. Print.

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