Introduction To complete this assignment, which asks you to craft a reasonable, ethical argument on a controversial topic, you will need to draw upon all the skills you have developed and practiced this semester. This is your opportunity to showcase your improved thinking skills in a comprehensive final assignment.
The Assignment Choose a controversial, complex question to answer in an argument paper. You should choose a question that requires reasoned judgment to answer, not a question merely of fact or preference. (You may use facts to help you settle on a valid answer to the question.) Remember that a question of judgment has competing reasonable answersin other words, you should choose a controversial issue on which it is possible to have several, different reasonable solutions or answers.
From your main question, use the elements, standards, and relevant domains of thinking to generate related questions. This will help drive your thinking forward and allow you to think through the topic deeply and broadly.
Locate accurate, reliable, credible information and use it to decide on a reasonable, ethical answer to the complex question. Remember to check information for media bias, egocentric and sociocentric thinking, invalid assumptions, misuse of concepts, and logical fallacies. Remember to check your own reasoning for these irrational and unethical tendencies as well.
Openmindedly consider all relevant, valid perspectives as you make your decision on how to answer the question. Make sure you use concepts fairly and accurately, and be sure to check your own assumptions.
Craft your response to the complex question. In making your case, keep the intellectual standards in mind. Your thinking and writing should be clear, precise, accurate, relevant, appropriately deep and broad, logical, significant, and fair. Your answer to the complex question will become your thesis. Your paper will provide evidence to support your final conclusion on the topic.
Resources You may use library resources, including computer databases, books, Internet sites, and any other sources that are relevant and reliable. Be sure to check your sources for credibility. Check the campus library web page for more information on research.
Use MLA documentation style to cite and list your sources. Helpful websites on MLA:
MLA Formatting and Style Guide from the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
MLA Citation Guide from Cornell University
Assignment Length 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages.
Specifications
Acceptable Length: 3-4 pages
Formatting Requirements:
Doublespace
Use 12 point Times New Roman font
Place your name and page number at the top right of every page
To get a top score, your paper should:
Be focused on a complex question requiring reasoned judgment
Offer a reasonable, logical, and ethical answer to the question supported thoroughly by credible, relevant, and significant evidence/information
Consider alternative relevant (opposing) viewpoints; respond to those viewpoints with intellectual empathy, humility, and integrity
Be clearly, precisely, accurately and logically written with few errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation
Cite and list sources correctly according to the conventions of MLA
To Submit
Using Microsoft Word (or another word processing program allowed by your instructor), save the document with a filename that includes the assignment title, your first initial, and last name.
