Your Four Argumentative Essay Assignments

In this course you will write four argumentative essays for four different purposes which are:

• Arguing to Inquire
  
• Arguing to Convince
  
• Arguing to Persuade
  
• Arguing to Mediate
  

Each of these four essays is explained in a separate document that is linked to your course outline.

Definitions of a Topic and an Issue

For the semester, you need to choose a single topic that will be the subject of your four essays. What is a topic? For the purposes of this course, a topic will be defined as a subject of interest, investigation, and discussion. It is a general word that denotes a broad subject such as auto safety, taxation, health care, criminal justice, race relations, terrorism, child abuse, and an almost infinite number of others.

Once you have chosen a topic, then for each assignment you need to identify an issue related to that topic. What is an issue? For the purposes of this course, an issue will be defined as a particular point of argument related to a general topic. For example, the topic may be abortion and the issue may be parental notification when a minor seeks an abortion. People argue about whether or not the parents of a minor should be notified. Another issue is the time period when an abortion should be allowed. Should it be restricted to the first trimester? A third issue is the use of the morning after pill. Should this contraceptive be readily available or not? Some would consider the use of the pill a form of abortion while others would not. Look at the additional examples below.

Examples of Topics and Issues

Topic: Gun control	Issue: The right to carry a concealed weapon
Topic: Terrorism	Issue: The effectiveness of the Patriot Act
Topic: Gender equality	Issue: Financial support for women's athletics
Topic: Immigration	Issue: Granting driver's licences to illegal aliens

Choosing a Topic and an Issue

To make it as easy as possible on you, and at the same time to give you a chance to really look into an topic and become expert about it, you need to choose one topic that you will write about in all four of your assignments. After you have chosen the topic, you must identify an issue to investigate and write about. You may use the same issue in all four essays, or you may switch issues from one essay to another provided that the issues all relate to the same topic. Because each essay has a different purpose (see the list above), you will have to build your case differently, use some different evidence, organize this evidence in different ways, and present it differently.

How to Chose a Topic and an Issue

You will be living with the topic you chose for the entire semester, so chose carefully. Once you have committed yourself and submitted work on a particular topic, there is no turning back unless you are willing to redo all the previous assignments using the new topic.

There are many topics and many issues related to any single topic. One way to help you decide what topic and issue to choose is to do some basic research to see what is available on the issue of interest to you. Many topics, such as abortion or affirmative action, have long histories and will provide a wealth of evidence and commentary on both sides of the many related issues. If you have trouble locating information, switch topics or look for a different issue related to the topic.

An Annotated Bibliography for Each Assignment

The essays will require reading and research because you have to know a subject before you can write about it. To help assure that you do the necessary work, an annotated bibliography will be required for each of the four essays. This bibliography will be turned in a week before each essay is due. See your course outline for the dates that your assignments are due. Each bibliography will be graded on a ten point scale (A=100-90, B=89-80, etc). The grades for the four bibliographies will be averaged and will count as thirty percent of your final grade.

Five New Sources for Each Essay

Each bibliography must list at least five sources. At least three of these must be from books, articles, or essays that are printed in hardcopy. The five sources listed in the bibliography must be used in the essay assignment that you will write the following week. However, you may also use sources from any of the previous assignments as well.

So by the end of the semester you will have written four argumentative essays and the week before each essay is due you will have turned in an annotated bibliography of at least five sources. At the end of the semester, you will have read and at least twenty articles, chapters from books, or web pages on your topic.

As noted above, the four annotated bibliographies will account for thirty percent of your final grade; therefore, the four argumentative essays will account for the remaining seventy percent. Each essay will also be graded on a ten point scale and the four grades will be averaged.