Goals of this unit:

1. construct cogent, logical, effective, and ethical arguments in writing;

2. compose texts that effectively employ the features of a given genre;

3. identify reliable and appropriate sources;

4. integrate appropriate sources effectively and ethically in their own texts;

5. participate effectively in groups with an emphasis on listening, critical and reflective thinking, and responding; and

6. compose texts that effectively address audience, purpose, style, and content. (This includes clear focus, structurally unified development of ideas, appropriate rhetorical style, correct use of Standard American Academic English (SAAE), and ethically appropriate use of research.)

Purpose:

You have been studying communication within different communities, and, in Unit 1, you created your own research in an effort to enter the conversation taking place in your field. And, in Unit 2, you researched multiple perspectives on the same topic in order to understand the varying ideas and research available to you on that topic. Now, it is time for you to enter that academic conversation and write your position essay. It is finally your turn to create your own knowledge and have your chance at convincing others of your perspective. You will use the topic of your research analysis essay and build an argument for one side of the topic. You will take one (and only one) side of the argument. Your aim is to take a stand on the topic of our choice and use sources to support that claim.

Nuts and Bolts:

For this essay, you will use the topic that you researched for you Unit 2 essay. As with all the essays this semester, you will need to choose a topic that includes borders, (again, defined as any border—physical and literal or metaphorical and ideological boundaries between two places). Just as you did in Unit 1 and Unit 2, you will need to start with questions and not answers. Your task is to use the sources from your Unit 2 essay (and a few new ones) to create an argument about the topic—you will take a stance on your chosen border topic and create an argument that convinces readers that your position is correct and valid. This essay requires that you use a minimum of eight peer-reviewed sources as evidence for your position, which means that you

can use some of the sources you used for your Unit 2 essay, but you will also have to find more. As with Unit 2, your sources should not simply restate the same opinion repeatedly. Nor should all your sources agree with one another. Rather, your sources should build upon each other’s ideas, and their arguments should be somewhere on the spectrum of agreement.

You are to choose at least eight peer-reviewed articles that contain and incorporate research that relates to your chosen topic of borders. The articles that you choose must have been peer-reviewed, and its topic must include a border, again, that is either a literal boundary between two places or an ideological or metaphorical border.

Here are some examples to help clarify. Let’s say that you chose to write about cultural borders that are physically and metaphorically crossed every day for your Unit 2 essay. You researched the multiple perspectives on that argument. Now, you will take a stand on the issue—what do you have to say about cultural borders that are crossed? You will start with the sources you found for your Unit 2 essay that help you support your position on the topic. Then, you will research to find more sources that serve as evidence for your position. Then, you will write your position on the topic, using at least eight sources as your evidence for your position.

Similar to the Unit 2 essay, to identify common threads in the sources, read each source searching for its relationships to the other sources (look for places where one author contradicts the other authors, places where the author supports other authors or repeated references to key texts).

Things to keep in mind while you are reading:

ü How does this source support my ideas about my topic?

ü How does this source help me persuade my readers to accept my position on this topic?

ü What are the most significant issues regarding this topic that those studying the topic should know about? How will this source help me demonstrate this significance?

Parameters:

The research essay is to be 1,500-2,000 words and should include specific, cited examples from all of your sources in MLA format. You are required to use at least eight peer-reviewed sources. In addition, your essay should be written with an eye toward academic tone, voice, and Standard American English. Also, your essay should be free of grammatical errors.

Features of the genre:

The research essay genre is a very objective essay. Thus, it does not use pronouns, especially the second-person pronoun “you” or the first-person pronoun “I.” Do not include yourself (I, we, us, our) or your reader (you, your) in this document. In addition, position essays use strong verbs—they omit weak auxiliary verbs like “could,” “can,” “would,” and “should.” Be confident in what you are presenting: if you have conducted good research, then you should be proud of what you are saying to your readers.

You will have an introduction that narrows your topic so that you only focus on the position that you are taking. Every topic has so many different arguments (as you learned in Unit 2), and your goal in your introduction is to narrow your focus to only the argument that you will offer. Your introduction will then logically lead to your focus, and your thesis statement should be clear and direct and should come in a thesis paragraph or at the end of your introduction. The thesis statement for a research essay takes a stand on the issue. Your thesis should be specific and arguable (which means that people should disagree with you).

