ENG 102 Spring 2025 Argument Research Essay Guidelines PDF

ENG 102 -Spring 2025​ Argument Research Essay Requirements & Guidelines​ Prompt: Write an argumentative research essay in which you take a stance on a current and controversial topic or issue that holds some ethical, political, or cultural implications. Your essay should include a specific cla...

ENG 102 -Spring 2025​ Argument Research Essay Requirements & Guidelines​ Prompt: Write an argumentative research essay in which you take a stance on a current and controversial topic or issue that holds some ethical, political, or cultural implications. Your essay should include a specific claim about the topic or issue. Your purpose is to persuade your audience to make a change in some way. The essay should include well-developed ideas, counterclaims, and refutations supported by relevant evidence and details from well-chosen, appropriate sources. Rhetorical Situation: Audience: The audience is the group of people who may or may not be persuaded by your argument. You should consider who will read the writing and how you plan to reach them. Also consider your audience’s background, their education and life experiences, and their interests. Are you aiming to affect a certain demographic? Are there political circumstances that might affect your audience? Purpose: Arguments have almost limitless purposes and goals. Although all parts of the rhetorical situation are linked, purpose and audience tend to be carefully intertwined. The purpose of the argument is what the writer is trying to persuade the audience to feel, to think, or to act in a specific way. Therefore, a well written argument takes into account the expectations and backgrounds of its target audience. Source Requirements: ​ 15+ sources for initial research ​ 12+ sources for evaluative annotations ​ 10 or more sources for the final essay draft (fewer than 10 = maximum score of 60%). ​ Include source support for the counter arguments and refutations Nearly any source may be used during the exploration of the topic/issue (procon.org, YouTube, factchecker.org. wikipedia, debate.org, etc.). However, for research and academic writing, the CGCC library databases will be the accepted source locator. No Internet (Google or otherwise) will be accepted. ​ Sources must originate from the CGC databases unless otherwise noted o​ Must receive instructor approval for non-database source ​ Use sources published within the last 10 years ​ Use ‘full text’ sources; no abstracts or summaries are permissible ​ Use sources that vary in length (all must be > greater than one page) (PDF version of source preferred) ​ Sources with no publisher/no date of publication will not be accepted ​ No more than 2 sources from the same database (e.g. Issues & Controversies; Opposing Viewpoints) ​ Use both primary and secondary sources (keep balanced) o​ CGCC databases o​ Avalon Project (http://avalon.law/yale/edu/) o​ Library of Congress (http://catalog.log.gov/) o​ Digital Public Library of America (https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/) ​ Must use one example of visual evidence from the database: Annotate using OPTIC ​ Must use one 30 minute minimum documentary (not a fictional video) - Acceptable sources: CGC Database (includes Films on Demand, PBS Video Collection, & others),. Other acceptable sources outside the database: BBC, Frontline, 60 Minutes, Netflix (as long as it is a documentary). Other sources for the documentary require pre approval of the instructor.): Annotations= 1 page of bullet pointed notes ​ Note: Each source will be fully annotated Final Draft Requirements: ​ Final draft is worth 200 points ​ 2000+ words plus a Works Cited (1999 words or less = maximum possible score of 60%) ​ 10 or more sources referenced in essay (fewer than 10 sources referenced in essay = maximum score of 60%) ​ Background & 3 body paragraphs minimum ​ Turn it in essay similarity should be no more than 20% ​ AI usage is not permitted for constructing any part of your rough draft or final draft ​ APA (7th edition) formatting ​ Evidence o​ All evidence must be correctly cited and attributed o​ Evidence must be integrated within well-structured sentences o​ Use of cited visuals (charts/graphs) as evidence; suggestion: 1 for each body paragraph  ▪​ Must correctly embed the visuals in your essay that you plan to discuss/ cite. o​ Cited evidence may be paraphrased or summarized ▪​ No more than 1 direct quote in each body paragraph (use paraphrases, summaries) ▪​ Must be integrated and introduced with action verbs (do NOT use the verbs ‘writes’ or ‘states’) ​ Correct citation and documentation (in-text citations and Works Cited required) ​ A variety of rhetorical appeals: emotional (pathos), logical (logos), and moral (ethos) ​ Transitions and topic sentences to organize the essay ​ A variety of sentence structures / academic diction and word choice Writing Guidelines: ​ Focus of the writing is on the topic, not on the writer’s reflections or opinions. ​ Essay should contain a thesis statement/claim with a clear introduction and conclusion. ​ The body of the essay should work to identify arguments that support your claim with evidence. ​ The essay should reflect a clear address of the rhetorical situation. ​ Only present tense verbs should be used for writing. (Exception: Past tense may be used when appropriate to include an anecdote/memoir and/or the explanation of an historic event that has shaped the circumstance.) ​ Essay should be free of grammatical and punctuation errors. ​ Absolutely no first or second person pronouns (I, you, me, my, us, we, etc.) should be included. Grading Rubric: CGCC English 102 Grading Rubric will be used 10 points will be deducted off the top of your grade for errors in formatting and citations including quote dropping. Assignment Components (may vary based on instructor): ​ Annotated Bibliography (12 sources) ​ Rough and Final Drafts (10 or more sources) ​ Peer editing/feedback activities Optional organizational structure: (There are many other acceptable ways that this type of essay can be organized, but all the elements listed below must be included in the final draft of your essay.) ​ Introduction (minimum 5 sentences total) o​ Hook (REQUIRED: researched scenario / anecdote - attributed as necessary) o​ Explanation of what makes this a controversial topic o​ Transition to the claim (1-2 sentences) o​ Claim ​ Background (primarily from the subject encyclopedia) (minimum 5 sentences total) o​ Unbiased, background information from BOTH sides of the argument o​ Paraphrase this information – cite / attribute as needed o​ At least 2 examples of textual evidence and appropriate analysis o​ Can be in past tense as appropriate ​ 3 (minimum) arguments to support your claim (minimum of 8-10 sentences/body paragraph) o​ Minimum of 3 body paragraphs o​ Each body paragraph to include ▪​ Argument in support of the claim with a minimum of 3 examples of textual evidence and appropriate analysis ▪​ Counter argument supported by at least 1 example of textual with analysis ▪​ Refutation supported by at least 1 example of textual evidence with analysis ​ Conclusion (3-5 sentences) o​ Restatement of claim o​ Final thoughts o​ Call to action (as applicable) o​ Link/reference to hook/introduction ​ References