ARGUMENT ESSAY GUIDELINES

(10% of grade)

Rough draft due _______________ (paper copy and submit to D2L)

Final draft due _______________ (paper copy in class attach article and submit copy to D2L)

The Assignment

        Choose an editorial from a local or national paper.  Write your response to the argument the author makes.        

+ Research the topic elsewhere and find additional resources to cite to back up the assertions you make in your paper.  It is acceptable to use fallacies in your paper, but do not identify them as such.

+ Identify fallacies in resources you cite in your paper, if you find them, especially the argument to which you are responding. 

+ Present both sides of the argument—include counterarguments to whatever position you are taking. 

+ Set a serious/scholarly tone in the paper and avoid sensationalizing information. 

+ Use MLA for in-text citations and include a Works Cited page as the last page of your paper.

+ Electronically submit the rough draft for Heidi via D2L.

+ Attach to the back of your final draft a copy of the argument to which you are responding.

WARNING:  Do not use religious texts of any type as proof or premises for your argument.  It is okay to cite such sources if analyzing a philosophical element or mentioning stories therein, but your audience may not accept the religious document as truth, so do not attempt to use it as such for justification of your viewpoints.  Using religious dogma in this fashion will earn an F for the paper.

The Format

+ The essay should be 500-750 words.

+ Include a photocopy or the original of the editorial/article with your paper, stapled behind the Works Cited page of the final draft.

+ Cite sources in the text of your essay and/or use pertinent quotes.  Use MLA format for in-text citations.

+ Put a Works Cited page at the end of your essay as a separate but numbered page.  Use MLA format for the page and citations listed.  Be sure to alphabetize citations on the Works Cited page. Include the citation for the article/ad on which you are basing your essay.

+ Use no encyclopedias.   Online journals and books count as journals or books, not websites, and there is no limit to how many you may use. Limit cited websites to three.

Grades

+ Essays will be graded for coherence, grammar, punctuation, spelling, MLA formatting, and overall writing quality. 

+ Use full sentences. 

+ Addressing the reader as you using contractions outside of citations/quotes, failure to use commas and correct punctuation, so-ing the reader, and/or using conjunctions to begin sentences will earn an F for the essay. 

+ Be sure not to commit errors shown on the Common Errors in Composition hand-out. 

+ Failure to cite sources in-text and include a Works Cited page will result in an F.

+ THERE WILL BE NO REWRITES FOR THIS ESSAY.

*****  Be sure to attach a copy of the argument to which you are responding to the paper copy of the final draft.   

Also submit an electronic copy to D2L.