ENG1102 Addressing United States Obesity Epidemic Research Paper
Assignment 6A-6F: Argumentative Research Paper
In tandem with work on your fifth essay (Annotated Bibliography (5A-5B), you will be following the writing process to construct an insightful, in-depth argumentative paper on a topic of social importance with more than one side to it.
Your assignment will be to write an essay with a clear argumentative stance that you support with the use of academic sources (five or more). Be sure that your thesis establishes a social problem or issue as its topic, then presents an argument to solve this problem.
Topics will need to be approved by me as part of your Assignment 5A, but chosen topics should follow these criteria:
- They should be arguable (i.e. there’s more than one side out there)
- They should be relevant (i.e. they should involve current social issues that impact our lives today)
- They should be researchable (i.e. you should be able to use factual evidence from scholarly research to back up your arguments. Arts and entertainment topics, as well as personal biography topics should be avoided as a result).
- They should be addressed to a general audience (i.e. arguments should be hung on research and objective facts, not on personal, political, or religious beliefs).
- They should be solution-oriented (i.e. topics should introduce an important social problem or issue of the day, and your arguments should present a supportable solution to those problems).
Sample Topics:
How to solve the bullying epidemic
How to fix the American economy
How to solve the problem of the two party political system in the United States
How to win the war on terror
How to deal with drug use and abuse in modern society
How to fix higher education
How to address America’s obesity epidemic
Banned Topics:
Abortion
Capital Punishment
Marriage Rights
Religious/Racial/Gender/Other Persecution
Performance Enhancing Drugs
Paying College Athletes
Specific Criteria and Instructions for Each Individual Assignment will be on the following pages.
See Course Schedule Announcement for IMPORTANT DUE DATES.
EN 1102 Argumentative Research Paper
Assignment 6A: Pre-Writing
Your first assignment in the creation of your Argumentative Research Paper (6F) is to do a Pre-Writing exercise (6A). For this exercise you can choose one type of Pre-Writing we discussed in class, such as:
- Asking questions
- Listing
- Brainstorming
- Freewriting
- Clustering
- Bubbling
- Informal Outlining
- Annotating
At the top of the first page of your assignment, list the type of Pre-Writing you chose to use from this list.
Your goal is to think of a serious social problem (not on the banned topics list) and generate ideas on what you know about this problem and how this problem might be solved or at least addressed by our society. To do this, use your chosen Pre-Writing activity. Your Pre-Writing activity should be at least one full page in length.
At the bottom of the last page of your assignment, write down a one sentence description of your narrowed topic for this paper. Ideally it will identify your social problem and give some general idea of your proposed solution.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Bring one copy to class on the assigned date (see syllabus).
EN 1102 Argumentative Research Paper
Assignment 6B: Thesis Statement
Your second assignment in the creation of your Argumentative Research Paper (6F) is to create your thesis statement (6B). For this exercise you should use this sheet as your guide and create a printed one page assignment that identifies your TOPIC, your STANCE on that topic, and three SUPPORT POINTS that you will use to back up that stance in your paper. Make sure your thesis clearly identifies a social problem as your topic and argues for a solution to that problem in your stance and support points.
Thesis Statement Breakdown
- Topic:
- Stance:
- First support:
- Second support:
- Third support:
Sample Layout
Due to/Because of
1) (First Support Point)____________________________________________________,
2) (Second Support Point)__________________________________________________,
and
3) (Third Support Point)___________________________________________________,
4) (Topic and Stance)______________________________________________________.
(Example: In order to address the problem of plagiarism, colleges must leverage better detection resources for teachers, more in-depth preventative education for students, and stricter penalties for cheaters.)
Thesis Statement Due: In Conferences (bring printed copy) (see Course Schedule Announcement).
EN 1102 Argumentative Research Paper
Assignment 6C: Formal Outline
Your third assignment in the creation of your Argumentative Research Paper (6F) is to take your thesis statement (6B) and expand it into an outline (6C). For this exercise you should use this handout as your guide and create a printed 2-4 page assignment that outlines a five paragraph structure for your essay based on an introduction, three support paragraphs, and a conclusion. Per our discussion in class, the three support points from your thesis should be the basis for your three support paragraphs.
Since you’ll be including source material for this paper, you can record key quotes or paraphrases (and their in-text citations) as examples where appropriate. Make sure to include your explanation or analysis of the source material you choose to use.
Please include your name, date, etc., as you would on any other assignment and bring one hard copy to conferences (see Course Schedule Announcement for dates).
