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).