Submissions and Due Dates: topic proposal due on Oct. 12; annotated bibliography due on Nov. 2; skeleton due on Nov. 9; complete/mostly complete draft due on Nov. 16; completed and revised draft due on Nov. 23; final draft due on Dec. 2
Length: at least 5 full pages, and no more than 7 full pages, not including the Works Cited page
Formatting: 1-inch margins, 12 pt. Times New Roman, double-spaced, ½” indentations, no extra spaces after paragraphs, proper MLA citations and Works Cited page
Source Requirements: at least five, two of which must be scholarly articles from peer-reviewed journals
Grade Weight: 30% of final grade
Description: Your final and most important writing assignment in this class requires you to describe an issue or topic and three competing viewpoints regarding it, then support the position you find most reasonable. This essay should be directed to actual and implied audiences, both your fellow students and professor as well as an imagined audience you are trying to teach with your experience or interpretation and impress with your style of description and explanation. You must craft the essay to make it meaningful and appealing to others.
This paper should be five to seven pages long, double-spaced, in 12 pt. Times New Roman, with one-inch margins. You will have a minimum of five reliable sources, documented according to MLA conventions, both in the text and on the Works Cited page. Note: The Works Cited page does not count toward the required page count.
First, establish a topic and specific debatable issue of your interest and research it carefully. Possible topics might include immigration, health care, class in America, education policy, or any other matter of interest approved for class. Then, you should describe fairly and reasonably three positions on that issue and their justification. The introduction should identify the topic, its relevant context, the various perspectives available, and your thesis: a small and unexpected claim worth making. The next few paragraphs should describe more than two conflicting but reasonable positions on the topic, and you need to incorporate evidence in the form of quotes and statistics to substantiate your descriptions. The rest of the paper should demonstrate your position with respect to those you have described, offering careful evidence to support your claims. For your conclusion, you have earned the right to make more general claims, suggest what the broader implications of your analysis and position might be.
You will submit the pieces of your critical response paper according to the following schedule:
In addition to the usual rubric categories, your critical response paper will also be assessed based on its level of completion—i.e., did you submit all the required pieces on time and intact?