Draft essay 4 Essay Purpose: For the research essay, you should already have a f

Draft essay 4
Essay Purpose:
For the research essay, you should already have a fairly good idea what you’re writing about, given your annotated bibliography due this week. The time has come to write the first draft.
Requirements:
A strong thesis statement
At least 5 sources of high tier or better that support your argument
A works cited page with all those sources recorded
12-point font, double spaced, Times New Roman
8-10 pages
Due Date and Length Requirements:
Rough draft due November 26th, at least 4 full pages
Final draft due December 10th, at least 8 full pages
Prompt:
For this essay, you are joining an ongoing academic conversation. From your research, you have learned about what scholars and professionals think about your chosen topic, how they view it, and how they respond to what others have to say about it. Sometimes these sources respond to each other directly, other times they simply offer different thoughts and opinions, but regardless, they are in conversation with one another. In this essay, you are contributing to this conversation by offering your own argument and perspective on it, based on the research you’ve already done.
Your main question, then, is what do you have to add to this discussion? You don’t have to come up with something that has never been thought of before or find something no other person has said. Instead, you are adding to the conversation by offering your own interpretation and analysis of the topic and research.
This is a huge jumping off point, so consider these more focused starting points. Your addition to the discussion surrounding your chosen topic might be:
You propose a solution to a problem you write extensively about
You identify a perspective about your topic that you agree with and add to it
You identify a perspective about your topic that you disagree with and challenge and correct it
Your topic is poorly understood by a general audience and you seek to explain it and why it matters to them
You identify more than one perspective about your topic that you think work well together, and write to combine them
You have a perspective or opinion on the topic you feel is underrepresented, and write an essay asserting it and its value
This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but a starting part. You might also find that you do several of these things in your essay, which is perfectly fine.
Structural Starting Point:
You should approach this essay broadly in two parts. The earlier part of the essay is going to be mostly focused on the research you have done on your topic. Your audience needs a foundation of information, which you should provide by directly referencing the most important and significant voices in your research. It will not be entirely summary and citation; at the very least, the early part of your essay will still contain your thesis, but it should focus on getting your audience familiar enough with your topic so that they can understand your argument.
The second part of this essay should focus more on your argument. What do you have to say to contribute to this discussion? Is there a problem that you want to offer a solution to? A prominent voice you want to disagree with? A perspective you don’t think has been adequately addressed in your research? Something else? Based on all the research you have done, what do you now have to say on the topic?
Suggestions and Recommendations:
There is not a sharp dividing line between the earlier, research focused part of this paper and the later, argumentative. You should think of it as a gradient where you shift gradually in focus.