Niemczura ENG 2-001

Essay 3: Researched Argument
Issue Question (choose ONE):
• Is eating meat healthy?
• Does growing organic really matter?
• Should junk food be banned in public schools?
• Is the “food crisis” a real threat or simply a myth?
• Does modern technology in the food industry have an affect on health?
• Is killing animals for food morally okay?
• Should animals being raised for food have “rights”?
• Should food additives be banned?

—————————————————————————————————————————
Claim: The claim is the point you make about the topic. Within the controversy, you will need to
choose a position, stake a claim about it, and be able to defend that claim. It can be very helpful to begin
with a question, one that your research and writing will answer (or attempt to answer). Your thesis
statement may state your answer to that question and present a map of the structure of your argument, or it may simply present the question, which you will
answer as you progress through your essay. What type of claim are you presenting? Once you have chosen the Issue Question you will use for Essay 2, make
YOUR claim/take a stance about the issue question you have chosen(i.e. make the statement/thesis you will argue in your essay.

Research: Your research must come primarily from library databases. These include ProQuest, JStor, LexisNexis and other subject-specific databases that you
can find by looking at the list on the Post Library homepage. In addition to articles from these sources, you MUST include at least one book—either a physical
book from the stacks, or an electronic book from ebrary.

Counter-argument: Include and summarize fairly and accurately at least one opposing view, and then refute it.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Annotated Bibliography: You will compile a list of at least 10 sources that you have read and decided will be useful for your paper. These must be presented
in proper format: MLA style citation followed by a short paragraph that summarizes the source and describes how it will be used in your paper. (For example,
it might help you to back up an important point, provide statistics and information for background, support the counterargument, etc.)

Plagiarism: It is essential that you quote, paraphrase, and cite sources appropriately. Including information and ideas from sources and not citing them is
considered plagiarism. If you plagiarize, you will receive an F.

Style: MLA, including in-text citations and a Works Cited page. Refer to www.dianahacker.com/resdoc

Length: EIGHT TO NINE pages plus Works Cited page. (Times New Roman 12, 1-inch margins, double-spaced)

Sources: you MUST USE FOUR TO SIX (different) outside, scholarly, resources from your essay—these are directly from your Annotated Bibliography
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Possible Organization for essay 2:
The research paper must (1) explain and define the topic, (2) analyze the specific issues, and (3) persuade the reader with the weight of your evidence.

• Introduction (can be more than one paragraph):
Engage your reader with a summary of a news story that presents your topic
Provide BRIEF background information, but not details you will discuss
Explain the relevance of this topic. Why is it research worthy?
State thesis or directing question
• Offer necessary background information to your readers. What do they need to know in order to understand your
point of view?
• Present the details of your argument, incorporating authoritative evidence from your research with your own analysis.
• Make a case for your point of view.
• Present a counter-argument fairly, and refute it convincingly (This may be done more than once, and at other points in
your paper).
• Conclude:
Reaffirm your thesis statement.
Reach a decision or a judgment about the merits of the subject.
Discuss the implications of your findings.
Offer a plan of action or a proposal that will put your ideas into effect (if applicable).
Use the final paragraph, especially the final sentence, to bring the paper to closure. One possible method is to return to the story/topic that you refer
to in the introduction.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Need help?:
• www.dianahacker.com/resdoc, or
• the Writing Center (HM202, x2732)
• Ask a LIU: Post Librarian: http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/askalibrarian/index.htm (several types of help options)
• I am also available to answer question via email or during my office time:
(Tue/Thur 12-1pm, in office 217F) Niemczura ENG 2-18

Specifics for the assignment:

I: Your text is to use MLA formatting:
A) 12pt, Times New Roman font (FIVE POINTS will be deducted from your final draft grade if you do not follow this)
B) ONE INCH margins on ALL sides (FIVE POINTS will be deducted from your final draft grade if you do not follow this)
C) Double-spacing for the body of your text (FIVE POINTS will be deducted from your final draft grade if you do not follow this)

II: Your text is to be EIGHT to NINE pages in length, which means your text must be AT LEAST EIGHT FULL pages, but can be as long as
NINE pages. When your final draft is graded, FIVE POINTS will be deducted if you do completely fill at least EIGHT pages.

III: Your text must include a correctly formatted HEADER in the HEADER portion of the document—you MUST format the text so that your
name and page number is correctly formatted into the proper area of EVERY page. (FIVE POINTS will be deducted from your final draft
grade if you do not follow this)

IV: Your text is to have a correct MLA Cover Page. All text, including the text on your cover page, MUST be 12pt TNR font
(FIVE POINTS will be deducted from your final draft grade if you do not follow this).
A how-to guide for creating your cover page:

Location: 1/2 – 1/3 down page
(give each bullet-point, listed below, its own line):
• Essay and Draft info (e.g. E3D1)
• Creative Title: Formal Title (e.g. “You Are What You Eat, But What Did I Just Eat?: A
Researched Argument In Favor Of Banning Food Preservatives)
• by,
• your name
Location: last 3 lines of cover page
(give each bullet-point, listed below, its own line):
• Professor’s Name (Professor Niemczura)
• Your Class/Section (ENG 2-18)
• Date of draft

V: You must use MLA in-text citations immediately following any direct quotes and/or paraphrases in your text. For specifics about MLA
citation, use any up-to-date MLA citation resource you have/can get, and/or use a correct and up-to-date web resource, such as
www.dianahacker.com/resdoc
MLA in-text citation is factored into the overall grade of essay 2, be sure you correctly cite everything and look-up/ask any questions you may
have!

