writing essay

Out_of_Class_Essay2_AssignmentSheet

Argumentative (Position) Essay

Assignment:

Drawing on the assigned readings—

“We Bail out Banks, But Not Desperate Students” by Jesse Jackson (http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/8389726-452/we-bail-out-banks-but-not-desperate-students.html),

“Forgive Student Loans?” by Richard Vedder ( http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/279716/forgive-student-loans-richard-vedder),

and “Higher Education’s Coming Crisis” by Robert Zaller (http://thetriangle.org/op-ed/higher-educations-coming-crisis/)

—write an essay that presents your informed stance or opinion—your position—on the issue of “student loan crisis.”

Do you think the government should do more to relieve the student-loan burden? Or do you object to government involvement in this matter and believe it should be the responsibility of students and their families?

Qualify your position by collecting information from sources, considering opinions of others, and relying on your personal experiences and observations.

Guidelines:

1. Your introduction will present the issue and state the essay’s thesis. See that the thesis includes a claim (an assertion, possibly with a word “should”) and the reasons (of value or cause) that support the claim and are logically connected to it.

2. The body of your argument will:

(a) provide logical support for each reason stated in the thesis by using

· appeals to authority

· facts and figures

· opinion statements

· examples

· personal experience

(b) summarize the position of those who would oppose this argument and respond to the opposition point of view by either refuting it or conceding to it.

3. In your conclusion, place the argument in a larger context, perhaps by summarizing your main points and showing why this issue is an important one or by calling to action.

Requirements:

1. The essay needs to be written in the MLA format. The final draft should be a minimum of 1,000 words in length.

2. You are required to use at least one article out of the assigned three. Overall, you are not allowed to use more than three sources for the essay.

Incorporating Sources

Follow the following steps to complete this assignment:

1. Select a passage in one of the assigned readings that you would like to incorporate into your Out-of-Class Essay.

2. Compose a paragraph (or the beginning part of the paragraph) that states the main point in a topic sentence and incorporates materials from the source to support that point.

Make sure that your passage contains the following:

(a) A topic sentence (the main point of the paragraph stated in a general way).

(b) The lead-in or introduction to source material (quoted or paraphrased).

In this part, identify the author and provide any necessary background or credentials. Also, provide enough of a context for the quoted or paraphrased source material to make sense and to prepare the reader for what is important in it. The introduction needs to be informative without duplicating the quoted or paraphrased material that will follow.

(c) Direct quotation or paraphrase of a passage from assigned reading (the “meat” of the sandwich).

(d) Your own analysis or commentary of the quoted or paraphrased material.

This part needs to provide necessary lines of clarification, interpretation, analysis, or discussion after the quotation (paraphrase). Most importantly, this analysis needs to demonstrate the necessity of the quoted or paraphrased material for the point that you are making.