Overview: The purpose of this assignment is to make a call to arms on an issue to a public audience. This assignment will help you write to a target audience and give you practice in communicating intentionally and persuasively.
Task: You will choose an issue much like how you did with the change project or like how I assigned to you with the synthesis paper. This topic/issue can be a city/state/nation/international problem. It does not matter to me what you choose BUT I would like you to cast your eyes beyond main-stream drama and would prefer not to see papers on Biden/Trump, abortion, COVID 19, or gun control. Please note, while these topics are important, they are also really popular and receive a lot of attention. Theres a lot of issues out there in the world that also deserve our attention. Please choose something that interests you. You will then:
Develop an opinion on your topic if you dont already have one. Hopefully youve chosen a topic that hits close to home for you. Now, much like the synthesis paper, I want you to find people with who you agree AND disagree and who are experts in their field. Examine their argument, learn all you can about the disagreement. (Please note, you can use “I” in this paper as this will contain your personal opinion).
Research 5 to 7 credible sources that explore both sides of the topic. You want to have a good body of research to write from.
Start writing: Your paper needs to have the following components
Introduction- an overview of the topic with a thesis statement that contains your opinion on the topic/ a call to arms (a call to arms is you telling the audience what kind of action they need to take to help solve this problem).
Body paragraphs- synthesis of the topic with credible sources and your critical analysis of this problem. I want you to tell us why we should care about this issue and who is already FOR and AGAINST this issue.
A call to arms paragraph- where you motivate the audience to action. This will serve as your conclusion paragraph and will leave audiences with a CLEAR action they should take to fix the problem now that youve informed them about it.
Write a 4 page (minimum, you can go over) paper in MLA format. Note the works cited does not count in your page count. Your paper MUST be at LEAST 4 full pages. You will need to include at least 4 of the sources you found during your research phase.
