Final Research Argument Essay Assignment SheetEnglish 101.docx

Final Research Argument Essay Assignment Sheet
English 101
Final Research Argument Paper
The purpose of your final essay is to develop a persuasive
argument about an issue of
social, political, or historical significance. You will apply
critical thought and research
skills in support of your argument to substantiate the claims that
you are making. You
want to show your audience that you are knowledgeable about
your subject and have
done the necessary research to support your claims.
*NOTE*: The topic of tlris essav must be different from the
topic you chose for your
previous argumentative essay. Choose a topic that both interests
you AND that you feel
passionate about. If you do not care about the subject, it will be
difficult to produce a
thoughtful essay. Think of this assignment as similar to your
argumentative essay, but
with a new topic and more involved research.
Consider this information when formulating your essay:
Thesis
Your thesis will introduce the main claim yoll are making as
your argument. A clear
thesis is so in-rporlant because it sen,es as the foundation on
u'hich you r.r,ill build the rest

of youi paper. A strong thesis is one that has a stroilg.
artictilate^ and li,ell-developed
claim. This can be difficult to do. You have to find a ''happy
rnedium" between hyper-
specify and generalness. You will rnake your case u.ithin the
body of the essay, so don't
go into extreme detail in your thesis. At the salne tirne. avoid
vague language that off-ers
no real direction.
In providing this concise, not-too-specific and not-too-vague
statement of your argument,
you also provide a qr-rick summary of the scope ol yor-rr paper,
the ground it will cover. In
this capacity, the thesis staternent is a roaclnrcLp that te1ls
youl reader not only the points
that you will rnake, but also the ordel in
"r,'hich
1'ou will make them. You must also
identify youl target audience-who you are dilectly arguing to,
and so trying to
persuade-in the thesis.
Research and Supporting Paragraphs
I(eep one idea to one paragraph. If yor-r begin to transition into
a new idea, it belongs in a
new paraEaph. There are solne sirnple ways to tell if you a1'e
on the same topic or a new
one. You can have one idea and several bits of supporting
evidence within a single
paragraph. You can also have several points in a single
paragraph as long as they relate to
the overall topic of the paraEapli. If the.single points staft to

get 1ong, then perhaps
elaborating on each of them and placing thern in their own
palaEaphs is the ror-rte to go.
Make sure you explain how your resealch supports your clairn.
If you present data to
Sror-rr audience without explaining horv it supporls your thesis
your readers may not make
a connection between the two or they rnay draw different
conclusions.
Don't avoid the opposing side of an argument. Insteacl. include
the opposing side as a
counterclairn. Find out what the other side is saying and
respond to it within your own
argument. This is imporlant so that the audience is not srvayed
by weak, but unrefuted,
argutnents. Including counterclaims allor,vs you to find
cornmon ground rvith more of
your readers. It also makes you look more credible because you
appear to be
knorvledgeable about the entilety of the debate rather than just
being biasecl or unitbrmed.
You may want to include several counterclaims to show that you
have thoroughly
researched the topic.
Conclusion
An effbctive conclusion goes beyond siraply lestating cr
sulnlrlarizing the argument. The
goal is to s,r"nthesize. rathel than repeat. an insight that derir'es
fiom tiie poinis 1,ou rnade

and the suppol-t and examples you used that fits evervthing
toeether. you shor-rid indicate
r'rrhat the broader ilnplications of 1,oul argument a1'e. or in
u.hat u'ar s the problem your
argutnent seeks to adciless can,'strou1diwi11/rvil1 not change.
Dourg tliis can be tr.ickr,. so
don't be afi'aid to tirrker ri'ith a couple of dratts of 1.or-rr
inclr,rsioii before making a flla1
decision.
Fina111,'. niake sure youi.paper has:
o 2 PAGES NIINUNIUN{
o Proper MLA citation fonlat
c d vn,orks cited page rvith at least ,{ (FOUR) sources
o Sufticient use of each of your sollrces in the paper
e N4LA citations used properly for both qu.tes and surnmaries
e d cornplete h-rtroductio, and a con-rplete Corclr:sion
e { clear thesis statement
o Well-r'easoned suppoi't and jr-rstification at e.ery step of the
rvay
o Proper page fonnatting. 12 point Times Neu, Roman. 1 inch
margins,
double spaced.
Works Cited Page is due Tuesdar'. November 20tl'. I will
closely look at it ald retum to
you to revise.
Researcir Paper'(including final works cited page) is dr-re
Thursday. Nor€mber 29r,.
No late papers will be accepted. ;

