Find controversial issue that rouses your interest. It might be a current issues (such as police brutality/reform, those in the news related to immigration, whether or not to remove historical monuments, etc.), a long standing one (issues related to civil rights, gender equality, access to healthcare, etc.) or any issue that may be labeled controversial. The choice is yours. Your purpose is not solve this issue but to make it clear exactly where your stand on the issue (your argument) and to persuade your readers to respect your position.
Assume that your readers may not be familiar with the controversy, so provide relevant background or an overview to help them understand the situation. They also may not have taken sides yet or may hold a position different from yours You’ll need to consider oppositional views and choose strategies to enlist their support.
Clear identification of your argument or position.
Demonstrated understanding of analyzing texts, strategies of persuasion, and composing arguments.
Effective essay structure
Clear and precise sentence-level rhetoric (grammar and structure)
Tips and Reminders:
Your method of development will vary depending on which essay topic you choose.
Your sources can from a variety of places. You may use the articles from your textbook, internet research, films/documentaries and library database research.
SUGGESTED OUTLINE FOR YOUR ESSAY:
Essay Title: Your Essay title should work to catch the reader’s attention an go beyond Essay #3 or Argumentative Essay
Paragraph #1: Introduction that contains an intriguing hook, an introduction to your issue, and a strongly worded debatable thesis statement.
Paragraph #2: You may want your first body paragraph to contain background information to help inform your readers about your controversial issue (remember, you need to pretend that your readers do not know anything about your issue, so you need to inform them).
Paragraphs #3-#8: You should have at least three body paragraphs (or more) dedicated to revealing evidence that will support your argument. You should have at minimum three reasons with evidence that should be explored in their own body paragraph. Also, you can have more than three reasons, but at maximum you should have five (not more) for the purposes of this assignment, hence you’ll have 3-5 paragraphs revealing evidence to support your argument.
Paragraph that comes after your 3-5 paragraphs of evidence: should contain a counterargument and strong refutation of the counterargument. You will learn more about counterarguments (which you should have read about in your textbook) later on in this unit.
Concluding Paragraph: Your conclusion should contain a summary of your argument using different phrasing and word choices (than your introduction and thesis). It should also contain some sort of concluding thought or question to leave the readers satisfied with your conclusion, but still thinking about your essay.
