Essay Format-Persuasive Essay Introduction Paragraph with Thesis Statement (Remember, the thesis statement will be the last line in this paragraph.) What could make this invention any better? It is free for most shoppers, it is convenient for carrying materials, it is lightweight, and it has multiple purposes. These are some benefits of plastic shopping bags. According to Kinnelon Conserves.net, plastic bags are made from crude oil, which is heated and releases ethylene gas, leaving polyethylene as a byproduct (2018). This gel-like material is what makes plastic bags. Ever since its beginnings in the 1960s, plastic shopping bags can be seen in many places: in shopping carts, in trunks of cars, and in kitchens. Katherine Mangu-Ward states, “In 2010, Guinness World Records named plasticbagsthe most ubiquitous consumer item in the world” (2015). But, the problem is that we also see plastic bags floating in oceans and trapped inside aquatic organisms. So, the question becomes, do we ban plastic bags in all fifty states, or do we continue using them in shopping centers? ________________________________________________________________________ (Thesis)_Considering many factors, plastic bags should be banned from stores in all fifty states due to the negative effect they have on the environment when they are produced and after they are produced, along with the fact that many countries and cities have already successfully banned them and reaped the positive environmental benefits of doing so. __ Body Paragraph # 1 Topic Sentence : One reason lawmakers should ban plastic bags in all fifty states, is due to the negative environmental ramifications, when they are produced. Major Supporting Detail # 1: __Plastic bags are made from an already depleting fossil fuel: oil, which takes thousands of years to form. Oil already has many uses, including being used for gasoline and diesel in vehicles and homes, jet fuel, and for roads and roofs, among many other uses. Eliminating plastic bags will make better use of this limited oil resource. Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich” _ The Kinnelon Conserves website states that “five trillion plastic bags are produced each year, which accounts for .2% of the earth’s oil consumption each year…it takes 12 million barrels of oil just to make enough plastic bags for America!” That is a lot of wasted oil on a product we usually only use one time for about 15 minutes. Oil is already being used up at an alarming rate for energy, construction, and other types of plastics like for toys and many household items, so we should not waste it on one-use plastic bags, and further negatively affect our environment. Major Detail # 2: _When we extract oil from our land to make plastic bags, we also release methane into the atmosphere, which traps heat, and increases global warming. So, oil extraction, also induces air pollution. __________________ Evidence/Quote/Paraphr.

1. Essay Format-Persuasive Essay
Introduction Paragraph with Thesis Statement (Remember, the
thesis statement will be the last line in this paragraph.)
What could make this invention any better? It is free for most
shoppers, it is convenient for carrying materials, it is
lightweight, and it has multiple purposes. These are some
benefits of plastic shopping bags. According to Kinnelon
Conserves.net, plastic bags are made from crude oil, which is
heated and releases ethylene gas, leaving polyethylene as a
byproduct (2018). This gel-like material is what makes plastic
bags. Ever since its beginnings in the 1960s, plastic shopping
bags can be seen in many places: in shopping carts, in trunks of
cars, and in kitchens. Katherine Mangu-Ward states, “In 2010,
Guinness World Records named plasticbagsthe most ubiquitous
consumer item in the world” (2015). But, the problem is that we
also see plastic bags floating in oceans and trapped inside
aquatic organisms. So, the question becomes, do we ban plastic
bags in all fifty states, or do we continue using them in
shopping centers?
_____________________________________________________
___________________
(Thesis)_Considering many factors, plastic bags should be
banned from stores in all fifty states due to the negative effect
they have on the environment when they are produced and after
they are produced, along with the fact that many countries and
cities have already successfully banned them and reaped the
positive environmental benefits of doing so. __