1
EXEMPLIFICATION (ILLUSTRATION) ESSAY UNIT
ILLUSTRATION ESSAY ASSIGNMENT
Assignment: To write an illustration essay that fully
demonstrates the ideas and rhetorical strategy of illustration as
discussed and practiced in class. The essay will be
approximately 3-4 pages in length and will follow the essay
manuscript guidelines provided.
1. The life of a young adult is not an easy one.
2. Advertisements influence consumers in many ways.
3. Illustrate the benefits or drawbacks of computers or some
other form of technology.
4. Illustrate true heroism or true leadership.
5. Many people appear obsessed with exercise (or dieting)
6. Sometimes we need to take risks.
7. Sometimes people can surprise you.
8. Form a generalization about the way some group is depicted

on television (women, police
officers, the elderly, teenagers, or fathers, for instance) and
provide examples to illustrate
that generalization. Evaluate the accuracy of the depiction.
9. The most useful (or useless) inventions.
10. A well run business.
11. Changing gender roles.
12. New communication technologies help keep people in close
touch.
13. Dedication is the secret of success for many athletes (or use
any other field or
occupation).
14. Many intelligent people lack common sense.
15. Wanting more than we need can be destructive.
16. Many people become obsessed with appearance.
Due Dates:
· Draft of the illustration essay due: Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020
(bring 3 copies for peer review)
· Final draft of the illustration essay due: Thursday, Feb. 27,
2020 (instructor’s marked draft and final essay)

2
SWBAT
· Reduce a general topic to a limited thesis statement.
· Develop and effectively use specific examples to support a
claim(s).
· Order examples according to their importance.
· Write an essay that demonstrates their understanding of the
rhetorical strategy of exemplification (illustration).
“A picture is worth a thousand words”
What is an exemplification essay?
A rhetorical writing strategy involving using specific and
detailed examples to show, support, or prove a point (thesis).
“It doesn’t pay to fight City Hall. For example, my friend
Josie…”
“Many intelligent people lack common sense. Take Dr.
Branch…”
“Top-notch women tennis players are among the biggest
moneymakers in sports. Last year, for instance, Martina
Navratilova…”

“Predicting the weather is far from an exact science. Two
winters ago, a surprise snowstorm…”
Using examples and illustration isn’t merely a writing strategy.
Practically speaking, how does it benefit people?
· Often we understand a general assertion or claim only when
we connect it to one or more specific examples.
· It puts ideas and experiences that otherwise would be foreign
to us within our reach.
· Examples give depth to the ideas that we present.
· Examples contribute to the authority of the writer/speaker.
· Illustration is the cornerstone of all writing that deals with
ideas.
It is using a list of:
Facts
Events
Statistics
People
Samples
Quotations
Anecdotes
Other kinds of specific evidence

3
How can writers and readers tell exemplification from other
MODs?
· Look for a thesis followed by a number of examples that
support it in a parallel manner.
· Identify the types of examples. If there seems to be a story,
ask, "Is it one story, or several stories?" Several stories indicate
exemplification. If there is only one story, the dominant method
of development is narrative, not exemplification.
Example Paragraphs
Topic sentence
As they had resolved to do, my siblings took any job they
could find to survive. In Montreal, Luong went to work at
Example
a plastics factory, mixing resins, until he found a job in the city
government. In California, Zuong began working in a hotel,

Example
while his wife Hao started assembling electronics components
in a factory; they became self-sufficient so quickly that
they never had to resort to welfare. In Australia, Phu took a
Example
job as a cleaning lady until she got a position in the post
office. (My nephew Nam went back to school and, after taking
a series of jobs, became a real estate agent.) Tuyet, in
Example
Paris, also started out as a cleaning lady for an office, and
Eventually found a position in a government agency.

