Explore the discourse your topic leads you to, describing the issues at stake and what ideas about your topic exist in the research.

Learning Goal: I’m working on a english writing question and need a sample draft to help me learn.

Your instructor would like you to follow MLA style guidelines for this assignment.

Build on your last essay, write an essay in which you enter a discourse (an ongoing conversation) on a topic and make an argument. To research effectively, you’ll need to do the following:

Narrow your topic sufficiently to make the research manageable.
Research your topic thoroughly. Find appropriate sources through library or online research (see the section Finding Sources) or conduct your own primary research (see the section Performing Your Own Primary Research).
Evaluate your sources to determine if they are credible, relevant, and appropriate to your argument. (See the section Evaluating Sources.)
Take good, thorough notes that you can organize later to form the outline of your paper.
Be sure to mark which ideas are your sources’ and which are yours during this process (see the section Taking Notes).

When writing your essay, build your argument according to the strategies discussed in Chapter 6.

In using sources, be sure to adequately introduce and describe the discourse you’re entering: What are people saying about your topic? What “sides” or approaches are there, and who takes them? How will you contribute to the conversation? Support your argument with evidence from your research, making sure to summarize, paraphrase, and quote effectively and ethically, citing your source in the appropriate format (see the section Documentation). Address counterpositions and counterarguments you find in your sources to show you are aware of the various strains in the discourse, but be sure to return to and support your own argument and claims to persuade your audience of your thesis.

Explore the discourse your topic leads you to, describing the issues at stake and what ideas about your topic exist in the research. Develop your thesis by making a strong claim, then support your thesis with strong body paragraphs that have clear ideas expressed in topic sentences and supported by evidence.

Answer preview for Explore the discourse your topic leads you to, describing the issues at stake and what ideas about your topic exist in the research.

813 Words