answered: The Assignment: This paper will be a minimum of 1000 words a

  

The Assignment: This paper will be a minimum of 1000 words and consist of a five-paragraph argumentative essay on the issue you were assigned from Taking Sides. Essays must be typed and double-spaced, with standard margins and 12 font (Times New Roman).
To pass, must have a refutation paragraph
To pass, must quote both articles on your issue
To pass, must have a Works Cited page attached to essay
Your thesis statement must take a side on your issue; you must take a side for or against your issue.
For this assignment you should have an introductory paragraph that ends with your thesis. The first few body paragraphs should each develop a reason to support your thesis. The body paragraph right before the concluding paragraph must be a refutation paragraph. End with your concluding paragraph.
Referring to sources: You must refer to both articles written about your assigned issue. Remember that about 70% of the paper should be your ideas whereas about 30% should be references to sources. References to sources are to be used to support your ideas. Your paper is required to have at least one direct quotation from one of the articles in each body paragraph as support (not the introductory or concluding paragraphs). Also, be sure to quote the articles themselves, not the introductory chapters before the articles. Avoid plagiarism by attributing ideas to the author, no matter if it’s a quote or a paraphrase.
Tip Examples
Introdoctory Paragraph—hook, general sentences, thesis
Thesis just takes a side on the issue, such as against homeschooling. If body paragraph #1 is how homeschooled kids don’t get real life experience, and body paragraph #2 is about how parents aren’t qualified to teach calculus and chemistry, I really do not need to know anything about those reasons in the introduction; I don’t need to read about them in the general sentences or have the reasons tacked onto the thesis.
Body Paragraphs
This is your analysis of the reason and also refer to source(s). What this means is, if you are arguing that homeschooled kids don’t see real life at home, you have to fill 80% of that paragraph up with your own ideas: they don’t see alcohol abuse, drug use, teen sex, peer pressure… I’m just brainstorming here. My point is, the paragraph is filled with your content; the source is a minor 15-20%.
Quoting
Let’s shoot for at least one direct quote per body paragraph. Don’t forget the signal phrase before the quote and the page number in parentheses after; (check my lectures about quoting, such as using the word “that” for integration). The first time you quote an article, you’ll need to give the author’s full name, and the article title goes in quotation marks. I don’t think we need any mention of the articles in the intro.
Refutation paragraph
Start with a transitional topic sentence. Then present one point of the opposition; for example, homeschooling allows parents to instill values in kids. Explain this idea. Then you’ll probably quote an article. Don’t forget to comment on significance of quote. You can’t stop there; the next thing to do is refute the point of the opposition: you can either destroy it or concede the point.
Don’t Use First Person
Don’t use the word “I.” We will read a lot of great points being brought up in discussion posts, particularly ones that include personal experiences. In an oral presentation in my face-to-face class this week, one young man talked about the special relationship he had with his grandmother when his parents weren’t around as he was growing up. He talked of the advice and life-lessons she provided him. This is all great content that we can keep in our papers, but we have to make it general. Mark, the young man in my class, can’t talk about his grandma in his paper. He can’t use the word “I.” However, he can keep the content by making it general. He can delete himself, and instead write about how a grandparent can step in when the parent is absent and offer a child great advice and life-lessons. Here, we kept the content but deleted yourself from a formal English 1A essay.
Don’t Use Second Person
Don’t use “you”—Let’s say we were writing about working in fast food restaurants. Sample student sentence: Working in fast food restaurants won’t benefit you in the future. Please don’t use the word “you” in any essay this semester. You might as well avoid it in any essay for the rest of your college career. Using that word is a low, informal level of writing. In that sentence above, the student is also directly addressing me (the reader), and I don’t work in a fast food place. Any sentence with that word may be changed using: ______, ______, _______, ________ , or_______. What word would you insert? Email me one for extra credit. My choice: Working in fast food restaurants won’t benefit a person in the future.
Grammar
Avoid run-ons, fragments, spelling errors, punctuation errors (commas, apostrophes).
Note
The name/title of your issue isn’t the same as the title of the article(s).