Opinion Essay Assignment Guidelines
Objective:
Select one of the three available articles in the module Unit 2: Opinion Essay on Blackboard in the folder titled Readings for Opinion Essay. Read, summarize, and respond to one of the three articles. For this essay, your overarching goal is to enter into a conversation. In order to achieve this, you have to have an audience in mind. Picture the author of the article is sitting in front of you. What questions would you ask him or her? \\Now if you were talking to a student in your class about your conversation with the author, what would you say to the student? Once you have written your essay, develop a compelling and persuasive thesis to put at the end of the essay’s introduction. Use the source to prove your thesis. The direction the essay will take will be entirely up to you, but you must work to select a thesis that is the right size and scope for the project guidelines.
Your essay should start from a place of questioning rather than a desire to prove something you already know. You must select a question that you are sincerely curious about and use that curiosity to motivate your writing.
Your essay should demonstrate thorough understanding of the article and its significance. You will need to select an audience that is appropriate for your subject and thesis, and use language and sources to persuade that specific audience to accept your thesis.
Content/Organization Requirements:
Your First Complete Draft needs to be between 3-5 pages, with a Works Cited page, to receive credit.
Your paper must be no more than 25% source material; that means that 75% of the essay must be your own words and ideas. If you treat the article with one paragraph of summary and the rest of the essay as response, you should easily meet this expectation. The remainder of the essay should be about the topic the article addresses. You do not have to agree with the article, but if you do not, be prepared to defend your ideas.
This paper will be written following MLA style guidelines. Review the rubric before submitting the essay and give yourself a grade in each category.