Pro Essay due April 9

Objectives: (COM 111 Standard Objectives)
1.Students can produce mechanically correct papers at a competent level.
2.Students can produce well organized papers at a competent level
3.Students can produce well developed papers at a competent level
4.Students can produce well-organized and well-developed papers in a style appropriate to setting and audience at a competent level.
5.Students can utilize critical thinking skills when interacting with a text at a competent level.
6.Students can extract, combine and document information from available sources at a competent level
7.Students can critically read a scholarly article by identifying the main ideas therein at a competent level
Instructions:
Argumentative Essay
This first argumentative essay will argue for the particular treatment, policy, or technology you have chosen to discuss. You should write only to convince your readers, the other members of this class, including me, why we should agree with you. A sample argumentative essay is available for you to consult. Please review this example essay & Rubric.
Requirements:
1.Please write your argumentative essays in Microsoft Word. I’m not able to open attachments written in Microsoft Works.
oDouble space the essays and use 12 point fonts.
2.Scholarly journals will be the primary research sources for the essay. Web sites ending in .gov, .edu, and .org are allowed. .com are questionable web sites. WIKIPEDIA is off limits.
3.The argumentative essay will follow the MLA guidelines for the writing of research papers.
Guidelines:
When organizing your argumentative essay, there are a few basic principles to follow. I will use these principles in the rubric I use to grade your argumentative essays. PLEASE REVIEW THE RUBRIC found in this weeks folder. This is what I will be using to grade your paper.
There is a description of what is meant by each of these five items below. Each of these items appears on the evaluation rubric used to score the essays.
1.Use organizers and a thesis
2.Use topic sentences
3.Choose a particular strategy for introducing your topic
4.Include a Works Consulted page at the end of the essay
5.Include at least one visual representation (a chart or graph or table or picture) in each argumentative essay. Check out the sample argumentative essay to see an example of how to include your visual representation. You may cut and paste your visual data from one of your research sources. Be sure to give credit to the source from which you took your visual.
I will consider all five of these areas when grading the persuasive essays. There are other areas to consider: Development, Mechanics, and Documentation, among others. These other areas will also be evaluated. They are all explained on the rubric used to provide feedback and evaluation for the persuasive essays.
1.Use organizers and a thesis — The thesis is the main point your paper will be making. The thesis is what you are arguing for or against. Each persuasive essay should have a thesis sentence, and it appears as the last sentence of the introductory paragraph of the essay. Also, as this is a persuasive essay, it’s standard practice to use either the word “should” or “must” in the thesis sentence to show that you are trying to convince your readers of the point you are about to make.
2.Use topic sentences — Each paragraph should have a topic sentence, and the entire paragraph should be about that topic. When it’s time to talk about a new organizer, you will start a new paragraph with its own topic sentence.
3.Choose a particular strategy to introduce your topic. A common way to introduce an essay on a persuasive topic is to begin by stating the problem. There are three common approaches: history, definition, or story. Popular ways to begin a paper often fall into one of these three approaches: history, definition, or story. You can either give some history of your research topic. Or you can define your topic if the topic is something most readers won’t already know about. Or you can provide a story on something to do with your topic.
oYour concluding paragraph is the last paragraph of the essay. The April 9conclusion will restate your organizers and thesis, and it will also say a few comments about your opening story, history, or definition–your introductory approach. In other words, the conclusion will look a lot like the introduction.
4.At the end of your paper, on a separate sheet of paper, include a Works Consulted list. You must have at least 4 resources (3 scholarly & 1 non-scholarly).
5.Use at least one visual aid in your paper. Usually, its a good idea to include a visual aid that will go along well with your thesis. Its a nice way to present information in a compact manner. The rule of thumb for using visual aids is that the visual aid is supposed to make your point-of-view easier to understand, not harder. If your visual aid is a chart is full of information, but rather hard to understand, then its not a good chart to use in the paper. The visual aid is supposed to make your paper easier to understand. You may cut and paste a chart or graph from one of your research sources. Just be sure to credit the source underneath the figure.