The Research Paper
Essay about San Diego’s Housing Crisis
Purpose:
This assignment is designed to teach essential skills for writing research papers.Students will learn to search for and determine the credibility of outside sources, choose and narrow a topic, present researched material to support a thesis in a developed paper, acknowledge and refute opposing views, provide documented information, and create a Works Cited page.In addition, students will continue to practice skills already learned in class, such as writing a clear thesis, using varied transitions, incorporating quotes, documenting sources using MLA format, and many others.
Requirements of the Assignment:
Write a six to eight-page research paper in MLA format, and argue one side of a controversial local issue, informing readers about the issue and your argument, providing quoted passages and/or paraphrases from at least six (6) sources to support your claims, acknowledge and refute opposing viewpoints, and encourage your readers to take action.
At least two of these sources must come from the library’s database. Up to two of the sources can be interviews with people who have knowledge of the topic.Cite your sources and include a Works Cited page in MLA format.
Also, do not forget thatplagiarism is cause for failure.This must be your paper written in your words.Every time you copy more than three consecutive words, you must cite your source.I take this very seriously, and so should you.
Your essay must be submitted through VeriCite on Canvas.
Directions:
FIRST: An introduction in which you provide a hook and give an overview of the local issue/controversy. The end of your introduction should include your thesis statement.
SECOND: An Argument section which develops your argument and addresses and refutes the opposing viewpoint.
THIRD: In the conclusion, you may take a side on the issue, offer solutions to the problem, or simply summarize and reflect on the different positions. The conclusion is the final piece of your essay and is intended as a document that pulls together the different materials
Preliminary Work:
Earn up to points for your preliminary work by stapling and submitting the following:
___Research Paper Essay Outline (10 pts.)
___Two signatures and meaningful comments from peers (5 pts.)
___Research Proposal (5 pts.)
___Annotated Bibliography (20 points)
Required Work:
Be sure you have included the following:
_____An engaging hook
_____Background information
_____ A clear thesis statement
_____Topic sentences in the body paragraphs
_____In the body paragraphs, 2-3 carefully chosen quoted passages (in each paragraph) to support the topic sentences
_____ A combination of basic and complex transitions to move readers from paragraph to paragraph and from point to point
_____Concluding sentences in all body paragraphs
_____A relevant conclusion
_____A Works Cited page
Focusing on grammar, review the rules for using commas and semicolons,and be sure you have included . . .
_____Commas in lists of three or more items
_____Commas after introductory words, phrases, and clauses
_____Commas before FANBOYS when connecting two independent clauses
_____Commas to set off a verb phrase from a quoted passage
Invention
Try to think of issues that concern you directly or ones you would like to understand better. Here are some local controversies students have engaged successfully in the past.
- Should e-cigarettes be banned locally?
- College loan debt
- Which is the best proposal to solve San Diego Bay pollution?
- Which is the best proposal to solve the San Diego housing crises?
- Which is the best proposal for solving the homeless problem in San Diego county?
Thinking Through Your Issue
I recommend that you begin by reading The San Diego Union Tribune for a week or so, paying special attention to the opinion/editorial pages. Also, try the Web-sites San Diego City Beat, The Voice of San Diego, and East County Magazine. KPBS radio (kpbs.org) is also useful for exploring issues, especially its program Midday Edition. These sources should give you a good idea what issues are the hottest at the moment and give you a head start on your research.
Be sure your thesis is controversial.As you begin to look into your subject, you’ll discover soon enough whether or not opposing opinions exist. (If you still have questions, see me.) Don’t choose a thesis that is merely a factual statement.
A fact is demonstrably true and admits no opposing opinions. This is a factual statement:
Ellen Browning Scripps built the Children’s Pool in La Jolla to benefit the children of San Diego.
This is a controversial thesis:
The seals currently living in the Children’s Pool should not be allowed to stay so that children will be able use the beach freely, as Ellen Browning Scripps planned.
SAMPLE ARGUMENT OUTLINE
Thesis: The death penalty should be abolished because it sometimes mistakenly punishes innocent people, it is expensive and wastes valuable resources, and it is cruel and unusual punishment.
- Topic Sentence 1: Innocent People are killed
- Example: Innocence Project
- Example: Clarence Brandley
- Topic Sentence 2: It’s expensive and wastes limited resources
- Example: A lot of taxpayer money is wasted on executions.
- Quote: According to Uloa, “Prominent supporters of the measure have repeatedly pointed out that the state’s taxpayers have spent $5 billion on the executions of only 13 people in almost 40 years. Online ads have urged voters to end a costly system that ‘wastes’ $150 million a year.”
- Example: It wastes limited resources.
- Quote:The ACLU states, “It unduly burdens the criminal justice system, and it is thus counterproductive as an instrument for society’s control of violent crime.”
- Topic Sentence 3: It’s cruel and unusual punishment
- Example: Electrocution and John Evans
- Example: Botched lethal injections and Stephen Morin.
- Example: Death Row Syndrome
- Opposing Viewpoint 1: Victim’s family deserves closure
- Opposing Viewpoint 2: Murderers deserve to die
Rebuttal:Families find closure in many different ways, and many families never find closure at all. In any case, surviving family members deserve more closure than the criminal justice system has the power to provide.
What most people really mean when they say “families deserve closure” is that families deserve vengeance. Many families do want vengeance, and this is certainly understandable, but we need — as a culture — to stop referring to vengeance as “closure.”
Evidence:If we were really worried about closure, we wouldn’t just appropriate the grief of strangers to serve a policy objective — we would actively provide free long-term mental health care and other services to the families of murder victims. If we spent as much money helping survivors as we spend killing offenders, their material needs would be met for the rest of their lives. You can tell what our public officials really care about — and what they really don’t care about — by looking at what they’re willing to spend money on.
- Rebuttal: Yes, they might. But the government is an imperfect human institution, and it lacks the competence to make sure that evil is always correctly punished.The government sometimes makes mistakes and convicts the wrong person.
- Evidence:race of the defendant can lead to unjust outcomes
- Evidence:amount of money the defendant has can lead to unjust outcomes
VII. Conclusion
I attached below six source for this essay and the outline
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