Prof. Richard F. Johnson
For this assignment, you will write a 6 to 8 page research paper on a topic that you find compelling and about which informed people can disagree. The essay will be based on library research, through which you will develop and present your own position in an existing issue/controversy. We will be taking a series of small steps to complete this assignment. The first step is to develop a General Topic and a Specific Subject. Over the course of the next four weeks, we will be developing a working thesis, a working outline, a working bibliography, and a draft beginning. Only after each of these steps has been completed will we proceed to a full rough draft. We will also be discussing in class MLA documentation, the evaluation of sources, methods of organization, and library research strategies.
At the moment, however, your primary obligation for next class is to develop your own General Topics (and if possible, a Specific Subject). Here are two suggestions for discovering a General Topic:
You will be required to use at least three sources that may include articles in newspapers, journals, or magazines, essays from a reader other than The Brief Bedford Reader, single chapters from books, and /or the internet (only ONE of the three sources may be a website). At least one of the three sources must represent an opposing viewpoint to that which you are developing. You will also be required to document your citations in the body of your paper and produce a Works Cited page according to current MLA guidelines.