Persuasive Research Argument

This piece is first and foremost an argument.  Choose something that means something to you, something you don’t mind delving into for the next month or so.  Choose something that you can conduct research on and has an action purpose.  Your job is to persuade your audience to do what you want them to do (change a law, implement a program, get rid of a problem, quit doing something that annoys you, whatever).  You’ll use your research, structure, organization, style, and voice to convince them.

Objectives:

• Apply knowledge of appeals and fallacies to write a persuasive argument
• Evaluate the credibility of various sources of information and use them effectively to add merit to an argument
• Expand knowledge and experience with primary and secondary research
• Correctly use MLA citations (parenthetical and works cited)
• Fit a mass of information into a tightly-written essay

Requirements for the Argument:

1. Use at least one strong primary source in addition to several secondary sources.  Your primary sources must be conducted and included in a way that is as reliable as possible for our situation.  
2. Your secondary sources must be evaluated so that you know what kind of source you are using and you make conscious decisions about whether to include them or not.  You should always consider how each source will affect your ethos as well as your overall argument.
3. In addition to the normal secondary sources (book, website, EBSCO), you must also include an out-of-the-ordinary secondary source such as media, charts/graphs, pictures, etc.  This is a good way to fulfill the portfolio requirement of a correctly used and cited picture.
4. Cite everything according to MLA style and include a works cited page.
5. Your final draft must be 500-750 words; therefore, be concise!

Requirements for the Process:

1. Submit a detailed research proposal and get it okayed by me.
2. DO NOT begin ANY primary research without submission AND approval from me first.
3. Complete and submit a web assessment using the questions on p. 415 of your textbook for each website you use.  (This will be a journal assignment one day in class after your D1 has been turned in).
4. Submit a first draft of your argument to Turnitin for peer review.
5. Submit a second draft of your argument to Turnitin for teacher feedback.
6. Attend an optional MLA workshop with your works cited page if you need it.
7. Submit your revised, polished final draft on time.

Getting Ready:

Solidify your topic, purpose, and audience by the end of the day tomorrow.  You need the next few days to conduct your preliminary research before writing your research proposal.  Check out the EBSCO database, other IHS subscriptions, Dunn Library at Simpson, and credible websites.  Don’t dismiss print sources--they have a certain level of credibility that many web sources do not.  Also consider “alternative sources” such as media, visuals, or local sources (i.e. student handbook).  Find some sources of info to start with--get an idea of what is available AND where you might go with your argument.  Be sure to evaluate these sources—I’m not just grading you on having research, but also on the quality of sources you choose as support for your argument.  Your textbook clearly spells out what to look for in quality sources and you’ll eventually need to conduct a web assessment using the guidelines on p. 415 of your textbook.

Research Proposal:

This is a detailed, organized plan of what you intend your argument to be and what kind of research it will include.  Your proposal should include detailed answers to ALL of the questions below:

1. What is your argument?  In other words, what are you going to write about, who is your audience, and what is your purpose? (This must be an action you want your audience to take.)
2. What are the reasons your audience should do said action? You should have a minimum of two but no more than four.
3. What are the warrants for those reasons?
4. What support will you use for those claims and warrants?  Explain your own reasoning and also tell me about the sources of information you’ve already gathered and how they will help you.
5. What will you do for your primary research?  What kind of information do you want to gain from that source?  IN ADDITION:  Either now or later you will need to submit the following based on the type(s) of primary research you conduct.  Be sure to read the section of your textbook that addresses the type of research you plan to conduct.  You CANNOT begin your primary research until these items have been submitted AND approved by me:

Process and Deadlines

• All deadlines are listed in both Turnitn and the Google calendar.  We will also let you know of upcoming MLA days.
• Here is what the schedule of deadlines looks like:
• Proposals due Monday, January 27 by midnight
• D1 due Wednesday, February 5 by midnight
• Peer reviews must be completed by Monday, February 10 by midnight
• D2 due Monday, February 17 by midnight
• Final draft with reflection due Wednesday, March 5 by midnight
• MLA Days are optional and will mostly occur on lab days.  Sometimes these days will have a theme (i.e. citing EBSCO sources or citing visuals).  Some days will be “open” days where you should bring a copy of your works cited page either on paper or on a digital device that allows you to work with it.  These workshops will be student-driven--Ms. Darrah and I will simply answer questions you have.  This is your opportunity for help so use them when you need them.
• Some MLA instruction will not be optional.  Based on your fake works cited pages, we may have some teacher-planned sessions that deal with specific problems we saw.