Is The Drinking Age Appropriate?

ARGUMENTATIVE/PERSUASIVE TOPIC IDEAS AND SAMPLE OUTLINES AND THESIS STATEMENTS This document contains the following materials: 1. Organizing and Writing the Research Paper 2. Argumentative/Persuasive Paper Definition 3. Structure of Argumentative Paper with Sample Outlines and Thesis Statements 4. Concession Paragraph Defined and Examples TOPICS USED FOR SAMPLES: 1. Euthanasia 2. Discrimination Against Women in Employment 3. Racial Profiling 4. Marrying Young 5. Child and Spousal Abuse 6. Human Trafficking 7. Discrimination Against Minorities in Housing and Retail Markets 8. Prison Sentences PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO BE SURE YOU SEE ALL ELEMENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT. IT IS 13 PAGES IN LENGTH, AND IT IS BROKEN INTO COMPONENTS. WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PAPER PLANNING: 1. Choose your topic. You do not have to have three supporting ideas, but that number works well for most paper topics. Three causes Three effects or results Three problems Three groups of people affected or involved Three solutions Three treatments Three theories 2. Make sure you will have enough information. Look at CQ RESEARCHER DATABASE. Choose a CQ topic. 3. Write a thesis. It should have both a topic and it should state your three supporting ideas. 4. Plan the supporting ideas. Create a topic sentence for each of your ideas; every sentence must support the thesis. Remember too that paragraphs must focus on a single idea that is stated in the topic sentence. 5. Organize your research paper the same way you organize an essay. Instead of writing one paragraph about each supporting point, write several. Consider your ideas as UNITS instead of paragraphs. WRITING YOUR DRAFT: Introduction Begin with a story, an interesting quotation, a surprising fact, a question, or a startling statement. Provide background. Quote one or two impressive sources to convince readers that your issue is important. Write two introductory paragraphs if you have a great deal of background. End with your thesis (topic + position). You can add more background in a paragraph after the thesis if you wish. Body Paragraphs Begin the next paragraph with your first supporting idea (topic sentence). Narrow the supporting idea to a subpoint in the next sentence. Develop that subpoint with at least one example and one quotation from an expert. Begin the next paragraph with a topic sentence about another subpoint related to your supporting idea. You could develop that subpoint with at least one example and one quotation from an expert. If necessary, write one or more additional paragraphs about subpoints related to the supporting idea. Every paragraph could have at least one example and one quotation from an expert. Now go on to your next supporting idea. Begin the next paragraph with your first supporting idea (topic sentence). Narrow the supporting idea to a subpoint in the next sentence. Develop that subpoint with at least one example and one quotation from an expert. Keep following the same procedure, adding more subpoints until you’re finished with the second supporting idea. Then do the same with your final, climactic (most important) supporting idea. Conclusion Wrap up your research paper with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis, summarizes your main points, and links your topic with the future. DOCUMENTATION Check your handbook to make sure the MLA references in your text, and the Works Cited page at the end, are formatted correctly. CHECK YOUR WORK You are you final editor and are responsible for any errors in your paper. Seeing a tutor may help you understand how to improve your work, but it is you who ultimately must decide whether your paper is well written and properly documented. RESOURCES: Smarthinking TLCC Tutor Professor Librarian Library HOW-TO-CITE MLA rules ARGUMENTATIVE/PERSUASIVE PAPERS A successful argumentative/persuasive paper includes a clear position on the topic and frequent use of persuasive terms. If your position is unclear, or if you equivocate, you will be unsuccessful in swaying your readers. An argumentative paper will not present both sides equally or present both sides without suggesting one is better than the other. EXAMPLES OF PERSUASIVE TERMS: Effective Ineffective Essential Requires Change Useful SuccessfulUnsuccessful Unacceptable Necessary Cruel Inhumane Intolerable All of these terms suggest opinion, and making statements using these types of “position” terms means you would be required to support the contention you make using data from outside sources. This means your opinion would have been formulated from your studies as opposed to just a personal opinion. You can find many, many more terms Your instructor may limit the topics for your research projects, and you would want to make sure you adhere to the assignment restrictions. However, if your assignment is general in nature but requires the paper to take a position, the topic choices are so numerous. Here are some ideas: DISCRIMINATION 1. Women in the Workplace 2. Inequity in Prison Sentences (minority, race, gender, age) 