english essay 144
Argumentative Research Essay: ON WHY OR WHY NOT COLLEGE ATHLETES SHOULD BE PAID
Purpose:The purpose of this assignment is to read critically, contribute to a focused
conversation, and organize ideas into a logical essay structure that synthesizes sources
to produce a clear argument about your chosen topic. This assignment process
constitutes a set of practical research skills that may be used to solve other complex
problems as they arise in your life.
Skills: You will practice the following skills in completing this assignment:
ï‚· Practicing a writing process involving reading, analyzing, and responding to texts
ï‚· Assembling and synthesizing ideas using argumentative essay format
ï‚· Properly citing source texts to demonstrate an awareness of ethics and audience
ï‚· Forging a clear, understandable, argumentative thesis based in research
ï‚· Finding meaningful connections between texts
Knowledge: By completing this assignment you will better understand how to use the
essay format to solve complex problems and present those solutions to your reader in
the form of subjective arguments. You will read and attempt to understand some difficult
scholarly texts. At the end of this process, you should know:
ï‚· The role of inquiry in solving complex problems
ï‚· How finding connections between sources can proliferate useful information
 That information or “research†varies in reliability and accuracy
ï‚· How framing, inquiry, and careful conversation can produce practical results
ï‚· That some degree of certainty can be useful for furthering a conversation
ï‚· That, in an essay, such certainty might take the form of arguable claims
Task:Your first task will be to decide on an issue that’s relevant to you. You are
welcome to derive your issue from your previous essay, or from any of the previous
texts we’ve read. Choose an issue you want to write about. Then construct a research
question, or a set of research questions. These questions should frame and therefore
constrain the possible directions you can take in writing your essay, and they will not
appear in your essay. In short, these questions should define the purpose of your
essay.
After you’ve produced some decent questions, visit the library’s databases to find at
least four scholarly (peer-reviewed) sources to use in your essay. You will undertake the
difficult process of reading and comprehending these source texts. As always, read
them actively and take lots of good notes. Be able to summarize your source texts.
Next, you’ll need to do some serious thinking about these texts. Think about the
connections and differences between them. Think about how their ideas might fit
together in some clever or creative way. Your goal is to try to synthesize and use these
sources to produce possible answers to your question.
Once you’ve conducted your research and arrived at some research-informed
perspectives on your topic, you will construct an argumentative thesis statement
articulating your subjective viewpoint regarding your topic. You will use this thesis as the
foundation for an argumentative essay 4-6 pages in length, formatted according to MLA
standards (double-spaced, Times New Roman 12pt font, 1†margins). Your essay will
contain an intro paragraph where you introduce your issue, the context for your issue,
and your thesis (an arguable claim,not a question). Your essay will have multiple body
paragraphs, each of which will ideally synthesize information from multiple source texts
(not merely deal with a single text). You will construct these paragraphs according to the
citation package format. Your essay will have a conclusion paragraph where you
summarize the conclusion of your reasoning process. It would also be a good idea to
include in your conclusion paragraph additional questions for further research. You will
create a Works Cited page on a new page at the end of your essay, and you will format
it according to MLA standards.
Please keep in mind that you are not going to dramatically change the world with your
essay, so avoid your instinct to tie up all of your work into a nice easy answer at the
end. Also, please avoid clichés and generalizations. Please do not rant about your own
personal experiences in your essay—this essay is a space for logic and reasoning, not
storytelling. Avoid excessive summary—instead, you should favor critical thinking. Be
honest and responsible at all stages of producing this essay. Make the process useful
for you and for your reader.
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