Just as with the other essays this semester, you should have your research paper divided into sub-points with appropriate section headers. Each section should be focused around only that sub-point but should connect to the other sub-points as well as the overall thesis, making the research you present clear, cohesive, and easy to follow.

In the final section of your essay, you will present your conclusion. Conclusions in research analysis essay answer three questions:

1. Did I do what I said I would do? In other words, did you present enough evidence to support the claim about the topic that you made? This is more than a mere recitation of your thesis.

2. Why is this important? This question moves your research beyond our classroom walls. What is the significance of the stance you present on this topic?

3. What do you want readers to do with this information? You are the expert on this area and you need to tell readers what they should do with the knowledge that you have given them.

A few reminders about paragraph structure:

1. You should have a topic sentence that includes a transition and overviews the focus of the paragraph as it connects to your thesis.

2. You should then expand on your thesis, describing how this idea (or sub-point) furthers your thesis.

3. Give examples to which the audience can relate.

4. Synthesize your outside sources with your ideas. For a research analysis essay, you will include more than one source in each paragraph.

5. Discuss how the sources help you demonstrate the sub-point.

6. Finish the paragraph with a sentence that connects the sub-point back to your thesis.

Steps:

1. Choose a side (or position) from your Unit 2 essay

2. Determine what you want to say about the topic

3. Choose articles that will help you support your position from the articles you have

4. Research to find more sources that help you support your stance

5. Organize your ideas around your thesis (a statement that tells your readers the stance you are taking)

6. Pull out the information from our sources to be used in your essay (this include summary, paraphrase, and direct quotation)

7. Write a rough draft of the research analysis essay

8. Go see your professor or the Writing Center if you are struggling

9. Actively engage in the writer’s workshop

10. Make changes based upon the information in the workshop

11. Go see your professor or the Writing Center if you are struggling

12. Attend the peer review workshop

13. Make changes based upon feedback from workshop

14. Go see your professor or the Writing Center if you are struggling

15. Edit and proofread

16. Hand in Unit 3 essay and reflection

To earn the minimum grade of a C, your essay must…

1. Be in MLA format

2. Be on time

3. Have been peer reviewed in workshops

4. Meet the page requirements

5. Have a controlling idea (claim) with evidence from all the sources

6. Be cohesive and organized around your controlling idea

7. Be specific and give details and examples

8. Hand in essay and reflection on time

*****************BELOW IS AN OUTLINE ASSIGNMENT I DID

Outline / Rough Sketch: Essay #3

Introduction:

1.What ideas, topics, or subjects are you going to discuss?

Are you arguing in favor of liberalism or conservatism? Topics I am interested in referencing is the U.S./Mexico borders, immigration, abortion, genders roles in the workplace, police brutality from racism and nationalism versus culture identity. I am arguing these in favor of the conservative point of view.

2.How are these multiple ideas, topics or subjects related to each other?

The topics stated above are subjects that both liberal and conservative citizens in America face. These are issues that do not have legislation in place that holds violators accountable…which is another reason that these are issues here in America.

3.What argument are you making, or what position are you trying to defend?

I am arguing the fact that senators, politicians, and the 3 branches of the US government have NOT gathered to create legislation to produce policies such as police brutality consequences from the constitutional protection of the “qualified immunity”

police officers have where police get away with violating civil liberties. The law enforcement has become so comfortable violating its citizen’s rights which have led to tragic deaths of innocent civilian lives.

4.What solution do you plan to offer?

The authority for law enforcement to utilize non-lethal weapons such as beanie bag rifles, rubber bullets to immobilize perpetrators against violent protest, and stun guns.

5.Why is this solution or perspective better than the alternative?

Non-lethal weapons are the better alternative as a solution to killing perpetrators…as an officer of the law it is their responsibility to preserve life being firm but fair.

Body:

1.List eight potential sources you plan to use for your essay. (Minimum of 4 old sources and 2 new sources.) a. What Does Borders and Identity Mean b. Rep. Dan Crenshaw c. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

d. The call of the Tribe e. Anger Can Build a Better World here

f. Where Trump and Biden Stand on Policing, Crime and Racial Injustice g. Americans Increasingly Believe Violence is Justified if the Other Side Wins h. What the Data Say About Police

2.List four potential topic sentences, which should state the main idea of your arguments.

a. America’s society has issues with racism, gender inequality, culture-identity, police brutality, and immigration with no legislation to provide solutions.

b. The U.S. Mexico border and immigration process has ignited the racists American citizens and law enforcement to get away with hate crimes without consequence.

c. Male gender roles dominate the workplace and when it comes to leadership positions males outperform females in most cases.

d. Men have as much say in an abortion as a woman do because half the chromosomes of a human being are males therefore abortion should be illegal if done without the consent of a potential father men nurture an infant by soothing it by talking, reading, and singing to the womb.

