This document outlines the requirements for a research project consisting of a 6-8 page essay. The essay must follow a macro-micro-response structure, first providing a broad overview of the issue and then narrowing the focus. It must include at least six credible sources, one with an opposing view. The goal is to submit the essay to an academic news source to raise awareness and potential support for a public service campaign. The essay will be evaluated on the quality of the thesis, use and integration of sources, voice, organization, and technical elements such as grammar, length, citations, and formatting according to MLA guidelines. Rough and final drafts are due on specified dates.

1. Unit 2 Research Project
DELIVERABLE 1: MACRO-MICRO-RESPONSE ESSAY
TASK
After the secondary approval process of submitting your annotated bibliography to the party
that accepted your proposal, you must now begin working on the final stage in your research
process: a polished, cohesive research article. The goal with your research essay is to submit it
for publication to a highly circulated, academic news source (such as the Wall Street Journal or
the New York Times) which you hope will gain the attention of the educated public and
potential sponsors of your public service campaign. In order to do so, you must demonstrate
your ability to write professional, organized prose and present your claim in a way that will
interest and engage your readers, and maybe even inspire them to support your cause.
REQUIREMENTS
As intimated by the title, your research essay will include the following three components:
MACRO – after the (attention-grabbing) introduction, you will provide your readers with a
broad understanding of the issue at hand. This can take shape in two forms: you may
describe the issue on a geographically broad scale by describing how it relates to global or
national culture and society, or you may describe the issue on a conceptually broad scale by
detailing the history and/or state of your issue in general.
MICRO – in keeping with the direction you took in the macro section of your essay, you
will then narrow your focus to examine your research topic on a smaller scale, either
geographically or conceptually.
RESPONSE – after providing your readers with a deep understanding of your research
topic, you will now respond to the research you have done and add your voice to the
conversation you created among the authors of your sources. Your response is a place for
you to provide your readers with your informed answer to your initial research question, as
forecasted in your thesis statement, and discuss how we, as a society, might go about
solving this rhetorical problem.
FORMATTING
As it is in the genre of textual academic prose, your essay must be formatted according to
MLA guidelines. This means that your final draft must be double spaced, 12-pt. Times New
Roman (or similar) font and must include correct in-text citations and a separate,
appropriately formatted works cited page. Your essay must be 6-8 pages and include at least
six credible sources. One of these sources must be written from an angle of vision which
disagrees with the one you take in your essay.
DEADLINES
Rough Drafts are due as a Word Document to the assignment drop-box and as a hard copy in
class for peer review on Tuesday, October 24th.
Final Drafts are due as a Word Document on BbLearn by 11:59 pm on Friday,
November 10th
.

2. EVALUATION
Final Drafts will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
STATEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF THESIS
Is there a clear, identifiable, and strong thesis statement?
Does the essay prove this thesis through a cohesive, well-
developed argument?
25
USE OF SOURCES
Is every use of outside source material done in service of
developing the writer’s argument? Is their integration of
sources – using either paraphrase, summary, or direct quote –
smooth, creative, and effective?
20
VOICE
Is the writer’s voice dominant in the argument, even during
synthesis of outside source material? Is the writer’s argument
original and identifiable from others’ arguments/ideas? Is the
response well-developed and original?
20
ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE
Does the writer make effective use of the macro-micro-
response structure? Overall, is the essay well organized and
cohesive? On a local level, does this writer make good use of
sentence and paragraph structure?
25
GRAMMAR AND TECHNICAL ELEMENTS
Checklist: consistent use of Standard Edited English and
academic prose, meets page requirement (6-8 pages), has
minimum number of sources (6), correct use of MLA form,
correct MLA citation (works cited page and in-text citations)
10
TOTAL 100