Week 2 Discussion

Persuasive Essay Topic Proposal

In the coming weeks, you will research and write a persuasive essay on a topic that has importance to a specific place and issue, and you will take a position on this issue with the purpose of persuading your audience. For this discussion assignment, you will choose your persuasive essay topic. You may choose to continue writing about the work place you identified in Week 1, but you will need to narrow the general topic to include a problem that needs to be addressed, OR you may choose to write about a different place.

By the due date assigned, post your topic to the Discussion Area. Then, by the end of the week, offer feedback to at least two classmates on their posts.

Choose one of the following approaches:

1. Your topic could build from the place or community you wrote about in your narrative essay. You will want to find a problem to address associated with that place and explore either the problems, causes, or solutions.
2. You may select an issue that is important to your community, city, or state. The issue you select should be important to the place and people. For example, you may want to address the causes of a specific type of problem that affects an area or a group of people where you live, or you may want to offer a solution to the problem.

Example topics:

• beach erosion in a specific town
• littering or pollution at a specific location
• urban gardening in a specific city
• walk ways or bike ways in a specific town
• health care inequities in a specific state
• organic or farm-fresh produce availability in a specific community

Assignment Requirements:

Once you have chosen a topic, respond in the Discussion Area with a posting of at least 200 words. Please do not post an attachment, but do cite any references using APA style guidelines which can be found in the Week 3 lectures.

In your response, include the following information:

1. Give the topic or issue you will research.
2. Give the place (community, city, state) and the people affected.
3. Explain how the issue is problematic. Can reasonable people agree or disagree about the concern?
4. Explain how the issue is significant. Is the problem important enough to need further understanding?
5. Explain why the issue interests you personally. Do you have personal concerns