3.Provide four potential counter arguments. (What issues might certain members of your audience have with your position or stance?)

a. The Supreme court, states laws and local law enforcement protect our rights which is guided by legislation.

b. Police officers who are deemed to possibly be guilty of racial profiling a victim is suspended and then investigated if found that unethical misconduct occurred, they are then terminated from their career as a police officer.

c. There are females who outperform males there are also female leaders in history who were rulers like Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth, etc.

d. Women carry an infant for 9 months before they are born, men only provide sperm it is the woman who endures a pregnancy an unwanted infant is their choice because it occurs in their bodies, men only fertilize an egg they do not nurture nor develop the infant.

4.Provide one quote from each of your sources that is applicable to your essay.

a. “We continually negotiate our identity, every day of our lives, every time we open our mouths. My name is Enrique Lomodrid. I'm from New Mexico. Every time I open my mouth must decide whether to talk to people in Spanish or English. When I was growing up, to some people / was Ric ( to other people Enrique. it’s a dual identity, but it's not cut in the middle. Both of these ends meet, and there is a unity to all of that” (What Does Borders and Identity Mean).

b. “The border divides two countries, but it also fosters a culture of its own. Some traditions persist in spite of the border Some traditions are trans-formed by the border: And the border creates new traditions as well, The border separates communities, but it also brings people together through confrontation as well as cooperation” (What Does Borders and Identity Mean).

c. “There needs to be a better immigration process…” (Rep. Dan Crenshaw video).

d. “majority of the reason people are undocumented is because their visa overstay…”(These Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).

e. “I willingly betrayed a person whom I loved and who loved me in order to lessen the risk that I might be rejected by strangers in my tribe…” (The call of the Tribe).

i. “Racism in our society. It lives in store aisles, discriminatory 911calls, policing, the racial wealth gap, and asymmetrical government responses to communities afflicted by COVID-19. Trough protest, diverse voices are boldly standing up to racial injustice.” (Anger Can Build a Better World here).

f. “And they are expressing anger while doing it.is rage is not a distraction, nor is it destructive to American ideals. It is playing a crucial role, politically and morally, in helping us build a better country” (Anger Can Build a Better World here).

g. “Trump has alternately presented himself as the law-and-order candidate who will crack down on crime in U.S. cities, and as a reformer, touting his bipartisan criminal-justice reform bill and unorthodox use of pardon and commutation powers. His Justice Department has urged federal prosecutors to seek the toughest sentences possible against all defendant”(Where Trump and Biden Stand on Policing, Crime and Racial Injustice).

h. “an uptick in the number of respondents saying they would condone violence by their own political party, and we decided to combine our data sets to get as much information as possible on this worrisome trend.”(Americans Increasingly Believe Violence is Justified if the Other Side Wins).

i. “There are large racial differences in police use of nonlethal force. My research team analyzed nearly five million police encounters from New York City. We found that when police reported the incidents, they were 53% more likely to use physical force on a black civilian than a white one.”(What the Data Say About Police).

j. “In a separate, nationally representative dataset asking civilians about their experiences with police, we found the use of physical force on blacks to be350% as likely. This is true of every level of nonlethal force, from officers putting their hands-on civilians to striking them with batons.” (What the Data Say About Police).

Conclusion:

1.Why do you believe your arguments to be correct or the best alternative for your audience to choose?

I believe the arguments made are correct and are the best alternative due to safeguarding the citizen’s constitutional rights.

2.Why should your audience trust you? What makes you credible or the sources you are using credible?

The audience should trust me because I am utilizing quotes to back up the facts which make the arguments credible.

3.What are the limitations of the other side? What are the weaknesses of their perspective?

Limitations to liberals on these topics is the want for change with no experience or ethical decision making that comes from legislation as well as moral courage to do what is right especially when no one is looking. Weaknesses to the other party’s perspective is the fact that liberal Spector of government want to utilize unproven methods whereas a conservative has proven traditional methods to policy and legislation