Description
This is an Argumentative Essay. Here are the instruction given by my professor.
You are required to make and sustain an argument. Please be sure there is a clear thesis in the introductory paragraph. Your paper should include a ‘works cited’ page at the end. Please include a word count entry at the top of the document (citations are not included in the word count).
Papers should follow the general structure outlined here:
a. Introduction and thesis statement
· ‘Hook’ the reader with an opening sentence or two. Why is this topic interesting? (Avoid sweeping or grandiose statements, such as ‘Since the beginning of human civilization…’)
· Tell the reader what you will be doing; specifically, briefly state your thesis, i.e., the argument you plan to develop. For example, this could be as simple as, “In this paper, I will argue that The Communist Manifesto is not obsolete because…”
· Provide a ‘blueprint’ for the discussion to come, sketching for the reader the basic steps you plan to make in developing your argument. More than a page for your introduction will probably be too long.
b. Theory: brief overview of key ‘theoretical’ concepts
· Academic work always starts from the general or abstract, and moves towards the particular. Before you can make your case, then, you first need to briefly introduce your reader to the writer’s ideas, that you will be using in order to make your case. Use the textbook as a source for your writer(s), but feel free to read up on ‘secondary analyses’ of that writer’s ideas to help you create and sustain an argument.
· As the topics above suggest, you will narrow the scope of your topic (and your thesis) to look at particular issues, and how the Classic Thinker(s) approached it.
· Demonstrate that you clearly understand what the Classic Thinker(s) are saying about that issue. What is their argument?
d. Develop the argument through the application of your ideas on the topic
· Where does your Classic Thinker(s) get things ‘right’ or ‘wrong’? What are your criteria for ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’, in the context of this issue?
· You should not evaluate or critique the Classic Thinker(s) ideas on your own. Use secondary analyses to help you evaluate or critique the ideas of the thinker(s).
e. Address at least one serious counter-argument
· Scholarly discussion never unfolds in a vacuum. Therefore, you need to consider and refute at least one serious counter-argument to your own position.
f. Brief conclusion
· Restate your fundamental argument (your thesis)
· Review your supporting arguments that validate your thesis.
· Bring the analysis to a satisfying close.
g. ‘Works Cited’ section
· Only sources that are actually cited in the essay are to appear in this section. If you did not cite one of your research sources in the paper, then omit it from this section.
Evaluation: The paper will be evaluated for its logical coherence, demonstrable understanding of Classic Thinker’s ideas, use of credible source material, and application of evaluation/critique to a coherent argument. Writing ability is of secondary concern, but also evaluated. If meaning is obscured due to poor sentence and paragraph structure, or spelling and grammatical mistakes, marks will be deducted.