13 Aug For this assignment, you need to produce your own original positive argument for a specific

For this assignment, you need to produce your own original positive argument for a specific

conclusion. More specifically, you need write a paper arguing for some thesis/conclusion that you

think is true and important. You can pick any thesis that you want to argue for. You should pick

something that you’re interested in and that you feel passionately about.

Here are some examples of things you could argue for in your paper: you could argue that abortion

is wrong; you could argue that abortion is not wrong; you could argue that the death penalty is

wrong; you could argue that the death penalty is not wrong; you could argue that we should have

tighter gun-control laws; you could argue that we shouldn’t have tighter gun-control laws. These

are all moral topics. But you don’t have to pick a moral topic. You can write on anything. For

instance, you could argue that action movies are better than comedy movies, or that the Lakers are

better than the Clippers. It doesn’t matter. The main thing is that you should pick a

thesis/conclusion that you believe, and that you’re interested in, and for which you think you can

construct a good argument.

If you want to, you can provide multiple arguments for your conclusion in your paper; or if you’d

rather, you can develop a single argument. It’s up to you.

In writing your essay, you should use and cite at least one outside source. This can be any source

that you want to use–a book, or an essay, or a website, or whatever–as long as you think that it’s a

reputable, reliable source. Also, you can use the outside source in whatever way that you want to.

For example, you might just want to cite the source to back up a factual claim you are making; for

instance, if you’re arguing that abortion is wrong, you could cite some reliable source that provides

factual information about abortion statistics. Or if you’d rather, you can cite a work that develops

an argument for or against the thesis that you’re arguing for. Again, you can use the source in

whatever way you see fit. Moreover, you can decide whether you are going to quote the outside

source, or paraphrase it, or summarize it; this is up to you as well. It is important to remember,

however, that your paper has to do more than just summarize the thoughts of another writer. It is

perfectly OK to rely on the thoughts of others, but there has to be some originality to your paper.

Finally, you need to cite the work properly; you need to give credit to the author of the work that

you’re citing, and you need to provide your reader with the publication information for that work.

You can cite the information in any format that you like. You can put the information in a footnote

or in a bibliography at the end of your paper. As long as it’s clear, the format doesn’t matter.

Your paper should be two-to-three page long, and double-spaced. It should be typed and written in

complete, grammatically correct sentences. You should use proper punctuation and spelling. You

can use whatever voice and style feels natural to you, but you need to remember who your audience

is–namely, a college professor–and you need to use a tone that’s appropriate for that audience.

Finally, remember to think about how to structure your essay and how to break it into paragraphs.