II. You should have at least three but no more than four scholarly journal artic
II. You should have at least three but no more than four scholarly journal articles and or periodicals cited in the text and on the References. Scholarly journal articles are long, comprehensive, and useful in numerous ways, for numerous reasons, in different sections of your paper. They contain so much data and interpretation of data that you ought to be able to find one or two that you can use over and over again throughout the essay and then you can supplement with current magazines and newspaper articles because, depending on the topic, on the problem, you may not find a large amount of published academic material from the last couple years (given what you know about academic research and its incredibly rigorous process).
III. Draft your essay according to the template provided to you below (coming from the textbook Midland College requires in 1301 as our course syllabus states that 1302 is an extension of 1301).
Objective: Write a full five page essay complete with proper APA style, formatting and citation (to include a seventh References page).
Per the course syllabus: Because the state curriculum board mandates that all 1301 courses write a certain amount of words, you are required to submit developed work. In other words, if you want your essay to be evaluated, you must submit a complete essay. Essays that are substantially shorter than the requirement will be considered incomplete and ineligible to earn a grade. If your essay does not meet minimum APA standards with regard to basic formatting, your essay will be considered incomplete and ineligible for evaluation. You will be required to draft a complete essay and resubmit the work in a timely manner if you want it to be graded.
Logic: Essay Template (Synthesis):
I. Introduction: Provide one paragraph of general, brief, contextual information to bring your audience up to speed, so to speak, so that theyll understand your angle and purpose. Maybe they dont know what a proposal is so you may want to mention why youre writing. No matter what, your job is to provide background information that will lead seamlessly into your breakdown of the problem and your proposed solution to the problem. End your introduction with an argumentative thesis. Remember that your argumentative thesis is made up of a claim, followed by the word because, and then followed by at least one specific reason (my power points cover this material at length). Without a proper thesis, your essay cannot have any effective logos.
II. Problem analysis: This is a brief paragraph (or two, depending on how deep you need to go) that provides only the most relevant and important causes and or effects. Im sure that no matter what problem you choose to solve, youll be overwhelmed with all of the causes and effects. Dont write about all of them. Choose a couple so that you can focus on creating a firm foundation for your solution. Keep in mind that your solution should be logically connected to what you say the causes and or effects are. They need to be connected. If you say that x problem has y and z effects, your solution needs to offer up ways in which to solve y and z so that x can decrease; the effects will be mitigated, reduced. You cannot and will not solve the whole problem so dont try to.
III. Plan for solving the problem: A) Walk your audience through the step-by-step plan, the steps needed to solve the problem (be specific), B) Incorporate support (research with citations) a
s you provide each step; C) Take time to briefly discuss how implementing your plan actually helps people. You may care about this topic but why should your audience care as much as you? Keep in mind that as you write, as you compose your academic argument, do not address your audience. Unlike your previous two essays, you should not be using first and second person (I and you). Your essay doesnt need to include pronouns at all. Your voice and tone should be objective and detached, much like the voice and tone, the persona conveyed in the scholarly journal articles you read and are using in the essay. Youre joining an academic conversation so envision how you want those people to hear you. Please indulge my metaphor: Imagine that youve been invited to a dinner party by your boss. You arrive in the proper attire, ready to network, and impress people. You see your colleagues mingling with upper management. Theyre already engaged in an intense conversation. Would you just walk straight up to them and start talking? Hopefully, youd be able to handle yourself gracefully. The way you sound in your essay goes a long way toward building your ethos so take it seriously.
IV. Costs and benefits of the plan; Please note that yes, there will be costs but the section is about benefits mostly because people are usually motivated by promises of gain (pathos). Mention the costs but spend a good deal of time proving that if your audience believes you and is persuaded to be a part of the solution, they will gain in tangible ways. Prove it.
V. Conclusion: Compose one paragraph that summarizes and paraphrases your topic sentences (the main ideas of your body paragraphs). Restate your thesis. Justify the importance, the urgency, of taking action now. Explain the takeaway to your audience. You must inspire your audience, one last time, to do something and be a part of the solution.
Rubric: Assessment and Evaluation: Please refer to the general essay rubric in our course materials module. In terms of overall composition and structure, I will be looking for how well you show off your understanding of how to format an academic essay in general (title page, intro, body paragraphs, conclusion, References page) and how well you follow the template that I just gave you. I provided everyone with a clear rubric for the previous two essays. As this is your final exam, its meant to be cumulative and all-inclusive in terms of persuasive technique, strategy, and effective research, and coherent, analytical, logical, and therefore persuasive writing. Im looking at this final essay as what should be your best work. Either I see clear evidence that youve progressed and learned what you must learn about writing well and persuasion or not.
As such, your essay will earn an A (90-100) or a C (70-75) or a failing grade. I dont want to nit-pick here. I want to learn from you. I want to know that youre an expert in your chosen topic. I want to see that youve become proficient with APA style, formatting, citation, and, of course, that you can blend emotion and logic to create an, overall, compelling, persuasive research paper. Since Ive annotated your previous two essays and given you a lot of feedback on how to improve your writing, I wont do that here. Since this is a final exam based on two essays of preparation, I will not include a lot of comments/annotations in my evaluation. Please ensure that this is exemplary of what youve not only learned in 1301 but also in 1302.
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