From the Syllabus: You will compose an essay that builds an argument, based on the evidence of your research. You will work to match the genre conventions that are typical in your, and you will write your essay from the perspective of one expert communicating to other experts in the field. (~2000 polished words)
Essay
You will compose a researched essay about the topic/issue you have chosen to pursue. You have already done significant work on this with your proposal and annotated bibliography. Use these sources as a starting place to begin writing your researched essay. This essay should help readers understand the complexity of the issue you’ve chosen, perhaps by highlighting things about your topic that are misunderstood (and misunderstood by whom) or should be understood in a new/different way. That said, this is not a compare/contrast essay, nor is it a chance for you to demonstrate your bias(es). This essay should tell your readers what is important to notice in the research you conducted (your claim/thesis!).
For the essay, you must include a minimum of 8 sources, and 6 of those sources must be scholarly, peer-reviewed (that is, vetted by authorities in the field). The other 2 sources are your choice of primary, popular, and/or additional scholarly sources. Use the sources from your annotated bibliography, but know that you may need a new source to fill a gap. You are welcome to have more than 8 sources, total. Please note that you have already found a number of sources in writing your annotated bibliography–use those, but make sure to supplement them with further research as you write.
Documentation Style: Use the documentation style of your field (for in-text citations and list of sources).
Formatting: Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, double-spaced (which is common across major citation styles).
Here is a list of the expectations that will be assessed for this assignment:
Makes an academic argument – This is your thesis!
Supports argument with evidence from research – Make sure you’ve integrated sources (quotes, summary, paraphrase, in-text citations) into each paragraph AND connect each piece of evidence back to your argument.
Uses paragraphing to highlight key points – Have a topic sentence, key ideas, evidence, and a concluding sentence for each paragraph.
Organizes ideas into a logical order – The key ideas build on each other and help the reader/audience understand the argument.
Concludes by indicating relevance and importance of argument – Work with the questions “so what?” and “who cares?” to help with this.
Cites sources using the documentation style of the discourse community – This will be your reference page, works cited, or foot notes.
Formats according to the discourse community – Pay attention to font, cover page, headings/headers, etcFrom the Syllabus: You will compose an essay that builds an argument, based on the evidence of your research. You will work to match the genre conventions that are typical in your, and you will write your essay from the perspective of one expert communicating to other experts in the field. (~2000 polished words)
Remember that you are aiming for a full-length draft, at least 2,000 words. Here is a breakdown of the typical elements and organization of your project. There is certainly room for deviation to this, so you can also use your sources as models for how people in your field put together their writing.
Work on a Thesis Statement–which of course goes in your intro!
Remember that it is a claim, an academic argument
Write a statement that focuses on complexity/nuance, NOT a two-sided debate
Give yourself room to work through lots of perspectives, multiple “sides”
Make sure it relates to your research but allows you to add something to the conversation
Work on an Introduction
Establish discourse community and topic
Provide relevance/salience of topic, acknowledge the stakes/importance
Foreground from the research to show you are knowledgeable
Indicate the specific gap or nuance that will be addressed
Thesis, set up a claim (academic argument)
Direction of project, set up a roadmap for the essay
Work on a Literature Review
Refer back to our day in the library and the Blackboard/library resources to help with this.
You can write this as its own section or woven into the body paragraphs of your project.
If it is a separate section, it typically goes after the introduction. It should only be 1-2 paragraphs.
If you want to weave your literature review into the overall paper, you’ll typically have 1-2 sentences in each paragraph that function as lit review.
Remember that your literature review is meant to provide overview/background so your reader understands the conversation you’ve been researching and the connections/gaps you see. This is a “they say” portion of your paper (focusing on your sources).
Work on Your Contributions (the main body of your paper!)
This will be the majority of your project–probably 4-7 paragraphs.
Make sure to focus each paragraph with smaller claim that relates back to your overall thesis. Think of putting this claim, your contribution, into a topic sentence.
