The purpose of this assignment is three-fold. First, almost every piece of writing that you complete

The Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is three-fold. First, almost every piece of writing that you complete at the college level will involve arguing for a specific viewpoint. Even essays that simply are informative are trying to convince the reader of the validity of the information. This essay will allow you to demonstrate that you understand how to compose an effective piece of persuasive writing. Second, you will be required to write many research papers as you complete your academic career. This essay allows you to demonstrate that you understand how to effectively cite the information you gather from completing the research assignments that led up to writing this essay. Finally, this essay gives you the chance to discuss something you feel is important, either for your own information or for the general population, and you get a guaranteed audience.
The Assignment
Okay, now you’ve spent hours and hours gathering all of this wonderful information, here’s what to do with it.
Write a 10-12 page essay that discusses your research topic. Begin with a catchy first sentence and interesting first paragraph that explains why this topic is important to your intended audience. The first paragraph is also a good place to establish pathos. Tell a story that will pull on your readers’ heartstrings or include a shocking statistic that will inspire them to pay attention to what you have to say.
In the next couple paragraphs, provide any historical information that the reader will need to understand your argument. Also, define terms that may be unfamiliar to people who have not done as much research as you have.
Then discuss what you have discovered about your topic and provide specific reasons and evidence to support your thesis statement. Remember this is an essay so you should have one main point (your thesis) that you are trying to communicate. You may have found out many, many things that you cannot include. What is the most important information? What’s the best way to get that across to your readers? Also, this is an academic argument, and so, you are doing more than just sharing the facts. You are also using the rhetorical appeals to convince your audience that what you say is valid.
In the academic essay, each paragraph is like a mini-essay. Each paragraph will have one main point or idea that you are developing, most likely it is one of the reasons that you have for your argument. Then you will explain the main idea and give examples. Follow the AXES paragraph model that you studied earlier – Assertion, explanation, examples or evidence from your sources, and significance.
The final paragraph of your essay is the conclusion. It should summarize what you discussed in the essay and restate your thesis statement (your main claim). Also, it is nice to frame your essay by referring to something that you mentioned in the introduction. If you told a story in the introduction, come back to that story and show how the world would be a different place if your ideas were adopted
Please cite at least FIVE sources that appeared in your literature review. At least two of these have to be scholarly. If you use opinion pieces in your research essay be sure to explain that they are opinion pieces and why you are using them. For instance, you may use them to explain misconceptions about the topic.
Please type the essay in MLA format. Include a works cited page and cite the sources appropriately within the text. Don’t forget to double space.
Click here to see a sample essay written by a Sinclair student, Something’s Wrong with the American Prison System.
Nothing about abortion politics or any controversal subjects