English Essay

Rough Draft Instructions

After reading the detailed essay prompt posted on eCourses, use the following template to construct a

draft for your essay.

Classical Argument

Claim/ Enthymeme The overall thesis you will argue

Grounds/Data Evidence gathered to support the claim.

Warrant Explanation of why or how the data supports the claim, the underlying

assumption that connects your data to your claim

Backing Additional logic or reasoning that may be necessary to support the warrant.

Counterclaim A claim that negates or disagrees with your argument

Rebuttal Evidence that negates or disagrees with the counterclaim.

Concession Shows the opposing points you agree with, and shows why this concession does

not damage your own case.

Qualifiers Are used to limit the force of a claim and indicate the degree of its probable

truth.

Your rough draft should follow the format listed below. Provide your information in the exact format as

listed below. Each section will have a paragraph of its own. Each of the subsections, within the seven

sections, should be labeled as shown underneath.

Rough draft should meet all the requirements listed in the essay prompt. For the rough draft, because

your main focus is on putting your thoughts and evidence together, it is okay to use first and second

person speech. However, the final drafts will be written in third person.

Your rough draft should be three plus pages long. It should include in-text citations and a works cited

list at the end. I will mainly be looking for Completion and Compliance.

Complete rough draft of research paper due through Turnitin on Nov. 21st – Monday morning,

before 6:00 am

Rough Draft Template:

1. Introduction:

Main Claim: (Thesis Statement)

Grounds/data: (Evidence gathered to support the claim)

Warrant: (Explanation of why or how the data supports the claim, the underlying assumption that connects your data to your claim)

Backing: (Additional logic or reasoning that may be necessary to support the warrant)

Repeat the above mentioned steps for the remaining parts and paragraphs of your essay

2. Body Paragraph (Topic Sentence)

 Grounds/data

 Warrant

 Backing

3. Body Paragraph (Topic Sentence)

 Grounds/data

 Warrant

 Backing

4. Body Paragraph (Topic Sentence)

 Grounds/data

 Warrant

 Backing

5. Concluding Paragraph(s)

Counterclaim (A claim that negates or disagrees with your argument)

Rebuttal (Evidence that negates or disagrees with the counterclaim)

Concession (Shows the opposing points you agree with, and shows why this concession does not

damage your own case)

Qualifiers (Are used to limit the force of a claim and indicate the degree of its probable truth)

6. Add attributive tags. For each source you use in your paper, I want you to gather all the

information you can and present it as an attributive tag.

 Author’s name

 Author’s credentials

 Author’s relevant specialty

 Title of the source

 Publisher’s information

 Historic or cultural information

7. For the reference list, gather the following information for each source:

 Author’s name

 Title of source

 Title of container

 Other contributors

 Version

 Number

 Publisher

 Publication date

 Location

Use the following templates for assistance with counterclaim and concession. Read lecture note to

remind yourselves the meaning of these terms.

Templates for entertaining objection (Counterclaim)

 Some readers may challenge this viewpoint by insisting that -----------------------

 Many will probably disagree on the grounds that --------------------------

Templates for making concessions while still standing your grounds

 While it is true that ------------------------. It does not necessarily follow that -----------------------.

 To some extent, X is right to say that ---------------------. But, evidence shows that ---------------.

 Proponents of X are right to argue that --------------------------. But they exaggerate when they

claim that ----------------------------.

Templates for establishing why your claim matters

 Ultimately, what is at stake here is -------------------------.

 These findings have important implications for the broader domain of -------------------.

 The proposed solution will have significant applications in ----------------- as well as in ------------.