2. Body Paragraph # 1
Topic Sentence : One reason lawmakers should ban plastic bags
in all fifty states, is due to the negative environmental
ramifications, when they are produced.
Major Supporting Detail # 1: __Plastic bags are made from an
already depleting fossil fuel: oil, which takes thousands of years
to form. Oil already has many uses, including being used for
gasoline and diesel in vehicles and homes, jet fuel, and for
roads and roofs, among many other uses. Eliminating plastic
bags will make better use of this limited oil resource.
Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich”
_ The Kinnelon Conserves website states that “five
trillion plastic bags are produced each year, which accounts for
.2% of the earth’s oil consumption each year…it takes 12
million barrels of oil just to make enough plastic bags for
America!” That is a lot of wasted oil on a product we usually
only use one time for about 15 minutes. Oil is already being
used up at an alarming rate for energy, construction, and other
types of plastics like for toys and many household items, so we
should not waste it on one-use plastic bags, and further
negatively affect our environment.
Major Detail # 2: _When we extract oil from our land to

3. make plastic bags, we also release methane into the atmosphere,
which traps heat, and increases global warming. So, oil
extraction, also induces air pollution. __________________
Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich”
____ According to Kate Pickert from Time Magazine,
“Americans use more than 100 billion thin film plastic bags
every year.” So, we do in fact, pay a price for plastic bags, due
to the emission of other toxic chemicals in the air, when oil is
extracted. This added air pollution, along with our decreasing
oil reserves, is not worth the price for a simple plastic bag that
we can easily substitute with reusable bags and eliminate
altogether. _________________
Body Paragraph # 2
Topic Sentence : Another reasons lawmakers should ban plastic
bags in all 50 states is due to the negative environment effects
after it is has been produced.
Major Supporting Detail # 1: __So, what happens to a plastic
bag once it has been used? Many times, it ends up in the ocean.
We can easily search online to see how plastic bags are
negatively affecting our marine life. We will find many images,
circulating the internet, of plastic found inside live and dead
turtles, inside live and dead whales, because plastic bags look
like jelly fish to many ocean organisms, and inside dead seals
and fish. _______
Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase—“Quotation Sandwich”

4. According to an article in Nation magazine, “8M[illion]
Tons of plastic [enters] the ocean each year…60 to 80 percent
of all marine litter is plastic…[and in the year] 2050…there will
be more plastic than fish in the Earth’s oceans, if current trends
continue.” These are all alarming facts that impact our marine
life. We have to ban plastic bags so they will not wind up in the
ocean killing our ocean animals because these organisms take
part in a larger food chain, that our existence depends on. We
also have to consider the chemical material plastic bags are
made from, polyethylene, and the negative effects this has in
these organisms’ bodies.
_______________
Major Supporting Detail #2: _So we have established that
plastic bags find their way to the ocean and that animals are
eating that plastic, which leads to another major environmental
problem: microplastics. Studies have shown that small amounts
of plastic are now being found in salt, crabs, fish, and seaweed,
among other ocean life.
Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase--“Quotation Sandwich”
_Jennifer Barone states, “some of the same properties that
make plastics great for consumer goods make them a problem
pollutant (Science World 2017). Plastic’s durability comes in
part from the fact that unlike paper or wood, it doesn’t
biodegrade, or break down naturally…Those tiny pieces, known
as microplastic, can potentially stick around for hundreds or
perhaps even thousands of years.” These microplastics are what
marine life eats and soaks up, and we ultimately ingest it from
fish, salt, and seaweed. So, we need to ban plastic bags so they
will never reach the ocean because they not only negatively
affect ocean life, but negatively affect our lives as well.
______________

5. Body Paragraph # 3
Topic Sentence: Another reason that the government should ban
plastic bags in all fifty states is because some cities have
already begun to charge for plastic bags, which shows the
importance of reducing them, and some cities have already
taken the next step of banning them, and experienced a huge
decrease in plastic pollution.
Major Supporting Detail # 1: _The fact that some cities now
charge to purchase plastic bags because it leads to a decrease in
plastic pollution, is a clear indicator that we are ready for the
next step: to ban bags for an even larger positive impact on the
environment. These cities charging for plastic bags discourage
their use and are essentially weaning shoppers off bags
altogether. ___
Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase--“Quotation Sandwich”
According to a Nation article by Glyn Peterson, “85% [is the]
Amount by which plastic bag use has decreased in England after
it required all stores to levy a 5-pence-per bag charge starting in
2015.” And, according to Waste360, the price for plastic bags
in England is now 7 cents and has led to a 30 percent decline in
plastic bags found in local oceans. That is a huge decrease in
plastic bags that benefit our environment. Many plastic bag
charging cities want to promote the use of reusable bags for
shopping, which is ideal for our environment. _
Major Supporting Detail # 2: __Many cities have taken

