you are writing a proposal argumentative essay. In your essay, you must accomplish the following:
Identify a current problem within one of two broader subjects (environment and democracy),
provide evidence of the problem’s existence,
propose a solution(s) to the issue, and
support the viability of your solution(s) with evidence from credible sources.
In addition, you must address at least one counterargument to your own.
In the coming modules, you will be assigned readings relevant to each of the mentioned topics. You are required to incorporate information from at least two of the assigned readings into your essay. You must also use at least four sources found through research in your essay.
Research and Writing Identify an issue regarding the environment OR democracy.
For example, if your interest is in the environment, you may choose to focus on carbon emissions, habitat loss, or plastic waste.
If you are interested in the role of democracy, you might explore racism, censorship, or disinformation.
Remember that these are only examples. Before you make up your mind, you should spend a week or two reading and learning about potential topics.
Gather evidence to support your claim of your chosen issue’s existence and the need to find a resolution.
To find your sources, you will need to be information literate. You must be able to search for potential sources at the RSU library and use them in support of your own argument. To help you with this, you will find research tutorials in this module.
You will also be compiling and submitting an annotated bibliography of your potential sources. Find more information about this assignment in this module.
Once you have gathered the information you need to establish the existence of the issue, you will need to identify a solution(s) to this problem gather credible evidence that establishes your solution as viable to adopt.
You may include more than one solution but must emphasize ONE solution as the most likely to resolve the issue.
Although you must provide evidence that you are indeed presenting a real issue to your reader, the majority of your essay should be devoted to explaining your solution and providing evidence to support its viability.
A sophisticated solution proposal must account for opposing views.
For this assignment, you must respond to one of counterargument against your identification of the problem and/or your solution.
Devote at least one body paragraph to acknowledging, dismissing, and/or refuting a counterargument to your solution proposal.
Essay Structure (your essay must include the following)
Introduction
Develop your essay with an introduction that both introduces and draws attention to your thesis. Your introduction should be at least five sentences long, but you will most likely need to include two paragraphs in your introduction:
The first paragraph should hook the reader (see the Module Four Lectures about how to hook your reader).
The second paragraph should clearly define your subject in order to clarify exactly what the issue is as well as what it is NOT. You must clearly establish what exactly your topic is before you can argue about it.
Thesis Statement
The last statement of your introduction must be your thesis statement. Your thesis statement must identify both the problem and the proposed solution. This will most likely take more than one sentence.
Topic Sentences
Your topic sentences should identify a clear specific topic relevant to your thesis and make a clear claim about that topic. In the last essay assignment, your task was to compare sources; this time, however, the sources you include must also be in support of your own clear claims rather than explaining what the experts have to say. Do NOT include source materials in your topic sentences.
Body Paragraphs
Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence that relates to and develops your thesis. Your topic sentences must make strong claims that tie directly to your thesis. Each body paragraph should contain seven to thirteen sentences. For a paper this size, you will most likely need to write 4-6 body paragraphs. You must include evidence from at least TWO SOURCES PER BODY PARAGRAPH.
Do not include personal observations in the body of your essay. Your purpose is to demonstrate your ability to synthesize multiple sources in support of your own clear claims. Provide attributions and citations for all uses of source material. The majority of your body paragraphs should include paraphrases, summaries, and quotations in support of the claims of your topic sentences.
Conclusion
The conclusion summarizes the point of the essay and brings it to a logical and appropriate end. In structure, it should mirror your introduction. The conclusion contains your last words on the subject, a final thought or a question for the reader to consider. Conclusions do not present new information. Your conclusion should be at least four sentences long. Your conclusion should never be a verbatim restatement of your thesis statement. Again, see Module Four Lectures for more information on writing an effective conclusion.
Proposal Argument Structure
Remember, the structure of a solution proposal essay is as follows: identify the problem, offer your solution, and explain or defend your solution.
Identifying the problem: You will need to persuade your audience of the seriousness of the situation through your use of background information.
Introduce the solution: Often you will need to argue against the current or other possible solutions. Next present your solution. In your presentation, include what should happen, how it should happen, and why this solution will work.
Provide support: Give evidence and analysis that persuades your audience that your solution is the best solution to the problem.
Additional Writing Requirements
This is a formal academic essay, so you should avoid the following diction errors:
Contractions (can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, etc.)
First person point of view (I, us, we, our, my, etc.)
Second person point of view (you, yours, yourself, etc.)
Write in third person present tense (the authors state, the research demonstrates, etc.)
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|