Dugong Van Mai Elliott, The Sacred Willow,
Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 465
Essay using extended example
Thesis
By 1880 several hundred medicine shows were traveling in
the
United
States, giving performances varying from simple magic
acts to elaborate “med-presentations.” Among the largest of
such
Major extended
operations from 1880 to 1910 was the Kickapoo Indian
Medicine
example—from

Company, “The King of Road Shows.” Founded by two veteran
here to end
troopers, John E. “Doc” Healy and Charles H. “Texas Charlie”
Bigelow, the Kickapoo Company maintained a large
headquarters
Building, “The Principal Wigwam,” in New Haven, Connecticut,
And from there sent out shows, as many as twenty-five at a
time,
To cities and villages throughout the country.
Minor examples
Doc Healy hired performers, both Indian and white—
dancers,
of performers
singers, jugglers, fire-eaters, acrobats, comedians, fiddlers—and
who were hired

Texas Charlie managed the medicine business and trained the
“Doctors” and Professors” who gave “Medical Lectures.”
Minor examples
All troupe members were distinctly garbed. The Indians—
of distinctly
including Mohawks, Iroquois, Crees, Sioux, and Blackfeet—
billed
4
garbed troupes
as “all pure-blooded Kickapoos, the most noted of all Indian
Medical People,” were adorned with colored beads and feathers
and loaded down with
primitive weapons; they trailed great strings
of unidentified hairy objects. Some lecturers wore western-
style

leather clothes and boots with silver-capped toes, others fancy
silk shirts, frock coats, and high silk hats. One of the most
colorful
Kickapoo figures was smooth-talking Ned T. Oliver—“Nevada
Ned, the King of Gold”—who wore an enormous sombrero from
the brim of which dangled 100 gold coins, and a fancy suit
loaded
with buttons made of gold pieces.
The Kickapoo shows were presented under canvas at

“Kickapoo Camps” during the summer and in opera houses and
town halls in winter. On many nights the show was free to all,
on
others each adult was charged 10 cents. The money poured in
from medicine sales.
The wonder-working Kickapoo concoctions were
“compounded
according to secret ancient Kickapoo Indian tribal formulas”
from

“blood root, feverwort, spirit gum wild poke berries, sassafras,
slippery elm, wintergreen, white oak bark, yellow birch bark,
dock
root, sarsaparilla and other Natural Products.” The medicines
were
made in the Connecticut factory in vats so huge the “mixers”
had
to perch on ladders and wield long paddles. The leader of the
Kickapoo line was Sagwa, which sold at 50 cents to 1 dollar per
bottle—“Sagwa, the wonderful remedy for catarrh, pulmonary

consumption, and all ills that afflict the human body. It is made
from roots, barks, gums, leaves, oils, and berries gathered by
little
Kickapoo children from God’s great laboratory, the fertile fields
and vast forests. Sagwa, Nature’s own great secret cure, now
available to all mankind!”
Long after the Kickapoo Company was dissolved, a woman
who had worked in the medicine factory recalled that one of the

ingredients of Kickapoo Cough Syrup was Jamaica rum. Could
this “cure” have been the inspiration for the “Kickapoo Joy
Juice”
Al Capp featured in his popular comic strip?
Peggy Robbins,
“The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company”
_____________________________________________________
___________________

5
PRACTICE 1
1. Choose one of the following topic sentence. Select an
appropriate example and write the rest of the paragraph.
a. Sometimes a minor incident drastically changes a person’s
life.
b. _____’s name exactly suits (her/his) personality.
c. I still get embarrassed when I remember _____.
d. Not all education goes on in the classroom.
e. I learned the value of _____ the hard way.
2. Explain why you would use one extended illustration,
several shorter ones, or a whole series of examples to develop
each of the following statements. Suggest appropriate
illustrations.
a. Many parents I know think for their children.
b. The hamburger isn’t what it used to be.
c. The ideal pet is small, quiet, and affectionate.

