English Essay-Global warming

Capstone Project

This final assignment has three parts , each graded separately. Note the deadlines for each part, and submit accordingly.

Begin by choosing an option from the list below. In choosing a topic, avoid those that have been done too often, such as abortion, gun rights, legalizing marijuana, the death penalty, and legalizing gay marriage. Instead, pick a topic that is interesting and controversial, and that allows you to practice your research skills.

Option 1:

Research a topic of your choice, and write an essay on it using the Toulmin method of argumentation. You MUST take a stand and defend it robustly, providing enough information and evidence to persuade your readers to agree with you. Use the Facts on File: Issues and Controversies and the Opposing Viewpoints databases to help you with this option.

Some possible topics are:

· Choosing a major in college

· Private for-profit colleges versus public colleges

· Fracking

· Online learning vs in-class learning

· TV: capturing the diversity of the American population?

· Should video games be considered a sport?

· Friendships: differences by gender?

· Should children play football?

· Selling morning-after pill over the counter to girls under 17

· Banning burkinis

Option 2:

Research a topic of your choice, and write an essay on it using the Rogerian method of argumentation. Present the problem, the opposing views, and your views in a neutral, dispassionate tone; examine common ground and attempt to arrive at a solution or a compromise based on those common grounds. The purpose here is to get something important done that will serve a common good, not to convert the opposing side to your views. Use the Facts on File: Issues and Controversies and the Opposing Viewpoints databases to help you with this option.

Some possible topics are:

· US contribution to UN projects

· Healthy school lunches

· Our privacy versus national security

· Universal healthcare

· US role in the war against ISIS

· Police brutality

· Space exploration

· Labor unions

Option 3:

Write a Proposal argument on a topic of your choice (chapter 12). For this option, identify a need or a problem and the effects it has, then examine the solutions that have been tried thus far and have not worked. Your goal is to come up with a solution or set of solutions for this problem.

Some possible topics are:

· Future deficits in the Social Security system

· The cost of college

· Skinny models and eating disorders

· Climate change

· Universal healthcare

· Police brutality

Once you have chosen your topic, submit the three parts of the assignment as follows.

Part 1: Proposal (DUE 4/18 by 9 p.m; 50 points)

Do some preliminary reading and research, and write a one-page Research Proposal that clearly explains your project (See the “Suggested Structure for Research Proposal” document on D2L). Once you have begun work on your Annotated Bibliography, based on your Proposal, you MAY NOT CHANGE TOPICS.

Your Proposal must also indicate which option you are choosing.

· If you choose to do Option 1, your Proposal must contain a quick breakdown of the various elements using Toulmin terminology.

· If you choose to do Option 2, your Proposal must show both sides clearly, as well as indicate possible common ground and the common goal towards which you want to work.

· If you choose Option 3, your Proposal must explain the problem and the specific population it affects, as well as show the current solutions that have obviously not been effective.

Part 2: Annotated Bibliography (DUE 4/25 by 9 p.m; 100 points)

We will be working on this in class, in a computer lab, on 11/8 and 11/10. Find a minimum of TEN sources on your topic (including at least FOUR scholarly sources). Use the example in the following website to guide you.