One of the most common assignments in college is the research paper or argumentative essay. In a research paper, the writer makes an argument about a topic (which is generally stated succinctly in a thesis statement.)
Body paragraphs of a research paper are used
Like any other form of communication, the research paper is also an act of rhetoric, and like other rhetoric it can be ineffective if our logic is unsupported, if we haven't explained how our argument is meaningful, or if our credibility is undermined by sloppiness, nonstandard grammar, or not meeting the requirements of the assignment.
This assignment is a precursor to your Documented Argument paper. In this assignment, you will choose four sources that you’ve found and deemed usable for your Documented Argument paper. One of these must be a scholarly source, and one must be acquired in the library. For each source, you will provide 1) the works cited entry for that source, followed by 2) a 1-paragraph summary of that source and 3) a paragraph that evaluates the source. As you evaluate the source, address these questions: Why is this a useful, credible, and reliable source for your project? What does it help you to do and understand? What about the context (audience, authorship, place of publication, and purpose) is important to consider? This assignment will be a useful scaffolding for your Documented Argument paper. (Length: minimum of 3 pages double spaced)
As you have been thinking about visual and popular culture and media and how it communicates arguments and messages through various avenues, you will generate an argumentative topic relating to these ideas. You will choose a topic, develop a research question, and develop an answer to your question through a thesis statement and constructed argument. You will craft your essay to argue and support your position through outside research (research completed during the Annotated Bibliography assignment). I encourage you to choose a topic that is interesting to you or related to your projected field of study. It might even be an argument that stems from the subject of either of your previous papers (Mediated Values, Ekphrastic Narrative and Analysis). You will be required to submit a revision of this paper after it is graded and this revision should feature substantial changes based on my initial feedback. (Length: minimum of 6 pages double spaced)
What are we trying to accomplish in the pre-writing stage?
In the prewriting stage, we are trying to unearth both our own preexisting knowledge as well as knowledge we develop through our research. There are various techniques for getting our own knowledge out of our heads and into a form where we can readily go back to it, ranging from pure brainstorming by free-writing thoughts related to the topic, creating a concept or mind map which connects related concepts and allows you to consider what the relations are between the concepts, or using a graphic organizer like a KWHL chart, where you write what you Know (K), Want to Know (W), How You Will Find Out (H), and afterwards, What You Learned (L).)
STEP 1: Recalling Our Prior Knowledge - KWHL
Know Want to Know How I
Find Out Learned
Get an overall sense of my topic→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.
STEP 2: Developing a list of relevant search terms
Making a mindmap / concept map
Mindmap created for an ENG 105 course, using the Australian rock band ACDC as a starting point
Strategies for coming up with key words
Excerpt of an article on Rock Music in the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, accessed through Oxford Reference Online
STEP 3: Narrowing your topic
Now it's time to narrow your topic. One way to do this is pick one area or question within your topic. Another way to narrow a topic is to introduce qualifiers. Instead of covering all of [my topic], how about [my topic] + [a particular time period] OR [a particular situation] OR [a particular group of people]? Each qualifier narrows the topic even further, and each time you narrow the topic, in all likelihood you also narrow the number of other scholars who have commented on specifically that topic + your chosen qualifiers at the length and depth that you can bring to it. (Fewer preexisting points of view means there is more space for *your point of view.*)This text can be edited.
STEP 4: Examining subtopics
Know Want to Know How I
Find Out Learned
What are subtopics of your narrower topic?→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.
STEP 5: Coming up with a thesis and supporting arguments
It is vital to have a clear thesis statement that asserts an original idea that you wish to prove. Without a clear, assertive, and original thesis, the remainder of the paper is undermined because readers cannot understand what it is you are marshaling all this additional information/verbiage to prove. Once you come up with a thesis, then you need supporting arguments. You will next gather evidence to back up those arguments.This text can be edited.
STEP 6: Finding evidence for supporting arguments
Know Want to Know How I
Find Out Learned
Finding evidence to support arguments→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.→This text can be edited.