d. Different college students view their responsibilities
differently.
e. The hotels in Gotham City run the gamut from sumptuous to
seedy.
f. Modern English includes any number of words taken directly
from foreign languages.
3. Read the following paragraph. Then answer the questions
that follow.
Folk Art in the Barrios
In this paragraph, Eric Kroll describes the wall paintings in
Santa Fe, New Mexico, that depict a bold and colorful Chicano
history and that defy stereotypes.
On ten Santa Fe walls, the history of the Chicanos, both
mythical and actual, is depicted in brilliant colors and
disproportionate figures. Aztec medicine figures dance and
gods
protect peasants, all for the glory of the Chicano in the present.
On some walls, the chains of bondage are being broken and the
Lady of Justice, depicted as an Indian Maiden, watches over
6
both Indians and Chicanos. On others, Pancho Villa and Father
Hidalgo lead the Mexican peasants to freedom. But the
clenched fist at the end of the grotesquely muscled arms is the
most prominent image. It symbolizes unity, determination,
ambition, and pride, all traits that Los Artes believe should be
part of Chicano psychology. The figures they paint are bold,
upright, strong, and grasping, far from the stereotype of the
Mexican-American with drooping mustache and floppy

sombrero lying in the shade of a stucco building.
Questions About the Writer’s Strategies
1. What is the main idea (topic) of the paragraph?
2. What examples depict the freedom of Mexican peasants?
3. What is the metaphor for the traits that the artists believe
Chicanos should have?
4. What descriptive words are used for the figures in the
paintings?
5. What descriptive words are used for the Mexican-American
stereotype?
Look for transitional expressions that indicate illustration:
· For instance
· Another instance of
· For example
· Another example of
· To illustrate
· Another of
· A case in point is
· Here are a few examples
· Some instances

· One such in particular
· Yet another
· One illustration of this idea
The more of the above that a paragraph or essay includes, the
more likely it is to be illustration.
How does one write an illustration essay?
a. Decide on a thesis first, then look for the examples. Or
observe events, people, objects, or ideas, reflect on them, and
decide what true statement they suggest.
b. List an abundance of examples, then mark the strongest ones,
not just the first ones that come to mind.
c. Then, check them to be sure they are relevant. Ask, "Do these
examples relate directly to the point?"
d. Next, ask, "Which of these examples is the most
7
representative?" Use the strongest ones. If they lead to different
or opposite conclusions, consider modifying the thesis to be
consistent with the new evidence. Make every example work in
favor of the purpose, not against it.
e. Although illustrations can be organized in either time or
space order, most often, examples are organized in order of
importance with the one carrying the most emphasis placed last.
Organize the examples in the way that will most help further the
point. Some possibilities:
· least to most controversial
· simplest to most difficult
· least extreme to most extreme

· least to most important
How does the thesis pattern for an illustration essay go?
A look at A, B, and C shows that _________________
(statement which identifies what inference one can draw from
looking at those examples).
How can one practice recognizing thinking which uses
illustration?
In outside reading (not English or reading textbooks, look for a
list of items. Make note of the characteristic elements. Look
also for examples in film.
An Example and outline for an Exemplification Essay If
assigned an exemplification essay, ask this question: in what
area of your life do you see several examples that lead to an
inference that can teach people? To begin organizing ideas for
this topic, use the following outline:
I. Introduction that uses a college level strategy, tells how the
subject came up, states the thesis in the pattern above, and
names the audience who can benefit from knowing the
information.
II. Body
A. Example 1
B. Example 2
C.Example 3
III. Conclusion
8

Ethical Issues
In writing an illustration, we try to show readers something
truthful about our understanding of the world. To avoid ethical
pitfalls, ask and answer the following questions.
· Have I given adequate thought to the point I‘ll make and the
examples I’ll use?
· Are the examples supporting my point truthful, or are they
slanted to deceive the reader?
· Could my illustrations have harmful consequences? Do they
stereotype an individual or group? Harm someone’s reputation
unjustly?
· Will my example promote desirable or undesirable behavior?
Ethics: Discuss the following:
1. To encourage employees to work harder, a company includes
examples of ideal employees in its newsletter. While most
examples are accurate, the company deliberately exaggerates the
accomplishments of some employees. Does the company’s goal
justify the exaggerations? Why or why not?
2. Can you name any situations in which some politicians or
advertisers contrive examples to support their views.

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