PLEASE RREAD
For the third essay of the semester, write a Research
Essay of at least 1200 words. You will pick ONE of the three genre options outlined below.
options
outlined below.a Research Essay of at least 1200 words. You will pick ONE of the three genr (Most of the material on this first page is drawn directly from the FYWP’s previous textbook, TheCurious Writer, UNO 2nd custom edition.)
PART I: GETTING STARTED: Regardless of which option you choose, follow these basic guidelines:
A Method of Discovery
If college research assignments don’t simply report information on a topic, what do they do? They are
organized around what you think—what you believe is important to say about your topic—and there are three ways
you can arrive at these ideas:
1. You can know what you think from the start and write a paper that begins with a thesis and provides evidence that proves it.
2. You can have a hunch about what you think and test that hunch against the evidence you collect.
3. You can begin by not knowing what you think—only that you have questions about a topic that really intrests you
interests you.
interests you.
Academic inquiry rarely begins with item 1. After all, if you already know the answer, why would you do the research ?
It’s much more likely that what inspires research would be a hunch or a question or both. The motive, as [Ballanger has] said before , is discovery
PART II: GENRE OPTIONS: You must pick ONE of these three options.
OPTION 1: The
Exploratory Essay
Purpose:
To explore. You pose the question because you’re unsure of the answer. This is what draws
you to the topic. You’re most interested in
writing an essay, not a paper; that is, you want to write about what you found out in
your research and what you’ve come to believe is the best or truest answer to
the question you pose. Your essay will have a thesis, but it
will probably surface toward the end of the paper rather than at the beginning.
This is what [Ballenger] would call a research essay rather than a research paper, and it’s the most
open-ended form for academic inquiry. Exploratory
essays often begin with sense-making or relationship-analyzing questions.
OPTION 2: The Classical Argument, Argument, OR Refutation Essay (essentially the same as Project Two)
Purpose: To argue. You know you have a lot to learn about your topic, but you have a very strong hunch about
What’s the
answer to your research question might be. In other words, you have a hypothesis
you want to test by looking at the evidence. Inspired
by a hypothesis question (“Is it true that…?”), you report on your
investigation.
However, you may quickly move from a hunch to a
conviction; and then you move immediately into arguing your
claim, trying to influence what your readers think and even how they behave. Your thesis is a statement…that you can
probably roughly articulate at the beginning of your project. It may very well change as you learn more,
but when you write your paper, your purpose is to state a central claim and
make it convincing. Frequently, that claim is stated
near the beginning of the paper
OPTION 3: The Proposal
Purpose: To Solve a Problem : Write a proposal to help resolve a problem that you care about. Make sure your
Write a proposal to help resolve a problem that you care about. Make sure your proposal does the following: proposal does the followingproposal does
1.Addresses a problem that is
of consequence and of a manageable scale, including the problem’s causes and effects.
2. Provides evidence for the
seriousness of the problem and for ways to solve it, justifying these solutions over alternatives. You can draw on your own
experiences but should also use outside sources.
3.Is
appropriate in both form and content to your purpose and audience.
Vaccines Taxes AI-Generated Writing Electoral College
Aside
from that, the subject of your Research Lite Essay is up to you, but it must be
something that involves more people than just you. As was the case with Project Two, the
smaller the subject, issue, or problem the better. Additionally, you should not write about
something everyone already agrees with or about something that is already in
effect, such as a law, rule, or
ordinance, unless of course what is in effect is the problem. In the end, your
topic must be a realistic, real-world one –one that can be backed up with
concrete evidence (aka cold hard facts). No satire. No abstract or conceptual arguments.
Your
Inquiry Question should not be something like “Can Money Buy Happiness?” or
“Does God Exist?” It should be something
along the lines of “What is Noom, and Does It Work?” or “Is CBD Oil Dangerous?”
There is quite a bit of leeway here, so
choose your topic carefully. Pick a topic you’ve always wanted to
investigate/explore/argue or a problem you care
about
solving. I’m not looking for giant topics; I’m looking for something you
genuinely care about (but don’t have all figured out) that fits the assignment. If you are unsure about your
topic, run it by me sooner rather than later.
CHECKLIST
OF REQUIREMENTS:
□ Your
First Draft and Final Draft must be set up in appropriate MLA format. Double
space and use a normal 12-point font. Be sure to note the assignment and draft
version in your heading (Project Three: First Draft).
□ On both
drafts, note which Genre Option you’ve chosen (Exploratory, Argument, or
Proposal) in your heading, use your Inquiry Question as your essay’s title (the question your
essay will answer), and underline your thesis (the answer to the question). Here’s how your
heading and title should look (with your section number, of course):
Melanie
Cavill Cavill 1
1158
O00_
Project
Three First Draft
Genre
Option: Exploratory
8 April
2024
Is CBD
Oil Safe for Dogs?
□ In
both drafts, early in the essay, clearly explain your personal connection to
the topic and why you chose it. An “I believe” or “I think” sort of statement is not enough. You
must have a tangible connection to your topic. For instance, if I were going to write
an essay that answers the title in the example above, my personal connection
would stem out of my interest
in seeing if CBD oil might help one of my dogs with her inflammatory bowel
disease and anxiety. Of course, I would go into more detail than that to establish my
connection to the topic and reason for picking it.
□ In
both drafts of your essay, you must include at least FIVE quotes, paraphrases,
and or summaries from at least FIVE
different print sources (includes internet and databases), cite them, and list
them on a Works Cited page. “Print
source” means an essay, article, book, or the like – i.e. written documents.
You are welcome to include pictures,
graphs, charts, etc. as source material and cite them correctly, but they do
not count toward your required sources. Your source material should be relevant and not outdated.
Evaluate it carefully. You may not use Wikipedia as a source.
□ FIRST DRAFT PROCESS WORK POINTS: To get
the 10 points, you must incorporate the five different sources into your essay and cite them,
include them on a Works Cited page, and make every attempt to document the
source material correctly
in MLA Format. You must also note your essay’s Genre in your heading, include
your Inquiry Question title, underline,
or bold your thesis, and include your personal connection to the topic.
