Your essay should have the following structure. (1) It should explain some set of empirical findings drawn from topics #1, #2, and/or #3. (2) It should explain how those findings impact some specific area of human life. (3) It should propose an intervention of some sort that might ameliorate or increase those impacts (depending on whether the impacts are bad or good). (4) It should offer reasons for expecting the intervention to be successful. (5) It should discuss problems / objections / obstacles that stand in the way of the intervention being successful, and suggest how they might be overcome.
It will help you write a convincing essay if you pick some determinate person or group with the power to implement your proposed intervention, to whom your essay is directed. This will help you to think of practical obstacles to implementation (e.g. cost or lack of other resources). And it will enable you to tap into the “adaptation for argumentation” by imagining some particular person whom you are trying to convince.
Your essay will be evaluated for (a) the knowledge and understanding displayed; (b) how persuasive your case for your intervention is; and (c) for the creativity and inventiveness your essay displays in developing your proposed intervention in detail and the thoughtfulness of your suggestions for overcoming potential obstacles.
KEY: Ideally, it should be 3-4 pages, approximately 1000 words. Make sure you focus on the intervention part. Add details to increase feasibility. Don’t spent too much time on explaining the empirical findings. Extra citations are not required for good grades, but you must cite any ideas not learned in this class. Make sure your ideas are well supported.
