Research & Planning Packet for Informational Article

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English composition I

Writing Assignment Rubic I Foundational Materials of an Informational Article

About this Assignment

In this first assignment, you will practice the core skills of academic research and expository writing by developing the foundational materials for a publishable informational article.

Course Learning Outcomes

The following course learning outcomes are assessed in this assignment:

• Perform the key steps in the writing process, including brainstorming, researching, outlining, drafting, and revising.
• Produce the components of an effective essay, including thesis statements, supporting arguments, structured paragraphs, and citations.
• Use and cite credible sources relevant to a topic using proper formatting.

Related Lessons

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Prompt

For this assignment, select a local and/or contemporary issue affecting your community, region, or state that has public relevance and sufficient credible information available. Examples may include housing affordability, food insecurity, transportation challenges, environmental risks, or another researchable public concern.

Your ultimate goal will be to write a newspaper-style informational article that explains the issue, why it matters, and what solutions have been proposed. For this assignment, you will not draft the full article. Instead, you will complete a research and planning packet that prepares you to write an evidence-based article for a general audience.

Your task in this assignment is to gather information, evaluate sources, and plan an informative, evidence-based article that could be submitted to a local newspaper or nonprofit newsletter.

Required Components

1. Issue & Audience Snapshot (200-250 words)

Describe the issue you chose and explain:

• Why it matters to your local area or community
• What prompted you to explore it
• Who the audience for your article is
• What you want readers of your future article to take away and how you will tailor your article to them

2. Working Thesis

Provide the following:

• Your exact working thesis statement, presenting the central claim or explanation your article will develop.

3. Article Outline (250-350 words)

Provide the following:

• An outline showing the planned structure of your article and the evidence for your arguments.

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4. Source Evaluation (200-300 words)

Format this section similar to an . Include a list of each of your sources in MLA format, and for each of your three sources, discuss:

• Why you selected the source
• How you determined the source was credible
• How the source contributes to your understanding of the issue
• How you plan to use the information in your future article

At least one source should address solutions or policy recommendations related to your chosen issue.

This planning packet will serve as the foundation for Assignment 2: Informational Article Rough Draft

Formatting & Sources

Please write your paper in the MLA format. You may refer to the course material for supporting evidence, but you must also use at least three external sources and cite them using MLA format. Please include a mix of both primary and secondary sources, with at least one source from a scholarly publication. If you use any Study.com lessons as sources, please also cite them in MLA (including the lesson title and instructor’s name).

• Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews, advertisements, speeches, company documents, statements, and press releases documented or published at the time of an event.
• Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals, such The Journal of Agricultural Science. You may use sources like JSTOR, Google Scholar, a Gale to find articles from these journals. Secondary sources may also come from reputable websites with .gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not a reputable source, though the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)