Background:

This term, we are uniquely positioned, as we are in the midst of dual pandemics: racism/hate crimes and COVID-19, and we just transitioned to a new presidential administration. To engage in these conversations this unit, you will choose an issue that is critical to the current social and political climate and argue your position in a sustained research paper. The assignments will allow you to delve deeply into an issue about which you deeply care and offer your take on the issue’s context, history, and arguments. This unit is designed to sharpen critical thinking, analysis, research, rhetorical analysis, and argumentation skills as well as keep us engaged as informed voters.

Reading and Writing Skills

Over the course of this assignment, we will continue to focus on key academic reading and writing skills, such as summarizing and citing sources. Unlike previous assignments, I will not be giving you the sources to use in your argument. You will be doing your own research and finding credible and reliable sources. The other reading and writing skill we will be continue to work on with this assignment is responding with your own argument. As we have discussed in the the previous essay prompt, academic scholars do not write in a vacuum—their arguments are typically in response to other arguments about the same topic. You will be doing exactly that for this assignment as you support your claims but also consider counter claims.

Focusing Questions

Now that you briefly understand what we are doing with this assignment and why we are doing it, I will now introduce our guiding questions. What is one specific social issue that is important to you and your community? How has this issue been presented historically? What would you like to argue/what change would you like to inspire as related to the issue?

Assignment Overview

The section below outlines the specific requirement of this assignment.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is to:

Compose college-level writing.
Participate in academic research
Respond to a topic with an original argument.
Consider counter arguments

Goals

This assignment will help students meet the following Student Learning Objectives,.

Synthesize researched material from multiple texts to create and support an argument in response to a prompt. Draw direct evidence from texts in support of claims and analyze how that evidence supports the claim.
Utilize the various phases in the writing process—prewriting, writing revision, and proofreading—to produce clear, articulate, well-supported, well-organized essays.
Students will be able to engage in the research process—including narrowing a topic, researching the topic, evaluating a variety of source material, and correctly documenting sources in MLA format—in order to produce a researched argument.
Students will write effective essays that engage readers and present original ideas or points of view. Emphasis will be placed on thesis-driven essays, which will demonstrate the principles of argumentation, including claims, evidence, and analysis, as well as addressing counterarguments through refutation and concession.
Students will be able to edit their own writing for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

This essay also addresses all three of our course student outcomes:

Analyze college-level/academic texts by critically evaluating information and applying it to students’ own arguments as evidence.
Synthesize material from multiple texts to create and support an argument in response to a prompt.
Create writing that is clear and concise.

Task

Compose an 6-8 page researched essay that develops a clear and well-supported argument on a specific social justice issue, where the writer (you) addresses the root cause/origin of the issue, provides historical context, takes a stance on the issue and considers possible solutions.

Possible Topics:

You might choose from the following topics, as these are all central to the current times. ***If you would like to work on a topic not listed below, please email me for approval.

List of Options
Topic Category	Specific Issue
Anti-racism	· Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter · Police Brutality · Black Minds Matter · Reparations for slavery
COVID-19	· Economic impacts · Racial inequities · Impacts on unemployment
Healthcare	· Universal healthcare · Public/Private insurance options · Prescription Drugs
Immigration	· DACA · Border Security · Travel Ban · ICE · Illegal Immigration
LGBTQ+ Issues	· Same-sex marriage · LGBTQ+ in the military · Equality Act · Hate crimes
Education	· Tuition Relief · Affirmative Action · Funding for education · Debt relief/Student Loan Forgiveness
Criminal Justice	· Racial inequities · Private prisons · Mandatory minimum sentencing · Legalization of marijuana · Capital Punishment · Supreme Court Justice Replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Climate Change	· Green New Deal · Fossil Fuels & Alternative Energy · Nuclear Power · Carbon Tax · Fracking · Declare climate change a national emergency
Defense or Gun Control	· Military funding · Military Intervention · Universal Background checks · Ban assault weapons · Gun buyback · Gun License

Criteria:

Clear thesis about your stance on your social issue
AT LEAST FIVE (5) relevant, scholarly sources to support your reasoning
Comprehensive analysis and exploration of the chosen issue
Written for a clearly defined audience
Clear organization of cohesive paragraphs
Correctness in grammar and mechanics
Works cited page (does not count toward page count)
MLA format

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More Specifically:

Your essay should identify a social issue that is central to the current times.
Your essay should include research on the possible origin and/or cause of the social issue. Your job is to look into the historical context from which the social issue emerged.
Your essay should include your stance on the social issue with evidence to support your reasoning and thorough analysis of how the evidence supports your reasoning.
Your essay should include five (5) credible sources that you select.
1. At least two (2) sources must be located through the library’s databases
2. Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source.
Your essay should be well-structured with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
1. Below is a list of components to include:
  1. Introduction: introduce and familiarize your reader with the social issue you plan to tackle/analyze/complicate
  2. History: research the origin and/or root cause of your chosen single story.
  3. Argument: provide evidence to support your stance on the issue. You must also include a counterargument and rebuttal to make your argument more well-rounded.
  4. Conclusion: explain the significance of the work you have just completed. Why is it important that we talk about your social issue? What are possible solutions to the problem?

NOTE: Since you are citing sources, don’t forget your Works Cited page

To help you with your research, remember that you can review our Research Guide and MLA Formatting/MLA Help resources.

Required Reading

For this essay, you will be researching and selecting all of your own readings and sources. You are required to find and cite a minimum of five sources, and two of those sources should be from the Cuyamaca College Library Databases.

Suggested Outline:

Introduction
1. Hook
2. Contextualize social issue (background)
3. Thesis: your stance on your social issue
Body 1: Origin/Root Cause: What is the earliest moment in history where your issue was a problem? And/or what is the root cause of your issue?
Body 2: Historical Moments over time: How has your issue played out historically? Where, in history, can we see it being a problem.
Body 3 Argument in PIEIE Structure: First reason to support your thesis
Body 4 Argument in PIEIE Structure: Second reason to support your thesis
Body 5 Argument in PIEIE Structure: Third reason to support your thesis
Conclusion: Overall significance of your stance on your social issue: why does your topic/stance matter for your readers? What should readers do as a result of reading your paper?

Requirements

Rough Draft (30 Points)-Due on Thursday of Week 12
Final Draft (100 points)-Due on Tuesday of Week 13

Sample Essay:

ENG 120 Essay 3 Sample

Recommendation: The Writing Center

The Writing Center would be a wonderful resource to take advantage of with this assignment. The tutors there have all passed English 120 with an A, and they are there to help and support you through any part of the writing process for this.

To make an appointment, you can click on the Tutoring link on the Canvas Course menu, you can email cuyamaca.tutoring@gcccd.edu or you can call 619-660-2545.

If you have any questions on this prompt, please don't hesitate to send me a Canvas message or email me at kim.bailey@gcccd.edu.