3. Homosexual Marriage 4. Homosexual Adoption 5. Women in the Military 6. Hiring Practices (minority, race, gender, age) 7. Racial Profiling 8. Custody of Children (fathers’ rights) 9. Euthanasia* MEDICINE 1. AIDS Medicine Experimentation 2. Animal Experimentation for Medicinal Research 3. Stem Cell Research 4. Euthanasia* 5. Medicinal Assistance for Indigent ETHICS1. Euthanasia* 2. Stem Cell Research 3. Homelessness *Notice EUTHANASIA appears in all three options. Hopefully, this will help you see how you can man For most topics, you can use any of these outlines and merely change some of the terms. ALL topics will need the first section to identify the topic/issue. You cannot argue for change until you explain the current status. THEREFORE, even argumentative papers include elements that are informative. For each of the topics listed, you should follow the structure identified for the first topic: • Introduction • Concession (see samples at end of this document) • Body • Conclusion STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENTATIVE PAPER WITH SAMPLE OUTLINES AND THESIS STATEMENTS DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE Introduction: Attention-getter Background Thesis: Though some improvement can be noted, women continue to face discrimination in the workplace with regard to hiring, salaries, and promotions, and such discrimination is not acceptable. Concession paragraph: Identify ways opportunities for women have improved. Note areas of controversy with regard to your view. Include quotations, if relevant. End with a statement that moves back to your side. Example for ending: These concerns are valid, but slight areas of improvement should not prevent the effort to eliminate all discrimination against women in employment. Idea 1: Hiring Idea 2: Salaries Idea 3: Promotions Conclusion: For the lie paper: Write an essay reflecting what you believe to be true about the ideas listed above. Then go through your sources and look for support for what you have suggested. Enter those sources into your essay as support for your claims. (If you don’t know about this “type” of assignment, or if your instructor doesn’t use this method, disregard this portion). age one topic for many assignments. Therefore, if you are interested in a topic, do not disregard it as an option because it does not appear to “fit” into the assignment. Consider how you can make it fit the assignment. Any of the topics listed here could be argued from either position: in favor of or opposed to the issue being a problem. EUTHENASIA/Discrimination Working Thesis: The use of euthanasia in the United States reflects discrimination because it is not legal in all states, and absence of euthanasia as an option for terminally ill patients creates unnecessary pain, financial burdens, and emotional strife. This topic choice would require the writer to compare how euthanasia is available in some states but not others, thereby highlighting discriminatory practices. Also, the writer would need to demonstrate how that discrimination causes the pain, financial burden, and emotional strife to the patient and the patient’s family. EUTHENASIA/Medicine Working Thesis: Euthanasia should be available to all terminally-ill patients wishing to make use of the option, and physicians must be present in monitoring the procedure to be sure it is performed humanely, safely, and successfully whether it is active euthanasia or passive euthanasia. This topic choice would require the writer to focus on the role the doctor would play in the types of euthanasia available to the patient and would argue how the doctor would make the procedure safe, humane, and successful. EUTHANASIA/Ethics Working Thesis: Though euthanasia should be an option for terminally-ill patients, everyone should decide, while they are of stable mind, who should make the decision for the euthanasia, who will administer the euthanasia, and when the procedure should be administered. Working Thesis: Euthanasia should not be an option for terminally-ill patients because it places an unfair burden on family in determining if and when to allow the procedure and which type of euthanasia would be permitted. RACIAL PROFILING Working Thesis: Though the origins of profiling served as an aid to law enforcement, the current application of profiling creates discrimination by generating racial stereotypes and by using inaccurate data to target suspects. I. Origins of Profiling A. Sending out information based on gender, height, weight, age B. Sending out description of vehicle (where applicable) C. Sending out details of tattoos, accents II. False arrests are disproportionately made on men and especially minority men. A. Black men B. Hispanic men C. White men III. Routine traffic stops using profiling A. Types of vehicles stopped B. Searches conducted without probable cause (no alert issued about a specific crime) IV. What should be done? A. More extensive punishment assigned to law enforcement officers who use profiling in a discriminatory fashion B. Added limitations to profiling practices C. Restitution to those falsely arrested or stopped without cause