Assignment Paper

Teacher’s instructions:
Possible topics include, but are not limited to: drought, climate change, quarantines, helicopter parenting,
sleep deprivation, conspiracy theories, media coverage of disasters, wildfires, breastfeeding, etc. THEN, In
an argumentative essay, answer this question: What is one important change that should be made related
to your topic? Use specific examples that both support and complicate your choice, then argue why your
choice is important. Seek to convince your readers that you have reasonably and thoughtfully considered
and prepared your definition of your chosen action, your reason for rejecting other actions which you did
not choose, and your evidence for each. Prepare a “Humble thesis statement,” to help you plan and
implement your argument.
Instructions: For this assignment, I am again giving you the topic and the basic question that your argument
must address ( What one change should be made and why) Once again, however, you will notice that you
have significant work to do to define terms and set the parameters around the topic as you choose to room
to maneuver within that question: what counts as a change? What does “important” mean? What
conditions, circumstances, duties, and/or policies contribute to making this kind of change important? Asyou seek to narrow and manage this question for yourself, to gather relevant evidence, and to come up
with the best possible thesis, you will want to carefully consider Humble chapters, 3, 4, and 5.
Careful Consideration of Relevant Evidence: In addition to carefully and critically examining the action you
choose to examine, you must also carefully and critically consider relevant outside evidence. Use at least
two sources in addition to The Dreamers.
Thoughtful Decision: You will need to examine your own point of view and consider the information you
uncover in your chosen source(s). As you draft, you may realize that you have more work to do to define,
explain, and describe your chosen change.
Careful Presentation: Once you’ve made your decision, start drafting your essay. Be sure to safeguard any
handwritten work and to constantly save the writing you do on your computer. (This helps protect you from
inconsiderate sweeties, children, and pets, as well as from power outages and other catastrophes).
Make sure you perfectly understand the parameters of this assignment, including length requirement, due
dates, and format for drafts. Your draft will probably look like this:
1. The first paragraph introduces the question and your answer to that question.
2. The body of the essay consists of at least four sections:
a. A discussion of the problem
b. An overview and discussion of the factors that contribute to your chosen action being important
c. An introduction to your chosen source material and clear explanation for how it connects to your topic
and deepens your treatment of this topic
d. A description, explanation, and thoroughgoing defense of your decision for why your suggested change
is more important than other actions you could have chosen
3. A conclusion that makes sure your motivation and reasoning is clear and suggests what your chosen
audience should take away from this argument.
Hints:
• You can use sources from class readings and materials in addition to other sources you may find on your
own for this essay. This essay requires you to think through this question for yourself. You can’t find that
using Google. Don’t “compost” by finding all kinds of ideas about education reform out there and stuffing
them all into your essay; explain your choice for the most important change and argue for why it is
important using the best, most effective, most reasonable evidence you can muster. Cite all sources: create
a Works Cited page and use in-text citations (ITCs) in MLA format.
• Don’t just tell the story of your own experiences
• Even though you are using sources, you must still think through this question for yourself.
• Because it is your choice of which kind of action is more important, no one else can really argue that you
are wrong. You will have to be sure to take care of your readers in order to show how reasonable, credible,
and intelligent you have been in considering this question.Rules:
• Use the required essay format (MLA).
• Document all sources using MLA format.