persuasive essay

Final Essay

Instructions

Topic Should education, including college, be free for everyone?

Requirements and Expectations Your paper must do the following:

1. Take a clear stand on one of the issues provided in the paper topics handout. Represent your stance in terms of a clearly articulated, argumentative enthymeme. A fully-fledged, argumentative enthymeme contains the following items: a) it indicates an issue(s) it is responding to; b) it specifically states how it answers/responds to the issue(s); c) it draws a conclusion; and d) it provides the strongest reason or set of reasons for believing that the response/stand is a strongly plausible one. (You should review the course content on the parts and structure of a valid/sound enthymeme!)

2. Develop and structure a strong argument that is well-organized and coherent, focusing on the following goals: a) explain your key ideas thoroughly, so that you are teaching your reader about them; and b) provide supported first-person perspective when appropriate (meaning you also accompany your ideas and beliefs with solid reasons).

3. Include a well-developed counter-argument to your position and your rebuttal to that counterargument.

4. Show evidence of proofreading and careful editing.

5. Effectively utilize credible sources and evidence to illustrate and support your specific claims.

6. Include in-text citations and a Works Cited page in MLA format.

7. Be within 3-4 FULL pages (excluding the Works Cited page) and in MLA format throughout.

Rubric

Your grade will reflect how well you follow the instructions below:

Requirement	20 points DID IT	15 points TRIED IT	5 points DIDN’T DO IT
Enthymeme	You have chosen a topic from the provided topic list, and you’ve explained your thesis in the form of an enthymeme	You explained your thesis, but not in the form of an enthymeme	You did not include your thesis or enthymeme, and/or your topic was not from the provided list
Counterargument	You fully explained at least one counterargument to either your reason or unstated assumption	You mentioned one counterargument, but you did not explain it	You did not mention any counterarguments
Clarity	Your writing is clear, direct, and effective	Some of your writing is awkwardly written; there are grammar issues, run-on sentences, and/or mistakes	Most of your writing is unclear, difficult to understand, and poorly worded
Citations	You have proper intext MLA citations, as well as a works cited page	You have either in-text citations or a works cited page	You are missing many or all citations
Format and Page Limit	Your paper is in proper MLA format and is between 3-4 pages, excluding the Works Cited page	Your paper uses consistent formatting, but not MLA, and/or is within one page longer or shorter than the page limit	You did not use any consistent formatting, and/or your paper is more than one page outside of the limit

Make presentation on the essay topic.

1. Your presentation should include:

a. Your chosen paper topic and reasoning for choosing that topic

b. Your thesis in the form of an enthymeme

c. An analysis of your enthymeme (explain your reason, your conclusion, and the unstated assumption)

d. A counterargument to either your reason or unstated assumption, fully explained

e. Extra Credit: include some entertaining element, like PowerPoint, audio, video, images, etc.

2. Your presentation may be in any form you like (typed paragraph, PowerPoint, video, etc.), so long as it fulfills all the requirements