The Position Argument

    ENGL 103 Project Four: The Position Argument
    Due Dates
    • Rough Draft: Dec. 2 (digital copy – worth 5% towards your project grade)
    • Editing Draft: Dec. 6 (print copy – worth 5% towards your project grade)
    • Final Draft: Dec. 10 (submit to my Blackboard e-mail account and www.turnitin.com)
    Length: 5 pages (5 sources, two of which must be scholarly)
    Grade Value: 25% (of overall course grade)
    Project Overview and Topics
    According to James and Stuart Rachels, we generally believe that “good social practices benefit
    people” and therefore should be maintained and “bad social practices harm people” and thus must
    be changed or replaced (144). For your final project for ENGL 103, you will select a current practice
    or policy and take a position on it, ultimately deciding if it should be supported or rejected.
    Which practice or policy will you write about, then? That is entirely up to you. Choose something
    you feel passionate about and want to explore further in your writing. If you are not sure about a
    topic, consult the list below, which includes several key issues that lawmakers, doctors, educators,
    philosophers, and other stakeholders (i.e., people affected by such issues) are currently debating.
    o Should all animals have rights, and if so, what should those rights
    be?
    o Is it ethical to raise animals for food?
    o Should animals be used for testing new medicines? For testing new
    consumer products like cosmetics, perfumes, or shampoos?
    o Should euthanasia (physician-assisted suicide) be legal in all fifty
    states? (Currently, it is legal in fewer than five.)
    o Should people be allowed to choose death if they are suffering?
    o Same-sex marriage is already legally recognized in several states.
    Should we simply pass a federal mandate allowing same-sex marriage in all fifty states?
    o Should racist organizations like the Klu Klux Klan be allowed to spread their hate-filled
    doctrines, even if they do so peacefully?
    o Should creationism be taught alongside Darwinism in high school science classes?
    o Should every student have a right to a college education?
    o Should middle and high school students be allowed to criticize their
    teachers, principals, and/or classmates in public forums and online?
    o Should profanity be permitted in the college classroom?
    o Do we have the right to be fat?

    o Do we have a moral responsibility to prevent American children from
    becoming obese?
    o Should parents of obese children be held legally accountable and even
    charged with child endangerment?
    o Should advertising for fattening foods be restricted to curb the obesity
    epidemic?
    o Should soda or fast food be taxed?
    o Should comedians and other public speakers be fined for making racist or sexist jokes?
    Project Components
    To receive maximum points, your position argument must include the following:
    1.) Title: Give your paper a catchy title.
    2.) Opening (1-2 paragraphs): Begin your paper with something startling to grab readers’
    attention. For a paper about animal rights, for instance, you might describe the cramped living
    conditions of livestock.
    3.) Overview (1-2 paragraphs): Give a brief description of your chosen policy or practice and the
    controversy behind it. Try not to overwhelm your readers with too many details at this point.
    Just provide readers with enough information to orient them to your topic.
    4.) Thesis (2-3 sentences): Towards the end of your overview, introduce your position on this
    policy or practice. Should it be supported or rejected (or perhaps changed or used only in
    certain situations)? State your position and, in a sentence or two, explain why you take this
    position.
    5.) Background (1-2 paragraphs): Provide more specific information about the policy or practice.
    When was the policy or practice introduced? When did it become controversial, and why? What
    is the policy or practice’s current status?
    6.) Opposing Views (2-3 paragraphs): Before discussing your position on this policy or practice,
    first summarize others’ views on it, particularly views which oppose your own. Acknowledge
    the fairness and credibility of these opposing views.
    7.) Your Views (3-4 paragraphs): Give several reasons for your position on this policy or practice
    and support each reason. Show readers why your position is reasonable and would be
    beneficial to anyone who might be affected by this policy or practice.
    8.) Conclusion (1-2 paragraphs): Make your final recommendations to readers regarding this
    policy or practice. Ultimately, should it be adopted? Rejected? Changed? Accepted under certain
    conditions?
    9.) Works Cited Page: On a separate page, write the Works Cited entry for each source cited in
    your position argument. Your source entries should be formatted according to MLA
    specifications. (See The Little, Brown Essential Handbook, pp. 157-199, for citation guidelines for
    various kinds of sources.)
    Additional Criteria
    Your overall project must also meet these criteria to receive maximum points:
    1.) Source Requirements: You must use a minimum of five sources for your position argument,
    two of which must be scholarly.
    2.) Source Use: Your final draft must include at least one example of each of the following:
    a. A direct quote from a source
    b. A blended quote from a source
    c. A paraphrase from a source
    d. A block quote from a source
    e. A summary from a source
    3.) Source Synthesis: When you synthesize sources, you use information from at least two
    different sources to develop a single idea; you also show how the information from one source
    relates to the information from the other source. You must demonstrate source synthesis at
    least two times in your paper.
    4.) Tone: Your tone can be personable but not informal. Think of the tone of a reputable magazine
    or newspaper article: informative, fair, and polite. This is what your tone should be for this
    assignment.
    5.) Coherence and Transitions: Lead your readers from one sentence, paragraph or section to the
    next, with each idea building upon and/or relating to the one preceding it. Caution: Don’t go
    overboard with simple transitional words and phrases like “however” or “by contrast.” You can
    use these expressions once in a while, but starting every sentence with them gets old very fast.
    Try more sophisticated transitions to connect points. For instance, when introducing a
    contrasting point, instead of “however,” use a phrase or sentence showing how the two ideas
    contrast: “Although the author makes a compelling case for the need for anti-obesity PSAs, he
    fails to… ”
    6.) Word Choice and Sentence Variety: Your paper should demonstrate a sophisticated
    vocabulary and a wide variety of sentence patterns and lengths.
    7.) Length and Format: Your final draft should be at least five pages, typed and double-spaced,
    and formatted to MLA specifications. (Refer to The Little, Brown Essential Handbook, pp. 198-
    199, for a model.)
    8.) Grammar/Mechanics: The final draft must be error-free. Microsoft’s Grammar and
    Spellchecker won’t catch everything, so carefully proofread your work. Read it out loud very
    slowly to yourself several times before submitting it.
    Final Note
    Remember that I am here to help you at all times. Feel free to talk to me in and outside of class, or email
    me at [email protected] or on my Blackboard account if you have any questions or
    difficulties regarding this assignment.
    Source Use and Synthesis
    For your position argument, you must use a minimum of five sources, two of which must be
    scholarly. Your final draft must include at least one example of each of the following: (1) a direct
    quote from a source, (2) a blended quote from a source, (3) a block quote from a source, (4) a
    paraphrase idea from a source, and (5) a summary. Your final draft must also include at least two
    examples of source synthesis.
    Explanations of these requirements follow.
    A direct quote is a sentence-length quote, copied word for word, from the original source. To
    present a direct quote in your paper,
    o Introduce the direct quote with a signal phrase like, “According to __________, author of
    __________,” or “A recent report published in _____________ indicates that______________.”
    o Put quotation marks around the direct quote. Place a citation (if one is required)
    immediately after the quote and before the end punctuation.
    Example: According to health journalist Jennifer Pirtle, “eating disorders affect between 5 million
    and 10 million young women in the United States” (96).
    A blended quote is a phrase-length quote, copied word for word, from the original source and
    placed in the middle of a sentence. To present a blended quote in your paper,
    o Place the blended quote in the middle of a sentence.
    o Put quotation marks around the quote and place the citation (if required) immediately after
    it.

