Proposal Essay

• This is a 5 Part Final All on the same topic leading up to the end result a 5 page thesis.I have already chosen the topic and have a topic essay for you to read and go from their. The Topic: WAYS TO SOLVE DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE AMONG POLICE OFFICERS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS

  Proposal Essay Worksheet (I Also have this as a word Doc or you can copy and paste into word.)

  Essay Planning WorksheetUse the space below to plan your essay. These notes will be for you only (I won’t take them up), but you may want to bring this worksheet and any notes you’ve added to it if you go to the Academic Success Center.Topic:Be specific! What is the specific problem and the specific proposed solution?Example: Problem: Parking at MTC – Solution: Encourage car pooling and ride sharingReason this is the best proposed solution:Example: Car pooling and ride sharing will be cheaper and easier than other options such as building a parking deck or more parking lots.Additional Filters:What additional filters are needed to narrow your focus, such as time, place, etc.Example: A specific campus, using the services of a specific company, etc.Thesis:Your thesis should be one (sometimes two) sentences that clearly state the problem and your solution. Example: The parking situation on MTC’s Beltline campus is having a negative effect on students getting to class, and encouraging car pooling and ride sharing is an affordable and efficient fix to this problem. Main Points:These can be your topic sentences, but they don’t necessarily need to be expressed as one sentence at the beginning of each body paragraph. One way you can do this is to read your thesis and say “because” followed by a specific example as many times as you can think of.Example:

  • Because car pooling and ride sharing is easy to start as opposed to construction.
  • Because the college may be able to use their resources to negotiate fares and facilitate car pooling and ride sharing.
  • Because the college could charge ride share fares to tuition, making it easier to pay using financial aid.
  • Because car pooling and ride sharing saves students time.

  Specific Examples:Which specific examples from your sources will you use to illustrate your main points?Point 1:Example from source:Repeat on a separate sheet for all other points. Choose your strongest points to use in the draft from here.Additional Planning:Based on your audience, how much background or context should you provide about your topic? Are they likely or unlikely to have a lot of knowledge about the topic? Do you need to summarize anything? Do you need to provide historical or cultural context? Jot down any context you need to provide here.Use these notes as you draft your essay. Remember, it’s OK to change things! It will be up to you to decide how to arrange and organize your argument, where to present your specific evidence, etc.

  Promotional Item
  Assignment: Re-compose your original message in a print campaign with advertisements or a brochure. Be creative and effective at getting your message across, using the genre conventions of advertising. Please follow the parameters outlined in the options below. Also, your project must be in a commonly used format such as a PDF, jpeg, or document file. If your project does not open on my computer (such as a Publisher file), you will not receive credit for it

• Create two ads for a newspaper, magazine, or website directed at two different audiences (i.e., one for faculty and one for students) OR
• Create one brochure that explains your proposal in specific detail
  • Include images in addition to text. Avoid clip art. Stock images are OK, but credit the source of any image that is not your own
  • Projects that include original artwork will be graded VERY favorably. This includes drawings, photos taken by you, or your own digital illustrations
  • Possible programs for creating: Word, InDesign, and other layout software. Hand drawings are OK, but they must be in color and they must be scanned for dropbox submission

Approach

• Visual messages are often indirect: don’t feel like you need to directly state the thesis or topic sentences you may crafted in your essay; instead make your point through visual elements and witty captions
• Choose photos that work well with each other so that the style of the essay feels uniform throughout. You might achieve this by taking your own photos specifically for this project, limiting the number of outside photo sources to one or two, and/or choosing a font and background style that tie the photos together
• Keep in mind that print ads use little copy (words)

Annotated Bibliography

Submit a complete works cited in MLA format for your proposal essay. In addition, for each of the sources you want to use in your essay provide a summary and evaluation of the source.

Recall that summary means taking a source and explaining it from beginning to end in your own words. Remember the strategies we discussed in class for summarizing without plagiarizing. First, you should be confident that you understand what the source is saying. If you don’t, use the active reading and annotating strategies we discussed at the beginning of the semester. Then, without looking at the source, summarize it in your own words. Compare to the original to check for any gaps or plagiarism (and remember that avoiding plagiarism means altering the wording and the structure of the original source).

Your evaluation should demonstrate that you understand the following criteria for evaluating a source:

• Genre: What genre is the source (academic journal article, newspaper article, magazine article, column, op-ed, etc.)? How do you know?
• Authorship/Publishing Organization: Who is the author and publisher of the source? Why are they a credible source of information about this topic? What is the writer’s purpose? What do they want the audience to do with this information? Be specific.
• Currency: When was the article published? Has anything about your topic changed since the article was published? Why or how so?
• Relevance: How relevant is this article to your topic? What questions does it help you answer?
• Currency: Where does this information fit within the overall timeline of the topic? How much have things said in the source changed since it was published?
• Use of sources: Does the writer use sources? What types of sources are used? How does the writer give credit to the sources she or he uses?

For each of these questions, be as specific as possible. Be sure to use specific examples, including some quoting, to complete your evaluation.

Practice your MLA citation skills by providing parenthetical citation when quoting or paraphrasing.

Draft

Drafts for in class peer review should be complete (the number of pages asked for or close), structured (beginning, middle end, thesis, unified paragraphs, etc), have the required number of sources in the works cited and cited parenthetically, and be in MLA page setup.

Thesis
For this essay, you will write a proposal for a topic that you have chosen.

Make sure the topic you choose is of consequence. It should:

• Affect a number of people
• Require a creative solution
• Spark debate about the best solution

Make sure your essay accomplishes the following purposes:

• Establish the Problem: In other words, show evidence that this problem needs to be solved and can be solved.
• Provide Evidence from a Variety of Sources: Draw on internet and library sources, newspapers and magazines, as well as personal experience and anecdotes.
• Address Implementation Concerns: How will this proposal be implemented? Where will any money needed come from? Who is going to implement the plan, and how?
• Convince the Skeptics: What might someone who is skeptical of your proposal say? What can you do to address their concerns?

Your thesis should clearly state what you are proposing and why it is the most viable solution to the problem.

Also, your essay should have a specific audience that is a person or people.

Be sure to clearly establish the problem. In other words, show your audience why this is a problem they should care about. Lay out your proposed solution, and be sure to convince your audience that this solution can be implemented and how it can be implemented. What are the costs, personnel needs, etc.? Finally, how will you measure the success of your proposal?

Thesis Assignment Specifics

• Length: 4-5 pages double spaced in Times New Roman or Arial font
• Sources: Use parenthetical citation and a works cited page with no less than threesources. One of these sources must come from a book or academic journal.
• Format: Use MLA page setup and citation format