Your task in this assignment is to craft an analysis on a narrowly defined topic of your choice
related to current events and social discourse that has a clear, informed position. Your
paper must appeal to scholarly audiences, and fulfill university-level standards for type, depth,
and quantity of research. The best way to identify a topic for this paper is to pay attention to the
ideas or questions that spark your attention (whether from the topics in this class, or the world
around you).
Once you have a topic in mind, focus on creating a complex argument of your own about that
topic. Do not worry about identifying an argument that is ground-breaking or presents something
radically new for humankind. This is just English 0802! But also, keep in mind that you are not
writing a report of facts you have found, nor are you writing an overly simplified opinion piece.
You must have something to say that other scholars could reasonably disagree with, and what
you say must be nuanced and complex. You are gathering as much as you can find on your
chosen topic and will want to think about how you can teach your reader about the topic without
summarizing. Especially with using nonacademic sources, you must exercise brevity and have
your own focus while, ultimately, letting your topic be the central evidence of the paper. You
can think of this, similar to the Media Bias Map, as reporting with analysis, and read articles that
fit this vein to see a style that both educates the reader and espouses your own point-of-
view. Most information on current events have some element of perspective (or bias); this is not
inherently bad. Part of developing your own rhetorical skills is being able to identify degrees of
perspective/bias, and being able to utilize your own assessment as part of your analysis.
Details
Your completed paper must meet scholarly audience expectations for thesis, reasoning,
evidence, and voice, and follow professional format and citation practices (MLA Style 8thEdition).
It must also incorporate at least six (6) relevant and valid sources (this includes Twitter feeds
and includes sources that may be “invalid” based on the Media Bias Map, so long as you are
nuanced and balanced in how you use the sources). It must be at least six (6) pages long (at
least 2100 words), not including the Works Cited page. It must use Standard Written English
grammar, spelling, and punctuation.