Research Paper

Examine a (global or local) social issue, event, or condition that you believe is culturally important and make an argument about it. This can be a trend found in pop culture, news, entertainment, family life—there are no restrictions on the topic as long as it directly affect people today. For example, you may want to write about why a specific audience should engage in a particular dietary lifestyle, what is causing obesity, why you should not donate to Green Peace, why we should ban plastic bottles, why we should label foods with genetically modified ingredients, why women/men should get maternity leave, why all children should receive free pre-school, etc. You could approach this paper as a solution to a condition or issue such as homelessness, under-vaccinated children, domestic violence, opioid use, or gentrification. You could also make an argument about the effects of a particular phenomena or trend on society—tinder and dating apps on romance, helicopter parents, childhood obesity, etc. I strongly suggest that you expand your mid-term essay for this assignment if you can—it will be much less work than starting over on a new topic.

Be clear and specific with your thesis statement; make sure that it takes a clear stance on the issue. This is not an “overview” paper where you summarize the topic / arguments for and against the topic, and leave it up to the reader to decide—you have to take a specific position on your topic and persuade them that your position is the correct one.

In addition to taking a clear and specific stance (helps establish good ethos) you need to include dissenting voices/arguments/CONS (opposing ideas) of an argumentative issue. In addition to acknowledging the opposition, you need to establish some kind of common ground with them, but then explain why their arguments aren’t adequate or why yours are better.

Write as if you are trying to persuade a reasonable, open-minded, neutral audience to adopt new beliefs or behaviors utilizing effective rhetorical strategies. However, just because your audience is reasonable does not mean they don’t hold preconceived positions, opinions or misconceptions when it comes to your topic. Make sure to appeal directly to your intended audience and tailor your flow of information and examples to them. For example, if your topic is under-vaccinated kids in Colorado your audience will probably be Colorado parents, so establish the 3 appeals accordingly.

You may utilize personal experience and interview in order to personalize and charge your topic emotionally but be aware of logical fallacies like emotional manipulation, either-or reasoning, slippery slope, and generalization if you do. This could be a good opportunity to use code meshing/switching and non-standard English depending on the occasion and audience of your essay.

Organization will be important in this essay. Each paragraph should support your thesis and provide examples and evidence of why your audience should agree with you. All argumentative topics have PROs and CONs. Before starting to write, it is imperative to make a list of these ideas and choose the most suitable ones among them for supporting and refuting. In addition to acknowledging an opposing audience, you need to build some kind of common ground with them, but then explain why their arguments aren’t adequate or yours are better. You do not need to stick to a strict 5 paragraph format, but it is a good place to start. Here is a suggestion of what a 5 paragraph outline might look like for this assignment:

  • Paragraph 1: Intro with background and Thesis statement:
  • Paragraph 2: CONS, refutations, building common ground
  • Paragraph 3: evidence/reason 1 we should agree with you
  • Paragraph 4: evidence/reason 2 we should agree with you
  • Paragraph 5: Conclusion- use to project outward. How would the world be changed if we all adopted your thesis statement?

NOTE: there are two different organizational model handouts in Module 9.