Argumentative Research Essay Assignment Prompt 50%
Due Date: Sunday, March 14th at 11:59 p.m. to D2L
Your second assignment, and the major assignment of this quarter, is an argumentative
research essay. While many of you might dread the images connotated by the word
research–envisioning stacks of articles, archaic books in the library, and long days
reading summaries on databases–research is often an interesting, engaging and
surprising project. I wont promise that it will be fun, but it will, hopefully, be a
rewarding and meaningful process.
Your exploratory essay asked you to come up with a question that you wanted to
explore, but this essay will ask you to go a step farther: you will take the information
youve found so far and formulate a unique perspective or stance, then argue for your
position while using your sources as evidence to support your thesis. This research
essay will be the culmination of the ten weeks youve spent researching, critically
thinking, evaluating sources, organizing your information, and composing a thoughtful,
persuasive argument. You should think of this final essay as a living thing–it will grow
and change as you explore and evaluate the sources related to your topic. This is your
chance to join the academic discourse and contribute something valuable to your field.
This essay is not simply an extensive summary of sources–your annotated bibliography
will take care of that!–and it also isnt an opinion piece, where you present what you
think without source information to back you up. This also isnt an expository essay,
where you present your interpretation of a text, and it isnt an overview of a single
topic. In a research essay, you take everything that you know about a subject and then
make a deliberate attempt to find out what experts know about the subject. It will
require you to really spend time investigating and evaluating sources, then use those
sources as you draw your own conclusions from what others have said.
Your research essay will change depending on the information and topic you choose,
but it must include the following:
A cohesive, logical structure thats broken into sections to guide reader
understanding:
o An introduction that introduces the topic chosen and informs the
audience clearly and articulately the stance the author takes (a thesis
statement)
Argumentative Research Essay Assignment Prompt – Winter 2021
o Body paragraphs that clearly link the information presented to the
authors thesis statement, using sources as evidence and leveraging
methods of persuasion
o A conclusion that clearly summarizes the research covered, while
articulately what further research or questions might be posed in the
future
8 to 10 reliable sources, 6 of which must be peer-reviewed
A works cited page following MLA guidelines
Your essay must be 8 to 10 pages long, double-spaced, with page numbers, Times
New Roman, 12 pt. font, and follow conventions of closed form prose.