Instructions
Write a 5- to-7-page essay using Researched Argument as the method of development. Refer to support modules and documents for information about this type of essay/paper, including assistance with incorporating quotations and paraphrasing sources, along with the appropriate citations, within your own papers.
MLA 9th Edition 2021 [Sierra College Writing Center Handbook]
MLA 9th Edition Specific Updates
Important Details on Development & Formatting
For this essay you have the opportunity to conduct research on a thesis which you will propose within your field of study (or the field you intend to choose as your eventual major area of study). For this class, as you know, a thesis must be an arguable and provocative viewpoint you have about a particular subject or idea within the assignment parameters. Since this essay asks you to derive your subject matter within your specific area of academic interest, you will need to find a topic that is currently being debated or discussed or argued within that field. For example, Engineering students from past classes have written about their views on whether technological advances (e.g. computers, Internet) have helped or diminished the capability to perform certain tasks within that field.
You are required to include relevant information about your subject, which has been written or produced in some manner by others, in order to support your own thesis/viewpoint. This information will be selected by you over the course of your research, covering multiple sources. A research source refers to works relating to or offering support information for an argument concerning a subject area (e.g. a review or scholarly, peer-reviewed article written about a person, event, and/or publication).
Minimum of five [5] sources cited in the body of your essay. Therefore, each of these five sources will be listed in your works-cited page. Two [2] of these sources are required to be scholarly and peer-reviewed. An excellent method for verifying that a source is scholarly and peer-reviewed is to conduct your research within the Los Rios academic databases through SCC library. So, the remaining sources may be those vetted by you following a strategy, such as the CRAAP test.
The majority of your research essay must consist of your own ideas (about 80%). For this essay, then, only present about 20% (one fifth for a five-page essay) of your essay as outside sources. Approximately twenty percent would equal about one page (aggregate) of a five-page essay.
Essay must be at least five [5] FULL pages to avoid 20% automatic deduction of total points and no feedback. Does not include name label on first page or works-cited page (if included).
Use third-person voice (i.e. she/he/it/they) throughout your essay. Don’t use first-person, as this tone-of-voice invites readers to perceive personal bias, presumption, and prejudice from the writer. As credibility is a significant aspect of argument, there is a 20% automatic deduction for using first-person.
Work on developing language that reflects the persuasive characteristics of the Rhetorical Triangle—Logos, Pathos, Ethos, Telos, and Kairos, which will be covered in class. Also, be wary of forming logical fallacies in your arguments (these concepts will also be covered in class).
Though not required, you may elect to employ counter-argumentation in your essay at some point. Your researched arguments will be well-informed should you choose to develop your language in these conceptual areas.
MLA format (double-spacing; 1” margins; Times New Roman 12-pt. font; label upper-left corner of 1st page: name, class, my name, assignment, date; upper-right corner of all other pages use a header with last name then page number). Do not use Google Docs, as it will distort your formatting. Use Microsoft Office Word. Rhetorical Mode Summary
A researched argument is a method of development in which you provide evidence for your thesis by presenting, interpreting, and analyzing sources, facts, examples, or logical analysis in an orderly sequence. Therefore, your essay will be centered on your own cogent rhetoric (use of language, in the case of an essay, of course), which provides a valid discussion about a viewpoint on a subject, supported by outside sources (primary/secondary. Your job is to argue the significance of that viewpoint, not necessarily as absolutely correct or right, but earning, at the bare minimum, noteworthiness, respect, and consideration from others.
Though vested research sources will be the essential evidence of the ‘truth’ of your essay’s thesis, be aware that your essay response, much as it was with your previous essays, will be derived—at root—from your individual perspective. As such, you will need to be wary of any personal assumptions, biases, and prejudices that may become apparent to your readers. Mindfulness of our own assumptions, biases, and prejudices, as well as those of others, will be something to which we will be accustomed by the end of this term.
As noted above with tone-of-voice, this rhetorical mode essay assignment is required to be 3rd-person. Your researched argument essay will provide all the appropriate elements of composition, as well as 3rd-person ‘voice.’ The subject of your researched argument, not the writer, should command focus and emphasis for your readers. First-person ‘voice’ (i.e. “I believe that…;” me, my, myself; OR “We think…;” us, our, ourselves) is not the customary technique used in most college-level essays in most fields of study. Don’t use first-person voice for this essay. Evidence of first-person voice will result in an automatic 20% deduction.
Include a typed self-reflection on how well you believe your presentation meets the goals of sharing useful information about your subject matter and your individual research process.
See individual submission page for due date, point value, & evaluation rubric.