Description
Introduction: Making an argument—expressing a point of view on a subject and supporting it with evidence—is often the aim of academic writing, even if the word “argument” is never used. Many of your college instructors may assume that you know this and not explain the importance of an argumentative stance to you in class. However, in college, you will often be asked to do more than just present information that you have gathered or regurgitate facts that were discussed in class. You will need to select or construct a point of view and provide evidence to develop your own considered argument.
In a researched argument, you should examine scholarly articles that discuss a range of perspectives on contemporary issues being debated in various arenas, including academic disciplines. You should put scholarly articles into conversation with each other by drawing connections or pointing out disparities among and between them. As a new member of the academic community, you should find where your voice, perspective, and argument fit into the existing conversation. So, unlike a research report (a popular high school genre that summarizes or explains ideas), an Argumentative Researched Essay asks writers to interpret a wide spectrum of perspectives, and offer their own creative insights.
Through the earlier assignments in this class, you’ve been exploring a topic and working towards developing an argument that interests you. Now is the time to begin writing it up as an argumentative essay. A Researched Argument should include a specific, explicit argument that you support and develop with sources in order to persuade a reader.
Requirements:
The Researched Argument should build on the work you’ve done to this point.
You must integrate a variety of sources in your paper, four of which must be scholarly (published in a scholarly peer-reviewed journal or collected in an anthology of scholarly articles published by a university press). Use the sources to establish a thread of conversation. Join in that conversation. Most students will have a total of 6-12 sources for this paper. You may have more or less, but expect your reader to scrutinize your choices.
In the process of integrating the ideas of others into your writing, you must demonstrate that you are able to:
Balance between summary, paraphrase, and direct quotation
Show that you understand the correct way to paraphrase and quote directly
Follow the citation requirements of MLA or another documentation style
Avoid improper citation and plagiarism.
Your essay should have a clearly recognizable thesis-statement in the form of an argument that a reasonable person could disagree with. The “So what?” of your argument should be recognizable by the end. The best Researched Argument essays are ones that establish new and interesting ideas and propositions.
Your Researched Argument will be 8-10 pages with 1 inch margins. You will use a 12-point, Times New Roman font and double-space your text. You will adhere to stylistic formatting as agreed on with your instructor. MLA is the default style.
Form: The tone, register, and language should relate to the secondary audience for the piece, the research-conscious, academic community of Ohio University, and, for some of you, the extended audience you may seek to reach with publication or presentation.
Challenges: Everyone writing these will have research from the AB at their disposal. The challenge is putting the most relevant sources together in discussion and joining in that discussion, as well. This means thoughtful choices on what to include, synthesis in putting them in conversation with one another, and confidence to add your own voice. A reader should see you engaged with the sources.