The rest of the paragraph includes explanation and evidence (quotes, paraphrasing, summary, data/stats/examples, and citations) to help support the claim you make in the topic sentence.
Don’t forget to finish each paragraph with a concluding sentence that relates back to your thesis/functions as a transition to the next paragraph.
Double-Check Your Research/Evidence
This is a good moment to go back and find additional sources.
Remember that you need a minimum of 8 sources, and at least 6 of those need to be scholarly/peer-reviewed.
Use this additional research to help provide further evidence of the ideas/claims you are making!
Work on a Conclusion
Use the reading “So What? Who Cares?” to help you get started with this.
Conclusions typically include some summary–restatement/rewording of thesis, overview of key ideas–and final thoughts/future direction that a reader can take with them when they finish reading.
We’ll work on this more in class.
References/Works Cited
Make sure to include citations for all of your sources, and format/organize them based on your style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, etc)
Do NOT include your annotations at this point. Just the citations.
Formatting
If you haven’t already, this is a good time to start getting your project into the format outlined by your style guide.
Pay attention to cover page, heading, header, notes, page numbers, etc–which are a little different depending on the style guide for your field.
Get basic formatting in place: font Times New Roman 12-pt, double spaced, etc.Remember that you are aiming for a full-length draft, at least 2,000 words. Here is a breakdown of the typical elements and organization of your project. There is certainly room for deviation to this, so you can also use your sources as models for how people in your field put together their writing.
Work on a Thesis Statement–which of course goes in your intro!
Remember that it is a claim, an academic argument
Write a statement that focuses on complexity/nuance, NOT a two-sided debate
Give yourself room to work through lots of perspectives, multiple “sides”
Make sure it relates to your research but allows you to add something to the conversation
Work on an Introduction
Establish discourse community and topic
Provide relevance/salience of topic, acknowledge the stakes/importance
Foreground from the research to show you are knowledgeable
Indicate the specific gap or nuance that will be addressed
Thesis, set up a claim (academic argument)
Direction of project, set up a roadmap for the essay
Work on a Literature Review
Refer back to our day in the library and the Blackboard/library resources to help with this.
You can write this as its own section or woven into the body paragraphs of your project.
If it is a separate section, it typically goes after the introduction. It should only be 1-2 paragraphs.
If you want to weave your literature review into the overall paper, you’ll typically have 1-2 sentences in each paragraph that function as lit review.
Remember that your literature review is meant to provide overview/background so your reader understands the conversation you’ve been researching and the connections/gaps you see. This is a “they say” portion of your paper (focusing on your sources).
Work on Your Contributions (the main body of your paper!)
This will be the majority of your project–probably 4-7 paragraphs.
Make sure to focus each paragraph with smaller claim that relates back to your overall thesis. Think of putting this claim, your contribution, into a topic sentence.
The rest of the paragraph includes explanation and evidence (quotes, paraphrasing, summary, data/stats/examples, and citations) to help support the claim you make in the topic sentence.
Don’t forget to finish each paragraph with a concluding sentence that relates back to your thesis/functions as a transition to the next paragraph.
Double-Check Your Research/Evidence
This is a good moment to go back and find additional sources.
Remember that you need a minimum of 8 sources, and at least 6 of those need to be scholarly/peer-reviewed.
Use this additional research to help provide further evidence of the ideas/claims you are making!
Work on a Conclusion
Use the reading “So What? Who Cares?” to help you get started with this.
Conclusions typically include some summary–restatement/rewording of thesis, overview of key ideas–and final thoughts/future direction that a reader can take with them when they finish reading.
We’ll work on this more in class.
References/Works Cited
Make sure to include citations for all of your sources, and format/organize them based on your style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, etc)
Do NOT include your annotations at this point. Just the citations.
Formatting
If you haven’t already, this is a good time to start getting your project into the format outlined by your style guide.
Pay attention to cover page, heading, header, notes, page numbers, etc–which are a little different depending on the style guide for your field.
Get basic formatting in place: font Times New Roman 12-pt, double spaced, etc.