VI: Your text is to include a correct (on a separate attached page) and complete MLA Works Cited page for the text used for the assignment.
For specifics about MLA Works Cited page, use the suggested resources from Part V. Be sure ALL texts you have used in your essay 2 are on
your Works Cited page, and that you look-up/ask any questions you may have!
When your final draft is graded, up to FIVE POINTS will be deducted, depending on the mistakes/amount of errors, your Works Cited page
contains. If you do include a Works Cited page, you will AUTOMATICALLY loose 5 points from your overall grade for essay 2.
Niemczura ENG 2-001

IMPORTANT DATES

• Tuesday 6/3/14:
• topics/assignment for E3 discussed.
• Discuss Annotated Bibliographies

• Wednesday 6/4/14: IN LIBRARY
• DUE: submission of the topic you have chosen (from list) for Essay 3
• in Library intro to LIU databases, researching, finding sources for E3/ A.B.

• Thursday 6/5/14:
• DUE: first FIVE Annotated Bibliography entries (bring PAPER and USB copies/versions) — ABD1
• Workshopping ABD1(first five entries)
• Submit newly revised/workshopped ABD2 (first five entries) via USB

• Monday 6/9/14:
• DUE: AB part 1 Final (USB)

• Thursday 6/12/14:
• DUE: E3D1 (USB)
• Feedback will be provided in the comment feature of the text document and sent back to students via an email attachment.
Feedback will be sent back to students 6/13/14-6/15/14 via email attachment.
Students should:
– save the draft in the writing portfolios (USB)
– use the feedback to create a revised draft for the upcoming in-class workshopping on 6/16

• Thursday 6/16/14: IN LIBRARY
Part 1: in Library finding more (specific) resources for E2 and AB (next 5 entries) – need a total of TEN A.B. entries at end of project
Part 2: DUE: E3D2, bring PAPER and USB copies/versions – WORKSHOPPING E3D2 –
student must have paper and USB copies of his/her E3, to be able participate in workshopping, and to be counted as present/prepared f
or class.

• Tuesday 6/17/14:
• DUE: AB part 2, D2, bring PAPER and USB copies/versions – WORKSHOPPING–
student must have paper and USB copies of his/her AB part 2, D2, to be able participate in workshopping, and to be counted as present/prepared for
class.

• Wednesday 6/18/14:
• DUE: A.B. Final Version (must have a total of TEN entries) , and ALL previous drafts,
including ones with comments, must be present
• DUE: Final draft of Essay 3, with Works Cited (paper and USB)
• DUE: FINAL PORTFOLIO:
Mandatory items in your final portfolio:
> Essay 1: first (with comments) & final draft (with the Works Cited)
> Essay 2: first (with comments) & final draft (with the Works Cited)
> Essay 3: first (with comments) & final draft (with the Works Cited)
> Complete Annotated Bibliography for essay 2 (TEN entries total)

Late submissions of ANY DRAFT will cause the FINAL DRAFT GRADE to lose TEN points for EVERY DAY that the draft was/is LATE.

Niemczura ENG 2-18
Annotated Bibliographies
Welcome to the Purdue OWL — This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue
(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice at bottom.

Contributors: Dana Bisignani, Allen Brizee.

Summary: This handout provides information about annotated bibliographies in MLA, APA, and CMS.

Definitions:
• A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for
researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called “references” or “works cited” depending on the style
format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title,
publisher, etc.).
• An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.

Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your
annotations may do one or more of the following:

Summarize: Some summarization of the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone
asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.

Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the
information reliable? Is this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

Reflect: Once you’ve summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you
shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?Your annotated bibliography may
include some of these, all of these, or even others. If you’re doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.

Format
• The bibliographic information: is to be written in MLA format.
• The annotations: The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from a couple of
sentences to a couple of pages. . For ENG E2, your entries should be approximately ONE FULL page PER text.You can focus your annotations for your own
needs. A few sentences of general summary followed by several sentences of how you can fit the work into your larger paper or project can serve you well
when you go to draft.

Why should I write an annotated bibliography?
To learn about your topic: Writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. Just collecting sources for a bibliography is useful,
but when you have to write annotations for each source, you’re forced to read each source more carefully. You begin to read more critically instead of just
collecting information. At the professional level, annotated bibliographies allow you to see what has been done in the literature and where your own research or
scholarship can fit. To help you formulate a thesis: Every good research paper is an argument. The purpose of research is to state and support a thesis. So a very
important part of research is developing a thesis that is debatable, interesting, and current. Writing an annotated bibliography can help you gain a good
perspective on what is being said about your topic. By reading and responding to a variety of sources on a topic, you’ll start to see what the issues are, what
people are arguing about, and you’ll then be able to develop your own point of view.
To help other researchers: Extensive and scholarly annotated bibliographies are sometimes published. They provide a comprehensive overview of everything
important that has been and is being said about that topic. You may not ever get your annotated bibliography published, but as a researcher, you might want to
look for one that has been published about your topic.