Assignment 8

<subject is death penalty>

Writing an Argument for Change

Assignment Instructions

The academic essay in this unit will be a written, cohesive argument for the change in your community you have written about throughout the course. The assignment should be a persuasive academic essay in which you will provide reliable evidence from at least four sources to support the argument for change you are advocating. You will also need to address a rival perspective, counterargument, or misconception about your topic within the essay and a response to it, as the ability to do so is a key component of a strong argument. Essentially, the essay will reflect what you have learned about writing effectively, using research, and creating a logical argument to influence an audience.

The essay should be cohesive and utilize effective transitions between and within paragraphs. Paragraphs should exhibit the Four Cs of effective writing as described in this podcast. A formal tone should be used for most of the essay (e.g., stay in third-person voice, avoid slang, etc.). As an option, you may use first-person pronouns in one paragraph of the essay if you would like to incorporate a piece of personal experience.

Requirements

Your persuasive essay must be a minimum of 3 pages, not including the title and reference pages, and should include the following elements:

Title page: Provide your name, title of assignment, course and section number, and date.

Body:

Introduction paragraph that establishes the issue

A persuasive thesis statement at the end of the introduction

Well-developed paragraphs that address each of your three thesis points

Evidence from sources to support your argument for specific change in your community

A rival perspective, challenge, or misconception and a response to it

A conclusion paragraph that brings the essay to an effective close

Please be sure that you use effective transitions between and within paragraphs.

Reference page: Sources listed in current APA format with at least four credible sources appropriate for academic research that is cited in-text and on your references page. All cited sources need to have full citations on a references page (except for any interviews you conduct, which only require in-text citations).

Formatting: Current APA formatting for the document, including an appropriately formatted title page and references page.

Additional Requirements:

Paragraph transitions: The essay should be a cohesive piece of writing that utilizes effective transitions between and within paragraphs.

Four Cs: Paragraphs should exhibit the Four Cs of effective writing as described in this podcast.

Tone: A formal tone should be used for most of the essay (e.g., stay in third-person voice, avoid slang, etc.). As an option, you may use first-person pronouns in one paragraph of the essay if you would like to incorporate a piece of personal experience.

Submit your essay to the Unit 8 Dropbox in a Microsoft Word document or a PDF.

If you want feedback on a draft version of your persuasive essay, contact the Writing Center for tutoring services. You can find further information about the available services here: Writing Center Tutoring.

A special feature is available to help you with reviewing your Unit 8 Assignment for plagiarism. When you submit your assignment to the Unit 8 Dropbox, it will automatically be analyzed by the plagiarism detection tool Turnitin. (Note: Turnitin also provides a report on AI usage, but currently, only faculty have access to this report). Soon after you submit your assignment, you will be able to view the Turnitin Similarity Report. If you see highlighted passages that indicate matches to sources, make sure they are properly cited and quoted or, even better, revise and paraphrase them in your own words. This process ensures academic integrity and will help you avoid unintentional plagiarism. For more on accessing and interpreting the reports, review Using Turnitin: How to Use Turnitin Reports to Help Prevent Plagiarism.