ARGUMENT ESSAY GUIDELINES

Rough draft due ______

Final draft due ________  

The Assignment

Choose from options A or B for your Argument Essay assignment

 

A

B

Choose an editorial from a local or national paper.  What argument is he/she making?  What are the proofs offered? Write your response to the argument the author makes.

Listen to a plenary in the archival recordings of the Conference of World Affairs, at http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/archives/index.html

 

Take notes on the points made by the speaker.  What argument is he/she making?  What are the proofs offered? 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.  You may cite other examples of similar events and scientific investigations or reports on similar claims and events.
  • 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. 
  • Present both sides of the argument.  For the tabloid ads or articles, present both the skeptics   and the believers   viewpoints. 
  • 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.

 

 

 

 

NOTE: Please do not use religious doctrine, literature, or dogma as proofs of arguments and avoid religious arguments all together. Submitting religious arguments will result in an F for this paper, without opportunity for a rewrite.

 

 

The Format

+         The essay should be 700-900 words.

+     Be sure to reference the article or plenary to which you are responding.  Elucidate what points were made by the speaker/author to which you are responding

+          Include a photocopy of the first page original article with your paper, stapled behind the Works Cited page.

+          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 on which you are basing your essay.

+          Use no encyclopedias.   Online journals and books count as journals or books, not websites. 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.  

+          Rewrites of F papers will only be able to achieve a final grade of C for the essay.