ENGL 124 Funding for Education Research Essay

Background:

This term, we are uniquely positioned, as we are in the midst of dual pandemics: racism/hate crimes and COVID-19, and we just transitioned to a new presidential administration. To engage in these conversations this unit, you will choose an issue that is critical to the current social and political climate and argue your position in a sustained research paper. The assignments will allow you to delve deeply into an issue about which you deeply care and offer your take on the issue’s context, history, and arguments. This unit is designed to sharpen critical thinking, analysis, research, rhetorical analysis, and argumentation skills as well as keep us engaged as informed voters.

Reading and Writing Skills

Over the course of this assignment, we will continue to focus on key academic reading and writing skills, such as summarizing and citing sources. Unlike previous assignments, I will not be giving you the sources to use in your argument. You will be doing your own research and finding credible and reliable sources. The other reading and writing skill we will be continue to work on with this assignment is responding with your own argument. As we have discussed in the the previous essay prompt, academic scholars do not write in a vacuum—their arguments are typically in response to other arguments about the same topic. You will be doing exactly that for this assignment as you support your claims but also consider counter claims.

Focusing Questions

Now that you briefly understand what we are doing with this assignment and why we are doing it, I will now introduce our guiding questions. What is one specific social issue that is important to you and your community? How has this issue been presented historically? What would you like to argue/what change would you like to inspire as related to the issue?

Assignment Overview

The section below outlines the specific requirement of this assignment.

Purpose:

The purpose of this assignment is to:

1. Compose college-level writing.
2. Participate in academic research
3. Respond to a topic with an original argument.
4. Consider counter arguments

Goals

This assignment will help students meet the following Student Learning Objectives,.

1. Synthesize researched material from multiple texts to create and support an argument in response to a prompt. Draw direct evidence from texts in support of claims and analyze how that evidence supports the claim.
2. Utilize the various phases in the writing process—prewriting, writing revision, and proofreading—to produce clear, articulate, well-supported, well-organized essays.
3. Students will be able to engage in the research process—including narrowing a topic, researching the topic, evaluating a variety of source material, and correctly documenting sources in MLA format—in order to produce a researched argument.
4. Students will write effective essays that engage readers and present original ideas or points of view. Emphasis will be placed on thesis-driven essays, which will demonstrate the principles of argumentation, including claims, evidence, and analysis, as well as addressing counterarguments through refutation and concession.
5. Students will be able to edit their own writing for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

This essay also addresses all three of our course student outcomes:

1. Analyze college-level/academic texts by critically evaluating information and applying it to students’ own arguments as evidence.
2. Synthesize material from multiple texts to create and support an argument in response to a prompt.
3. Create writing that is clear and concise.

Task

Compose an 6-8 page researched essay that develops a clear and well-supported argument on a specific social justice issue, where the writer (you) addresses the root cause/origin of the issue, provides historical context, takes a stance on the issue and considers possible solutions.

Possible Topics:

You might choose from the following topics, as these are all central to the current times. ***If you would like to work on a topic not listed below, please email me for approval.

Criteria:

• Clear thesis about your stance on your social issue
• AT LEAST FIVE (5) relevant, scholarly sources to support your reasoning
• Comprehensive analysis and exploration of the chosen issue
• Written for a clearly defined audience
• Clear organization of cohesive paragraphs
• Correctness in grammar and mechanics
• Works cited page (does not count toward page count)
• MLA format

More Specifically:

• Your essay should identify a social issue that is central to the current times.
• Your essay should include research on the possible origin and/or cause of the social issue. Your job is to look into the historical context from which the social issue emerged.
• Your essay should include your stance on the social issue with evidence to support your reasoning and thorough analysis of how the evidence supports your reasoning.
• Your essay should include five (5) credible sources that you select.
  1. At least two (2) sources must be located through the library’s databases
  2. Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source.
• Your essay should be well-structured with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
  1. Below is a list of components to include:
     1. Introduction: introduce and familiarize your reader with the social issue you plan to tackle/analyze/complicate
     2. History: research the origin and/or root cause of your chosen single story.
     3. Argument: provide evidence to support your stance on the issue. You must also include a counterargument and rebuttal to make your argument more well-rounded.
     4. Conclusion: explain the significance of the work you have just completed. Why is it important that we talk about your social issue? What are possible solutions to the problem?

     NOTE: Since you are citing sources, don’t forget your Works Cited pageTo help you with your research, remember that you can review our Research Guide Links to an external site. and MLA FormattingLinks to an external site./MLA Help Links to an external site.resources.

     Required Reading

     For this essay, you will be researching and selecting all of your own readings and sources. You are required to find and cite a minimum of five sources, and two of those sources should be from the Cuyamaca College Library Databases. (Links to an external site.)

     Suggested Outline:

     1. Introduction
        1. Hook
        2. Contextualize social issue (background)
        3. Thesis: your stance on your social issue
     2. Body 1: Origin/Root Cause: What is the earliest moment in history where your issue was a problem? And/or what is the root cause of your issue?
     3. Body 2: Historical Moments over time: How has your issue played out historically? Where, in history, can we see it being a problem.
     4. Body 3 Argument in PIEIE Structure: First reason to support your thesis
     5. Body 4 Argument in PIEIE Structure: Second reason to support your thesis
     6. Body 5 Argument in PIEIE Structure: Third reason to support your thesis
     7. Conclusion: Overall significance of your stance on your social issue: why does your topic/stance matter for your readers? What should readers do as a result of reading your paper?

     Can you write about education please?