    Example: Walter Kaye, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center,
    studied several hundred female patients diagnosed with eating disorders and found that many of
    them had “unusually high levels of serotonin” (Pirtle 96), which is the chemical responsible for
    mood regulation and feelings of happiness and contentment (Pirtle 96-7).
    A block quote is a passage-length quote, five lines or longer, copied word for word, from a source.
    To present a block quote in your paper,
    o Introduce the block quote with a full sentence, followed by a colon.
    o Then indent each line of the block quote two tabs (or one inch). Do NOT put quotation
    marks around the block quote.
    o Place the citation at the end of the quote and after the period.
    Example: Psychology researchers Cybele Ribeiro Espíndola and Sergio Luís Blay explain that
    distorted body image is strongly associated with excessive dieting and exercise:
    Body image occurs when image can be understood as a mental portrait the person
    has of himself or herself, based on recent experiences, existence and present
    stimulations and future expectations. In anorexia nervosa, there is a failure in
    proper perception of body size or part proportions, with body parts seen as either
    larger or more voluminous than they really are. Subjects’ resolute wish to continue
    to get thinner despite all opposing opinions is outstanding. (74)
    In other words, when viewers compare their own body images to air-brushed and digitally
    enhanced photographs of celebrity women, they often feel inadequate.
    A paraphrased idea is a restatement of a source’s ideas in your own words. The original source’s
    sentence structure and language must be completely changed; otherwise, you risk committing
    plagiarism. To present a paraphrased idea in your paper,
    o Indicate which source you are paraphrasing and place a source citation after the
    paraphrase.
    o Do not put quotation marks around the paraphrase.
    Example:
    o Original quote: “Young women diagnosed with anorexia report feelings of depression and
    contemplate scenarios involving self-mutilation and suicide” (Pirtle 96).
    o Paraphrase: Many patients also suffer from mild to severe depression and/or have suicidal
    thoughts (Pirtle 96).
    A summary is a condensed statement (usually one sentence) written in your own words of a longer
    passage’s ideas. To present a summary in your paper,
    o Indicate which source you are summarizing and place a source citation after the summary.
    o If you are summarizing several pages’ worth of material, put the page range in the citation
    as well.
    Example: According to health journalist Jennifer Pirtle, serotonin levels usually rise when a person
    eats, but patients with high levels of serotonin experience feelings of happiness and contentment
    from not eating (96-7).
    Synthesis is the use of information from at least two different sources to develop a single idea. You
    must also show how the information from one source relates to the information from the other
    source. Typically, sources either agree or disagree with or elaborate on each other’s views.
    o Agreement: Author B supports, concurs with, agrees with, or adopts a view similar to that of
    Author A.
    o Disagreement: Author B contradicts, disagrees with, or challenges the claims of Author A.
    o Elaboration: Author B elaborates on, illustrates, expands on, or further develops the claims of
    Author A.
    Example: Manley et al. observe that eating disorders “signal the distress the individual is
    experiencing and function as coping mechanisms” (229). The findings of clinical nursing specialists
    Beverley Murphy and Yvonne Manning support Manley et al.’s assertion that anorexic patients
    restrict what they eat and how much they weigh to gain some sense of control over their lives.
    Example: According to health journalist Jennifer Pirtle, “eating disorders affect between 5 million
    and 10 million young women in the United States” (96). Of these millions of sufferers, “at least
    50,000 individuals will die” (Pirtle 96), and hundreds of thousands of others will experience longlasting
    and severe physical and psychological side effects. Psychologist A. Crisp, author of Let Me Be,
    confirms Pirtle’s findings, noting that “12 to 20 percent of patients with the illness die” (qtd. in
    Murphy and Manning 45).

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