ESSAY#3 ASSIGNMENT: Write an essay in which you answer the following question:

ESSAY#3 ASSIGNMENT: Write an essay in which you answer the following question:

What should we do about the problem of disinformation?

Some points to keep in mind as you begin planning this essay:

The most important point to keep in mind when coming up with your thesis is to be focused. Of the three prompts you’ve had for essays in this class, this one is the most open ended. You are free to come up with ANY idea that you think would be a good idea. But you are NOT expected to address every aspect of this particular issue. You are expected to come up with a single, concrete proposal (claim of policy) that we could do and to argue why this would be a good idea. As always, make sure your thesis statement answers the question: what should we DO about the problem of disinformation?
Your thesis will be a claim of policy describing some particular action we should take about this particular problem.
Your proposal can be stated as a positive action — for example, “We should make is much easier for people or groups to sue organizations or individuals for knowingly promoting disinformation.” Or you can state your idea in a negative way — for example, “We should not attempt to regulate social media for disinformation.” Your thesis might even be: “We shouldn’t try to do anything about disinformation.”
Make sure you argue why your particular proposal is a good idea, what benefits your specific proposal will bring about, or why doing something you don’t think we should do will only make the problem worse. Don’t just argue why disinformation in general is a bad thing. Your proposal/thesis is that we DO something in particular, so make sure you have good reasons and evidence that this proposal will be a good idea. In other words, explain what your proposal would change and why this change would be a good idea. If your thesis is that we shouldn’t do something, then explain what would happen if we did do that and what bad things would happen if we did.
Also, focus on WHY your proposal would be a good idea; don’t spend too much time explaining HOW to do it. Keep the discussion about HOW to do it contained in the intro paragraph.
This topic — like all good arguments — will require some EVIDENCE, evidence that your idea will be a good thing, that it will bring about a positive change or block a negative change. Keep in mind that because this topic is somewhat political, there are a lot of sources out there (on both sides) that should not be trusted. It will be very important that you be skeptical about any information on this topic and be especially careful about using only credible and objective sources. There is A LOT of misinformation and disinformation out there on this issue — ironic, isn’t it.
As with essay #2, for this essay, you will need a minimum of three credible outside sources, and one of those must be a source that essentially disagrees with your position or offers an opposing view on the issue. You must bring up and then counter-argue at least one significant point that contradicts or challenges your thesis.
Also, as with essay #2, there will be an annotated bibliography due along with the essay.