See the next two pages for a helpful breakdown of how to assemble a complete outline.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Outline Breakdown
Introduction
Hook___________________________________________________________________
Background______________________________________________________________
Point 1) _________________________________________________________________
Point 2) _________________________________________________________________
Point 3) _________________________________________________________________
Thesis __________________________________________________________________
Support One
Topic Sentence ___________________________________________________________
Example or Citation 1a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 1b)__________________________________________________
Example or Citation 2a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 2b)__________________________________________________
Example or Citation 3a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 3b)__________________________________________________
Explanation (relates back to thesis) __________________________________________
Transition _______________________________________________________________
Support Two
Topic Sentence ___________________________________________________________
Example or Citation 1a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 1b)__________________________________________________
Example or Citation 2a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 2b)__________________________________________________
Example or Citation 3a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 3b)__________________________________________________
Explanation (relates back to thesis) __________________________________________
Transition _______________________________________________________________
Support Three
Topic Sentence ___________________________________________________________
Example or Citation 1a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 1b)__________________________________________________
Example or Citation 2a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 2b)__________________________________________________
Example or Citation 3a)____________________________________________________
Analysis/Explanation 3b)__________________________________________________
Explanation (relates back to thesis) __________________________________________
Conclusion
Restated Thesis __________________________________________________________
Recap Point 1) ___________________________________________________________
Recap Point 2) ___________________________________________________________
Recap Point 3) ___________________________________________________________
Take Home _____________________________________________________________
EN 1102 Argumentative Research Paper
Assignment 6D: First Draft
Your fourth assignment in the creation of your Argumentative Research Paper (6F) is to take your outline (6C) and expand it into a full draft of your paper (6D). For this exercise you should use this handout as your guide and create a printed 4-5 page assignment that follows the five paragraph structure of your outline, but is fleshed out into complete sentences, and includes a clear introduction, support paragraphs, concrete examples, cited support (quotes, paraphrases, summaries) from each of your five or more sources, and a complete conclusion. Per our discussion in class, the three support points from your thesis should be the basis for your three support paragraphs. Please include your name, date, etc., as you would on any other assignment and bring 3 hard copies to workshop.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Due on the final day of class (3 hard copies for workshop).
________________________________________________________________________
EN 1102 Argumentative Research Paper
Assignment 6E: Revision Exercise
Your fifth assignment in the creation of your Argumentative Research Paper (6F) is to take your first draft (6D) and do a revision exercise on it. For this exercise you should review (look again) at your first draft and type full sentence answers to the following prompts:
- Does your paper fully address all assignment prompts? If not, what can you add?
- Look at your thesis. Is it clear and complete, expressing a problem and argumentative solution?
- Examine your support. What can use expansion and what specific information can you add there to make it stronger?
- What part of your paper, if any, gets off topic, and what can you remove to help?
- Is your organization strong? If so, what makes it strong? If not, or if it could use improvement still, what can you move or substitute to help? Consider creating a reverse outline to help.
- How credible are the sources you used? How do you know?
- Examine your paper’s tone. Is it too informal or conversational? Does it use “I” “you” or “we” in places it shouldn’t? If so, what can change?
- Do you have any word choice errors that spellcheck wouldn’t find?
- Do you have any coma-splice errors, run ons, or sentence fragments?
- Do you have any fluffy word choices?
- Are all of your sources properly documented in MLA style?
- What is one specific step you can take to improve your paper before submission?
Due: By your final exam (see Course Schedule Announcement).EN 1102 Argumentative Research Paper
Assignment 6F: Final Draft
Your sixth assignment in the creation of your Argumentative Research Paper (6F) is to consider your Revision Exercise (6E) and fully revise and edit your First Draft (6D) to create a final draft (6F) for submission as your final exam.
Your final draft should present a topic of a social problem and a compelling argument on how to address that problem (propose solution) clearly stated in a complete thesis statement. It should include a complete introduction, at least three support paragraphs, and a complete conclusion, should be well-organized and supported, should include plenty of thoughtful analysis and concrete support details, in-text citations from each of your credible sources (five or more), a Works Cited page with your full citations listed, and should follow all of the expectations of the course rubric.
The final draft should be a 4-5 page assignment completed as your final exam and should include your name, date, etc., as you would on any other assignment.
Assignments 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, and 6E should be submitted by the listed due date (see Course Schedule Announcement). Make sure everything is clearly labelled and organized to put yourself in the best position for success!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Due: See Course Schedule Announcement for Exam Times (6A-6F final copies submitted)
Submission Instructions: Check your Syllabus for deadlines and due dates. All assignments are due on Canvas by the start of class/exam time on the due date. Make sure to use only .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf file extensions. Make sure to submit assignments 6A-6E and 6F into separate dropboxes. If you experience any technological issues, please submit your assignments in emails to me as attachments before the deadline for submission.
Rubric
Essay Rubric
Criteria | Ratings | Pts | |||||||||||
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This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeProcess |
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10.0 pts |
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This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeFocus |
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20.0 pts |
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This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeSupport |
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25.0 pts |
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This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeOrganization |
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25.0 pts |
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This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeStyle |
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10.0 pts |
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This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeGrammar |
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10.0 pts |
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Total Points: 100.0 |