Argumentative Research Essay
Argumentative Research Paper Assignment
Description of Final Project
In this assignment, you will move beyond the standard five-paragraph academic essay that you are familiar with. It will provide you an opportunity to learn to do academic research and learn to write an argumentative research essay. This are skills which you will need to know to be successful in college classes. You will be writing an argumentative research paper according to the guidelines below.
Based on the research question that you determined in the research planning part of this packet, you will be researching your question and presenting your findings. Based on the research that you have done as you have worked through this assignment, you should now start to formulate an answer to the research question that you posed. Since you have now completed most of your research and created note cards for the information that you discovered, you will write a 3-5 page paper that addresses your research question. The goal for the research that you have done is to answer the question that you posed and to find details, evidence, and support for the answer that you come up with. You will then present your argument, or opinion, and the evidence to back up your argument in the form of a research paper. Since this paper must be 3-5 pages in length, it will go beyond the standard 5 paragraph essay format. You should plan to include:
- an introduction which includes a clear statement of your argument. (your thesis statement) (one paragraph)
- background information on your topic. (one-to-three paragraphs)
- evidence and facts to support your argument. (3 or more paragraphs)
- a section addressing an opposing viewpoint or opinion (counterargument), and your response to that argument (rebuttal). (one paragraph)
- a conclusion which presents a summary of your paper, but also reminds the reader why we should care. Remember, the point of an argumentative paper is to convince your reader of something. (one paragraph)
- a works cited page following MLA formatting guidelines
MLA Formatting
For this assignment, you will prepare a 3-5 page typewritten paper following MLA format. Specifically, MLA stands for Modern Language Association, and it is basically a system of formatting your paper for submission.
You can find out more about MLA requirements by watching this short video:
Or, by clicking on this link:
As a reminder for this paper, you will be required to use a minimum of five sources. You must use at least one scholarly article from our library’s data base and one magazine or newspaper article. Your other sources may be internet sources, but remember, you must find reliable sources, and for this assignment, you may not use Wikipedia. You should ensure that your final paper is free from grammatical and punctuation errors. Your paper must include citations and a works cited page. To see a model paper including a works cited page, please see your textbook, pp. 379-388.