Week 8 Final Draft

   

ENGL 140 Signature Assignment (Argumentative Essay)

The Argumentative Essay assignment is broken into two key parts:

• Part A: Argumentative Essay Components      (due each week on Sunday): 
• Part B: Argumentative Essay      Final Draft, which is the Signature Assignment for this course. 

Purpose: Your Argumentative essay, otherwise known as a persuasive essay, will begin with a controversial topic. You will select a topic of interest, take a stand on the topic, and persuade your audience to agree with the stance taken. Avoid presenting both sides of the argument, but instead focus on the best arguments to convince your audience to agree with your chosen stance on the topic. 

The topic must be debatable and relate to current social, political, or cultural topics. Alternatively, you may choose to write on a topic specific to your field of study. Topic choices will be submitted to your instructor for final approval.

Finally, your essay should present the argument without using first or second person pronouns (I, me, mine, we, us, ours, you, or yours). Though your opinion will be given, statements such as “I think” or “I would argue” should be avoided.

Topic Selection: Selecting a topic that is debatable and of interest is really important. Use the list below to help you begin brainstorming topics.

   

· Mandatory vaccination

· LGBT rights

· Gun control

· Socialized health care

· Abortion

· Separation of church and state

· Immigration

· Common Core Standards

· Standardized testing

· Online vs. ground education

· eTextbooks

· Societal dependence on technology

· Topic related to field of study

  

Signature Assignment Requirements: Argumentative Paper

1. You will write an essay      designed to convince your audience to agree with your viewpoint on a controversial      topic of current interest in the world.
2. You will be required to      incorporate a minimum of five outside sources, two of which should be      scholarly, for this assignment.
3. You must include an      APA-formatted reference page, otherwise known as a bibliography.
4. You must include APA-formatted      in-text citations for each outside source listed on your reference page.
5. Your essay must be a minimum of      three pages long, not including your title page or reference page.
6. Your paper should be written      using APA formatting, typed in Times New      Roman using 12-point font, double spaced with one-inch margins, and indented first lines for each      new paragraph. An APA-formatted title page is required.

Self-assessment: Reflect upon the questions below while you work through the process of writing your Argumentative paper. If you can answer “yes” to each question, then you are off to a good start. If you answer “no” to the questions below, try a new approach.

   

Self-assessment Questions

YES

NO

 

1.

Am I making an argument instead of   simply stating facts?

 

2.

Is my argument, or topic stance,   debatable?

 

3.

Does my chosen topic have   significance?

 

4.

Will I be able to find credible   outside source information on this topic to provide support for my ideas?

 

5.

Can I write about this topic   without being overly negative toward the opposing view?