Critical Thinking – the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion.
Purpose and Overview
Incorporating sources into an essay allows the writer to explore the topic more deeply, finding information that
enhances and complements what the writer is trying to convey to the reader. Additionally, the writer learns to
analyze and evaluate information from sources to determine which are relevant to the topic and which should
be discarded and to smoothly synthesize the information from the sources into a coherent paper. This
assignment will require students to find, evaluate, incorporate, and document sources into their writing.
The topic for this essay will be selected from the topic list provided on Moodle. Once you have selected your
topic, complete the planning and pre-work to determine the audience, purpose, and question you are trying to
answer for your audience.
Depending on the topic and the question you are answering for the reader, organization of the essay may vary.
However, a good combination of the different rhetorical modes will offer variety and interest to the reader, as
well as allowing you more freedom to explore your topic to its fullest.
You will be required to find at least 5 sources that contain information that support the points in your essay. In
addition to your point of view on the topic that you select, it will also be important to include at least a
paragraph on the opposite viewpoint (counterargument).
For this research project, use the SIRS Issues Research to collect articles for your research essay. A
document is on Moodle that illustrates how to access SIRS Issues Researcher from ECCs online library. All
articles need to come from the Library’s resources. Look for articles in the resources because they already
have been approved as credible for use.
Format:
Your final essay will be in MLA format – this includes 12 point font, entire page double spaced, title in proper
format, 1” margins on all sides, Times New Roman typeface, page numbers at top right. Paper length is 4-5
pages, which means it must reach the bottom of the 4th page. Points will be deducted if your essay does not
meet the length requirement. Do not go over 5 pages.
Organization:
The introduction paragraph should present old information, background information, etc, before new
information. This information may take the form of a personal story, definition, explanation, description or any
combination of any of these. The introduction should clearly identify the topic that is being examined and set up
the question that will be answered in the thesis statement. It will contain an explicit thesis statement that is
located at the end of the intro paragraph (last 1-3 sentences). An explicit thesis directly states the writer’s main
idea/position and provides a clear direction for the essay. Example: The most significant problems facing Africa
are poverty, political corruption, and poor healthcare.
The explicit thesis statement will be the last 1-3 sentences of your introduction paragraph. The thesis
statement will answer the assignment prompt for your readers – What is the significance, based on the
audience and purpose, of exploring the topic you have chosen? Refer to your list of thesis dos and don’ts.
Avoid vague statements, listing statements, personal pronouns, illogical arguments, etc.
Your essay will use a variety of rhetorical modes to explore your topic. This means your body paragraphs will
be organized according to the kind of question you are answering in your thesis statement. A skeleton outline
will be provided, as well as sample pre-work and drafts (in class and/or on Moodle). This will be determined by
which method works best with your topic and information, as long as each paragraph and topic sentence is
thoroughly supported with enough details to prove the topic sentence.
Welcome to Legit Writing
