With this assignment you will have a choice of controversial topic (below) to wr

With this assignment you will have a choice of controversial topic (below) to write about, but it must be about flowers in some way.
You must gather information, decide on a point of view, and discuss to support your perspective. Some of the earlier modules focused on some of these topic areas. You may have noted that some of the speakers are not presenting an unbiased, fully-balanced argument. Some were promoting something, perhaps it was not clear to you what. This is what will be expected of you out in the real world when you go to work: you will need to convince.
What matters in this assignment is that
it be some significant issue,
that it be controversial in some way and that you understand the controversy,
it must be your own writing
it cannot simply be echoing some party-line, religion or mantra. You must make a coherent, logical case for your position.
it must involve flowers in some way.
And to make it VERY clear: You must take a side! You cannot just write an analysis of both sides of a topic. Indeed you SHOULD present both sides of the topic, but you cannot do just that.
Your first step is to choose one of the topic areas below; if, in the end, your essay fits several topic areas, then you must pick one, so that it will be evaluated with respect to that topic area.
Topic Area: “Flowers as medicine.” Do flowers have the power to heal? You learned about cannabis; you could write about that. But note a lot of misinformation might make this a difficult topic – do not echo nonsense from the past. There are other flowers used medicinally (eg herbalists, traditional Chinese medicine,…). Note that there are other ways that flowers can improve human health; would that be “medicine”?
First Line: Chosen Topic Area: identify the topic area (from above) using the subheadings above. You are not allowed to create a new topic area.
Second Line: Your name
Third Line: Abstract sentence (one sentence which identifies the point of the essay, and the stand you are taking)
After the abstract: the essay itself: You must submit text for one particular topic areas above. If you wish to include an image then this must be embedded in the text. Images should be small (not full page) and do not count as part of the length requirement. You must reference any (every) image in your text, otherwise it will be ignored or deemed disconnected or irrelevant.
Then: References: You should cite references, in any format that you like, to back up your logical thinking. Note that definitive references are ones where a human being is standing as expert. Real supporting references have names in a by-line and those persons are experts. Some students seem to think that Wikipedia can be used as expert; but you have no way to know if it is definitive, accurate, authoritative. Note that anyone could edit whatever you find! So your citations need to be authoritative and attributed to a human being. This, especially, if you take the side opposite the person grading your essay. Writing this essay requires a coherent argument and solid citations and references.
Write coherent English: 1000 to 1500 words. It will be graded for quality in both the content as well as English composition. It must be your own words. Illogical or rambling nonsense will get few, if any, points. Show your sources (if any) by listing references at the end, in any format you like. A well-made argument can gain full points even if the graders disagree with your position. Submitting text which is not on topic will gain 0 points, even if all other formatting is done as required. See Rubrics which will be used in grading.