The assignment is only for the first part: Research essay A
Research Essay A
Thus far this semester, you have collected at minimum six
sources of academic research related to a topic of your choice. These
sources, which have primarily come from an academic perspective, each
contain their own point of view and unique perspectives of the topic in
question, or on an adjacent topic that is useful for illuminating the
core conceit of your argument. Now, at the culmination of the process of
researching and coming to terms with these sources, it is time to begin
composing the essay itself.
However, research writing, particularly academic research
writing, is a challenging task. For this reason, we will be writing the
essay in two stages: an Essay A and Essay B, if you will. In Essay A,
your task is to introduce your topic and provide the context necessary
for a reader to come to a basic understanding of not only the framework
you mean to employ in the remainder of your essay, but the
social/literary/artistic landscape into which your essay will enter.
Your primary goal in Essay A will be to make the basics of your topic
clear to a reader who may be unfamiliar with your topic, establish your
axiomatic claims, and begin to develop your argument in favor a
particular position.
What you are not tasked with doing (yet) is pulling the
disparate pieces of the argument together into a coherent conclusion
(that’s Essay B!). The main goal of this section of the essay is to
start to cultivate your perspective and worldview on the topic, and
explore it clearly in an academic, third person voice.
Other logistics:
- Essay should be between 1500-2000 words, or
thereabouts. This length should be sufficient to explore the topic in
some depth without becoming overwhelming or unwieldy as a writer or as a
reader. - Essay should use MLA or APA formatting for in-text citations and Works Cited, in line with your Fully Annotated Bibliography.
- As opposed to the FAB, you do NOT need to
include full annotations for every entry. For the rough drafts, a simple
Works Cited including the core source information is all that is
needed.