Research Paper on a Controversy

Length: 700-800 Words

Scan all of the readings in the second half of the textbook, and consider what controversy you want to write about this semester. Settle on some controversy as a topic and write a research report on it. Your purpose in this essay is to map out the various positions within your chosen controversy, stating clearly what those positions are and then highlighting the relationships among them. Your job is to articulate each position's most compelling arguments. Do not take a position on the controversy. One way to maintain a neutral stance in this paper is to present a few authors' positions and to talk about how they are related to each other -- where they overlap, where they conflict, etc.

See the formal rubric for this paper at Folio | Content | Papers | Rubric with Suggestions. Make sure to meet the requirements at Folio | Content | Papers | Paper Requirements Composition I Online. For example, you need to cite at least three scholarly sources, including at least one of the articles/chapter-sections from the textbook's readings.

Be sure to attribute statements to their original speakers or organizations. Phrases such as "according to" and "as stated by" along with verbs that indicate that someone has stated a particular position, such as "argues," "advocates," "asserts," and "contends," will indicate that the argument that you are presenting is not necessarily your own. You might find the "Index of Templates" at the back of Graff, Birkenstein, & Durst (the course's required book) useful. It can give you ideas for how to introduce different kinds of ideas. Your audience is concerned and interested but not particularly informed and your readers are looking to you to provide an unbiased lay of the land.