Rough Draft Two: Argumentative Essay
Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to write an argumentative essay rough draft that can later be revised and resubmitted. Assignments like this one are important because much of the writing college students must produce should undergo a detailed revision process to ensure a refined product, and the drafting stage is an important part of that process. Note that even though this is a rough draft, you should work hard to produce your best work. *Any revisions made between this draft and the final draft should be notated on a separate draft for a future assignment.
Skills: This assignment will help you practice the following skills that are essential to your success in this course and other academic and professional pursuits:
- understanding and appropriately responding to assignment instructions
- applying the steps of the writing process
- composing a strong, clear argumentative thesis
- producing paragraphs that are focused and offer strong support for the thesis
- critically examining a controversial topic from all angles
- evaluating source material
- evaluating the merit of ideas
Knowledge: This assignment will also help you to become familiar with the following important content knowledge in this discipline:
- how to invent, develop, draft, revise, edit, and proof your writing
- how to organize paragraphs in a logical order
- how to stay on topic while developing support
- how to compose a strong, clear thesis
- how to create a well-organized, coherent essay
- how to incorporate logos, ethos, and pathos ethically into an argumentative essay
Task: Choose ONE topic from the list below and write an argumentative essay in 3rd person POV that incorporates logos, ethos, and pathos ethically to support your position. For the rough draft, source material is not required to support your position; however, you should consider the research you have conducted for the discussion board post as you write this draft, and your points of support should not veer into fallacies. If you choose to incorporate source material into the rough draft, you must cite all sources in the text of your essay and on a corresponding works cited page according to MLA 8 guidelines. Failure to cite source material properly constitutes plagiarism and will be dealt with in the manner outlined in the course syllabus.
Topics:
Social Media*
Ethical concerns in research
Clothing (dress codes; uniforms; oppression; discrimination; social customs/norms; religion; nationalism; cults; etc.)
Telehealth
Telework
Cosmetic Surgery
Corporal Punishment
Censorship
Note that these are broad topics. This is on purpose so that you can choose a specific area within the topic and a nuanced position to argue in your paper. If you need help with this, you can schedule an appointment with the Writing Center through Navigate or with me during my office hours. *See examples below.
Criteria for Success: This assignment will be graded based on following the assignment instructions and timely submission; grades on rough drafts do not guarantee a similar grade will be earned on the final paper as significant revisions are expected between rough draft and final paper. Completed rough drafts must:
- follow the assignment instructions written under the “Task” bullet point
- use MLA formatting
- use MLA 8 citations for all source material
- be 300-500 words
- demonstrate understanding of standard written English
- use a tone appropriate for an academic essay
- be saved as a MS Word file (.docx or .doc)
- be submitted on time to the correct submission folder in D2L
Good vs. Bad argumentative thesis statements from broad topics:
X Social media is bad. too broad.
X The cons of social media outweigh the pros. too broad.
X Social media is addictive. too broad & not debatable because it’s a fact that has been proven.
√ Contrary to the popular argument that social media connects us, many people use it as a means to avoid personal interaction. Nuanced & specific. Debatable. Relates to topic. Sets up argument.