Topic
paper #2
Your topic MUST BE ARGUABLE; it must be based on an opinion and a stance. In other words, it can’t just be a report on NAFTA or DACA for example.
Persuasive research paper assignment description
Why are we practicing these skills?
Convincing people that your stance is valid is a transferable skill in academics and in all professions. It is important that you become comfortable and confident developing opinions and supporting them with different kinds of (fresh!) evidence.
Persuasive essays attempt to convince the reader that your view of the subject is valid. Note that you are not trying to convince the reader that your view or position is the ONLY way to see the subject. The key is to think defensively: you are trying to explain why YOU see the subject this way. More importantly, you want to base your argument on solid evidence. This is NOT a personal experience essay, even though your personal experiences will probably influence your viewpoint. EVERY point that you make needs to be supported with evidence. Your entire argument should be based on evidence from reliable sources.
In general, evidence that proves your views are shared with a wide variety of other people will help validate your claims; that’s one of the primary reasons for using sources – to provide that outside validation that you aren’t the only one who feels this way. However, remember that your position should be the focus of the paper. You should not just be blindly repeating your sources’ arguments — we want to know YOUR unique set of evidence and how it adds up to support your claims.
To produce a credible persuasive essay, the writer should:
— use grammatically appropriate sentence structures
— Use appropriate paragraph breaks to control the flow of information
— Use transitions both within and between the paragraphs
— Develop and explain the essay content completely
— Incorporate information from outside sources ethically, effectively, and appropriately using the MLA citation style.
The subject should either be controversial or at least a subject where there are multiple sides or viewpoints being presented. Make sure that you do the proper research for this paper. Try to get a variety of sources in terms of time frame and perspectives. If all of your sources are from the same week, there probably won’t be much variety. Many times students are concerned that their opinions don’t matter, but they do! Please have an opinion! Please state it often.
The writer of a persuasive essay should keep the following elements in mind:
Purpose:
Remember that you are writing this essay to explain YOUR viewpoint on the issue, not just to repeat your sources’ views. You can’t just tell us that something is true. You can’t just say: “Smoking is unhealthy.” You need to have sources that back that up. You need to explain to us WHY it’s unhealthy. Remember that you are DEFENDING your view, not just telling the audience what to believe.
Audience:
Try to remember that your audience does not know as much as you do. Even if they know more facts about the subject, they don’t know YOUR understanding as well as you do. Your job is to explain to the reader how YOU interpret the information and how YOU see things fitting together. Also, as indicated above, remember that you are not telling the audience that their views are wrong or stupid. You are defending/explaining your views, not attacking theirs.
Organization:
The organization of an argument is always open to interpretation. You will probably find yourself using parts of the earlier essays like personal narrative, compare/contrast, or classification to do different parts of the argument. Remember that each part of the argument needs to be connected to the main thesis at some point so that the reader sees how the overall argument builds to the conclusion.
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Consciously use critical thinking, paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting.
Use sources from CQ Researcher, Academic Search Premiere, Proquest, and Opposing Viewpoints, Seattle Public Library, and/ or King County Libraries.
Use an outline to plan your paper.
Remember to weave your argument throughout your paper. You should be in control of all of the language of your paragraphs — keep writing voice uniform.
You need 8 sources, but you may have more. Also you can use interviews and documentaries.
Also write yourself into the text. Use semi-intimate phrasing like you might with a family member that you respect. The reader wants to know the person behind the words as well as the information.
You can use Easybib, Noodle Tool, or other MLA citation generators for your Works Cited page. You will need to put together your own in-text citations though.
Your paper should be 7 typed, and the 8th or last page should be your Works Cited page.
Give your research paper a title that includes your stance on the issue.
Shoot for clear, concise sentences, not flowery sentences. Good writing is clear writing.
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Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
