social media platforms poses significant risks to their well-being,
necessitating the enactment of stricter laws to hold social media companies
accountable.
These are the instructions provided: “In your Argumentative Research Essay, you will write a policy/proposal argument (see lesson on Types of Argument later in this unit). In this paper, you will must synthesize various sources while persuading the reader to accept your solution to a problem. You do not want to simply report what others are saying, but engage in a dialogue with them and support a clear claim. The following units will help you choose and investigate a topic, find credible and scholarly sources, and synthesize the research into a clear argument. Please note that all assignments in Units 2 and 3 will build toward this essay, so you should focus on the same topic throughout these two units.
Your argumentative research paper MUST include the following:
- A clearly stated thesis that articulates your position and what you want to argue in your paper; your thesis should be narrow enough to be argued within the page limits and qualified if necessary. Your thesis should fall at the END of your introduction. Thesis is written in the outline
- Clear reasons with supporting evidence
- A variety of evidence (textual evidence, statistics, examples, etc.) for each point
- A synthesis of sources; do not simply summarize your source material, but show how they are connected and respond to them
- A fully-developed counterargument paragraph with a fully-developed refutation paragraph
- A minimum of five credible and relevant sources, 3 of which are scholarly, peer-reviewed articles from the library databases
- Citations for every source (whether it’s directly quoted, paraphrased, or summarized)
- A minimum of 5 full pages in MLA format, not including the MLA Works Cited; check eCampus for examples and guidelines or visit Purdue OWL
- A Works Cited page in MLA format with entries that correspond with each in-text citation
Minimum Requirements
Focus: Your essay must have a clearly argumentative focus and argue for a specific solution to a problem you have identified.
Length: 5-7 pages, not including the Works Cited page.
Style: Essay needs to conform to MLA standards, including double spacing in Times New Roman font, and must include a Works Cited page with correct in-text (parenthetical) citations for all quotes, paraphrases, and/or summaries.
Sources: Five sources minimum: this will include three peer reviewed scholarly articles from a database, plus two credible sources of your choice (newspapers, organizations, government websites, books, etc.). You may choose to use all scholarly sources but not all popular. One of your sources must be a counterargument that you will refute in your essay.
IF YOU DO NOT MEET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE, YOU CANNOT EARN HIGHER THAN A 60% on the essay.