GMO

The first step in creating your researched argument is to choose a topic. Once you have selected a topic, you will write a research proposal. This proposal will be 1-2 pages in which you describe your topic, the position you plan to argue for, questions you have regarding the issue, and your plan of attack going forward. In the proposal, you should explain: The Issue: What is the issue you plan to write about? Remember, in order for you to take an arguable position, you must be dealing with an issue with at least two sides. It may be helpful to pose the issue as a question. In describing the issue, be as specific as possible. For example, “education reform” is a broad subject that does not reflect an arguable position. However, “Should Ohio do away with the Common Core?” is a specific debate with multiple sides to it. Your Position (Thesis): What position do you plan to argue with regards to the issue? You may find that your position changes (slightly or drastically) as you research your topic. It may (likely) be necessary to do some preliminary research to form a position on your topic. If you don’t yet know what position you will argue for, describe some of the different positions one could take. Questions about the topic: What questions do you have about the topic that you will need to answer or find answers to in order to create your argument? It is ok not to have all of the information from the start; that is why we do the research. Your approach to research: What research will you need to do? What type of sources might you need to support your argument? Opposing Views: What opposing positions might someone take on the issue you are dealing with? There should be at least one possible opposing view. This proposal is designed as an opportunity for you to organize your ideas and to develop a strategy for research and writing moving forward. Try to anticipate whatever information you will need, whether you have it already or not, in order to write your researched argument. Annotated Bibliography Guidelines The annotated bibliography prepares you to write the researched argument essay by critically analyzing your researched secondary sources and the reliability of those sources and their authors. This requires you to gather possible sources and to read each source carefully and critically instead of just reading for information. Many students conduct research simply to mine articles for quotes to use in their papers. While finding informative and interesting material to quote is certainly one of your goals, you should also be conducting research to learn more about your topic, to understand the current situation surrounding your topic, and to discover the conversations going on between others who care about this topic. Writing an annotated bibliography will go a long way towards meeting these goals. You will need to document and annotate six sources. You are urged to find and document articles that contain information opposed to your side of the argument in addition to those supporting your argument. For each source on your bibliography, you will have an entry that includes a citation and an annotation. Each entry needs to contain all of the following four parts: 1. A complete bibliographical entry for the source in MLA format (as it would appear on the Works Cited page; see p.439-67 in The Norton Field Guide). 2. A discussion of the author’s credibility. By finding out something about your author’s credentials (job titles, degrees, relevant experiences, association memberships, awards, areas of expertise, other articles or books written on the topic, etc.), you are establishing credibility and reliability for both your author and you. Therefore, all six of your sources must have authors. Here are ways to find information about a writer: ? Google their name (if it’s unique enough): they may have their own website or a bio page listed on the website of the company/school/publication they work for. ? Use professional networking sites such as LinkedIn.com (you have to sign up with this website to view search results, but it is free and easy). ? Use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to perhaps contact the writer directly. ? If they’ve written for a magazine or newspaper frequently, that publication’s website may have short bios available. ? Some articles give short author bios at the end. ? If you absolutely cannot find anything, you can look at the other articles the author has written and discuss how their publications and their topics help build their credibility. 3. An objective and accurate summary of the source in your own words (see p.360-1 in The Norton Field Guide). Here are some tips for summaries: ? Try writing a one-sentence summary of each paragraph (or a few paragraphs) and then selecting those that express the author’s most important points to create a whole paragraph summary. ? Summaries are in your own words; therefore, you should not be directly quoting any parts of the text. ? Use present tense verbs when describing the writing of an author; for example: In his essay, “As Bad as Drinking?” Jack Roberts explains, writes, states, describes, concludes that, mentions, provides, feels, understands, suspects, doubts, asks, probes, shows, tells, insists, asserts, urges, qualifies, hints, details, contends, questions, explores, exploits, imagines, clarifies, rationalizes, justifies, declares, defends, reasons, elucidates, illustrates, depicts, introduces, expresses, portrays, compares, indicates, argues, implies, informs. Avoid talks about, says, speaks about. ? Keep the author included by occasionally mentioning their name (just their last name is fine after the initial full name introduction). 4. In three to six sentences, critically analyze the source as it applies to your topic/argument and discuss how the source may be useful to the essay you will be writing for WP3. You should also discuss how the source agrees with, disagrees with, or builds upon your other sources. Sources At least three of your six sources must come from one of the Sinclair Library Databases or the Library itself. Your other three sources may come from other external websites, etc., though you should carefully assess the credibility of external sites and their authors (see Chapter 44 – Evaluating Sources in The Norton Field Guide). Audience Your readers should be gaining a functional knowledge of the articles you are summarizing without having read them. Format and Design For this essay, you must use 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced, MLA format. Required length: all six annotations combined should total at least 1,000 words.