Academic Argument ENGL 3100 Advanced Expository Writing Professor Kate Watt Purpose: Create an academic argument in which you take a specific position or perspective on a controversial and relevant issue in our world. Topic: Your choice, but it must be a topic for which you feel strongly and can offer fresh insight, insight that adds to the ongoing conversation about your topic in new and interesting ways. —i.e. make a claim that could be reasonably debated but that you could make a case for through research and evidence. Note: avoid broad, generic arguments, such as “creationism vs. evolution” or “global warming is a myth”. Avoid arguments that are based mostly on religious teachings and morals that merely posit that something “is wrong.” Avoid topics that are highly over-done in student argument essays, such as “abortion,” “capital punishment,” “animal rights,” “gun control,” etc. unless you have something new and very specific to offer these topics (for example, taking up the recent trend of anti-abortion legislation being introduced across the country). And avoid topics that are mostly inconsequential, or based on comparison, such as “Lebron James is a better athlete than Michael Jordan.” Choose topics that would be interesting and relevant to other college-age readers, a current debate they may not have thought about before, and argue something focused, specific, and original that means something to you personally. Objectives: To create and support an original academic argument that is supported by empirical evidence and anticipates opposing perspectives. To integrate source material smoothly in to the argument and document those sources appropriately. To demonstrate clarity of thought, correct grammar and mechanics. Audience: well educated, academic readers who oppose or are skeptical of your position Research: 3 sources to help inform your argument, either as support for your claims or evidence of counterarguments—must be highly-credible and scholarly in nature (i.e. books, library database resources, peer-reviewed journal articles) Strategies: You should have a clear method and purpose to your research. Locate a variety of credible sources— books, newspapers, journals, magazines, interviews, Internet articles, documentaries, etc.— and choose those that will best help you build your case. Document those sources from the very beginning of your research process. Immediately note the source information for your bibliography, put quotation marks around quotes and start listing the in-text citation information. Notes: Be sure that you are making the claims in your argument, and that you are merely using your research to back up those claims—don’t let your sources speak for you—your research should be secondary to your own voice and opinion. As a strategy of persuasion, you’ll want to acknowledge opposing viewpoints to your argument and refute those points effectively. Format: Essay 12 point Times New Roman font 1 inch margins, double spaced, indented paragraphs 3-5 pages MLA Documentation (signal phrases, in text citations, bibliography)
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