6. extreme measures to more quickly positively impact our
environment by completely banning plastic bags. _________
Evidence/Quote/Paraphrase--“Quotation Sandwich”
__According to Kate Pickery from Time Magazine these cities
include Austin, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and
Seattle (2014). We already know the positive environmental
effects of banning plastic bags because, “Plasticbagsfor retail
purchases are banned or taxed [have now been implemented] in
more than 200 municipalities and a dozen countries, from San
Francisco to South Africa, Bellingham to Bangladesh (Reason,
2015). If it was a poor law that was not worth implementing,
many cities would not have passed it. ___________________
Rebuttal Paragraph
Topic Sentence: __Many people may argue that we should not
ban plastic bags in our fifty states and continue to use them
because they can be reused and recycled like paper and cans.
_________
Counterargument #1: Plastic bags are convenient because they
are lightweight, free, have multiple uses like to pack school
lunches, or to carry objects, containers, or food, and many of us
have whole drawers and spaces to collect them and use when
needed. ____
Refutation of Counterargument #1
.

7. ___It is true that plastic bags are lightweight and convenient,
but we can easily carry bags in our car trunks to use them when
needed instead of getting plastic bags. That way, we do not
have to worry about recycling them or adding to the huge
plastic pollution problem we already have. Stores could also
have cloth bag donation boxes for customers who want to
donate some bags for people who forget their bags or do not
want to pay for a cloth bag. We can also use cloth or metal
lunch bags and boxes to carry food. The article from Katherine
Mangu-Ward states “many American homes had a nook, cranny,
or drawer that functioned as a kind of grocery-sack clown car. It
seemed that whatever the size of the container, an infinite
number of bags could be stuffed inside… If we wound up with
an unmanageable surplus, we could just drop the bags at the
recycling centers” (2015). But many times, these infinite bags
just get thrown in the trash can because people forget to take
them to recycling sites and stores altogether.
Counterargument #2:
_Another counterargument is that plastic bags can be recycled.
___________________
Refutation of Counterargument #2:
__But not enough people consistently recycle plastic bags.
____An article by Katherine Mangu-Ward, says that according
to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans only
recycled 4% of plastic bags in 2010. This is not enough to make
a significant positive impact. Also, when I try to recycle my
personal plastic bags in the recycling bin that my city provides
me, I am always told that the city cannot accept plastic bags
that have food residue on them, and I cannot fill up the whole
bin with plastic bags because the bags get stuck in the recycling
machine. It is such an inconvenience to have to recycle my

8. plastic bags elsewhere. So, if our government bans plastic bags
altogether, we do not have to worry about recycling them.
_____________________________________________________
_____________
Conclusion Paragraph(Might include a call to action and/or a
statement of the implications.)
Restatement of Thesis: _____
In conclusion, the U.S. government should ban plastic bags in
all fifty states due to the negative environmental consequences
of producing and using them, and because other cities have
already jumped on the plastic bag ban bandwagon, so we
already know the positive effects it would induce in our whole
country. Essentially, plastic bags are not “free” because the
environmental negative cost is huge.
_______________________________________
Call to Action: __Instead of using plastic bags, consumers
should carry cloth bags in their car to reuse many times and not
have to worry about recycling them or contributing to our
pollution problem. I have been doing this for about 5 years
now, and feel that my minute contribution is a step in the right
direction towards a cleaner earth. This small action is very easy
to make, but if enough people make it, the positive results are
substantial. _________
Statement of Implications:
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

9. _______________________________________________
Works Cited (Rough Draft -not in order, not in MLA)
Barone Jennifer. “An Ocean of Plastic.” Science World, vol. 73,
no. 11, Apr. 2017, p. 8. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mih&AN=122
227216.
Peterson, Glyn. “By the Numbers.” Nation, vol. 305, no. 16,
Dec. 2017, p. 4. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=126
492348.
“Amount of Plastic Bags Found in UK Waters Is Declining.”
Waste360, Apr. 2018, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=voh&AN=128
977703.
Mangu-Ward, Katherine. “Plastic Bags are Good for You.”
Reason, vol. 47, no. 5, Oct. 2015, pp. 32-38. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&ab=a9h&AN=109
197123.
Pickert, Kate. “Paper, Plastic, Or Neither.” Time, vol. 183, no.
2, Jan. 2014, p. 11. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=936
00239.
“Life Cycle of Products.” Kinnelon Conserves,

10. http://www.kinnelonconserves.net/Plastic.html. Accessed 6
October 2019.
Essay 2: Argumentative Research Essay
Due Date:See course calendar in eCampus.
Assignment Description:
In upper level courses, you will often be asked to demonstrate
your ability to converse with other scholars in your field. Your
job is to change the reader’s mind about a particular subject and
persuade the reader into believing your argument. Your paper
must be written so that it is accessible to readers from a
different perspective. In other words, be fair and unbiased when
acknowledging what others say about your topic, but then prove
why they are wrong using logical reasons and credible evidence.
In this essay, you must synthesize various sources while
persuading the reader to accept your viewpoint. You do not
want to simply report what others are saying, but engage in a
dialogue with them.
Your research paper MUST include the following:
· A clearly stated thesis in the introduction that articulates your
position and what you want to argue in your paper
· Clear reasons with supporting evidence
· A synthesis of sources; do not simply summarize your source
material, but show how they are connected and respond to them
· A fully-developed counterargument with a fully-developed
refutation. A fully-developed counterargument requires more
than one sentence.
· A minimum of five (5) credible and relevant sources (see
details below)

11. · A well-developed, well-organized of three to five pages
(1000-1500 words),, not including the MLA Works Cited
· A Works Cited page in MLA format with corresponding in-
text citations (MlA Version 8)
Topic: Use the same topic you selected for Essay One, the
exploratory essay.
Purpose and Learning Objectives
The purpose of this assignment is to practice persuasive writing
and synthesis of sources. You will increase your critical
thinking skills by analyzing yours and others’ assumptions,
evaluating multiple perspectives, and developing a clear
position. Writing, research, and eloquent written expression are
vital for a successful future. You will express all of these skills
in this assignment.
Your research paper should demonstrate the following learning
objectives:
· Awareness of the audience to whom you are speaking
· Awareness of the purpose of your argument
· Ability to enter into a scholarly conversation
· Ability to write a qualified and narrow argumentative thesis
statement
· Ability to synthesize information from various sources
· Ability to craft an argument with different types of relevant,
credible, and detailed support
· Ability to research and identify academic sources
· Ability to summarize, paraphrase, and quote while citing
correctly in MLA to avoid plagiarism
· Ability to converse in standard, academic English
Minimum Requirements
Length: Minimum three (3) pages, approximately 900 words,
not including the works cited page.

12. Style: Essay needs to conform to MLA standards, including
double spacing in Times New Roman font, size 12, and must
include a Works Cited page with correct in-text (parenthetical)
citations for all quotes, paraphrases, and/or summaries.
Sources: You must cite at least five (5) reliable and
authoritative sources, including at least one journal (electronic
is acceptable) or database article. At least one of your sources
must be a counterargument that you will refute.
Helpful Resources
The English Corner has several handouts that can help you draft
your essay.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism includes failing to
cite a direct quote with quotation marks and an in-text citation,
borrowing someone else's work without a correct citation, bad
paraphrasing (Safe Assign will not identify a good or fair
paraphrase), purchasing a paper, having someone else write
your essay, or turning in the same paper to two different
classes. Any paper with plagiarism, even accidental (I forgot to
cite that!), will receive a zero as a final grade. The best way to
avoid plagiarism is to cite correctly. Review the lessons
contained in Article 4 and Article 5 in our eCampus Lesson 2
and also visit the Purdue OWL for more help vist the Purdue
OWL MLA Formatting and Style Guide.