Lecture Notes: Week 11

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Proposal Essay Assignment Sheet

Assignment Instructions: For this assignment, you will write a Proposal Essay that is at least
2000 words. Beyond that, your essay may be as long as necessary to fully support your thesis.
Your proposal essay will measure your ability to explain a problem and evaluate its proposed
solutions. You must select a LOCAL problem and seek out and propose solutions to the
problem. The problem you select should be of consequence, and the solution to it may not be
simple; multiple solutions may exist, and you may need to evaluate which ones are the best, most
logical, and so on, and justify your choice/s. If a proposed solution is unlikely to work, explain
why. You should fully evaluate each proposed solution to the problem and may even explain
why one solution is best. You do not have to come up with your own, unique solution if you
found an existing solution in your research. Make sure that your topic is narrow enough to fit the
length requirements AND that it is LOCAL in scope. Solving the problem of Prostitution, for
example, is too broad and is not primarily a LOCAL issue; solving the problem of prostitution in
Nevada, on the other hand, would be a more tightly focused topic that ALSO satisfies the
requirement that your topic is of LOCAL significance.
Note: Copy and Paste ALL of the above information into the SmarThinking description of
assignment box.

Topic Choice/Additional Writing Assistance: You may choose almost any topic, but your
problem must have several logical, already proposed, solutions. If you are unsure about the
appropriateness of your topic, email the instructor as soon as possible for feedback. Your topic
choice must be approved by the instructor and will be evaluated through the THESIS
WORKSHOP Discussion Post Assignment. There will be several Discussion Board Posts during
this period, which will require you to examine your essay and your ideas. You MUST complete
the THESIS WORKSHOP Posts by the due dates, or your essay will receive a ZERO.
**If you are having difficulty choosing a topic, you may look through local newspapers for topic
ideas.

Research Requirement: You will be required to use a limited amount of research in this essay.
You may use any credible research for this assignment, but, again, do not let the research take
over. If your voice gets lost, then you have not satisfied the requirements of this assignment.
Research should be used ONLY TO BACK UP YOUR OWN ASSERTIONS. It should not be
the basis for your essay. Your goal is to use the research to outline something specific about the
issue, and then explain it in your own words. You may use any, all, or none of the sources
included in your Annotated Bibliography. Tip: In a paper of this size, you will likely need at
least 5 sources.

You may not choose any of the following toics for this assignment:
Gay Marriage/Domestic Partnership
Legalization of Drugs of Any Type--Changing the Drinking/Smoking Age
Doctor Assisted Suicide
Abortion
Death Penalty
Gun Control
Animal Cruelty/Experimentation.
 Lecture Notes: Week 11
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In Text-Citations and Works Cited Page: Don’t forget the Works Cited Page. Any Essay
submitted without a Works Cited page will receive a Zero. You also must include appropriate
MLA in-text parenthetical citations as discussed in your textbook. Without proper in-text
citations, you have technically committed an act of Plagiarism and your essay will receive a zero.

Plagiarism: (From your Syllabus) Directly quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing the ideas of
others without specific identification of the sources (intentionally or not), and handing in work,
which is not the student’s own, all constitute plagiarism. Although in cooperative study and peer
editing, students may ask for criticism, such aid must be limited. The individual student is
responsible for the preparation and presentation of assignments. Any work that is suspected of
plagiarism will receive the grade of zero and may constitute a failing grade in the course.

Academic Essay Writing Tips:

*Do not use the 1st or 2nd person pronouns (I, you, we, us). Use only 3rd person (they).
*Avoid ALL questions. Statements always make a bigger impact.
*Explain everything. Make sure that I understand your point of view clearly.
*Use appropriate language for your purpose. Your purpose here is to PRESENT A PROBLEM
AND PROPOSE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO IT.
*Introduce each source as you use it so that readers know which information is your own and
which comes from the source. This MUST ALWAYS BE OBVIOUS.
*Never use contractions or slang words in your formal writing.
*Make sure your parenthetical citations clearly refer to a source listed in the Works Cited and
that all citations follow proper MLA regulations. Do not improvise or add information that you
“think will help” if it is not required by your textbook’s MLA citation guide (Chapter 45).

Formatting/Submitting: All Essays must be submitted through the Assignment Dropbox as

Attachments, and they must be in MLA format with definite—proper—paragraph breaks. See the
MLA Example/Instruction Sheet under the Course Content Tab for details. Your work may be
submitted as DOC/DOCX or RTF files ONLY. Any departure from proper MLA formatting or
DOC/RTF styles may constitute a grade of ZERO.

Before Beginning Work on This Assignment: Be sure to complete all of the assigned textbook
readings and lecture notes. You should also complete the Discussion Posts so that you are sure
you have all of the necessary information before submitting your Essay.

SmarThinking Requirement: You must submit TWO drafts of your essay to SmarThinking
before submitting your final draft to the instructor. If you fail to submit TWO SmarThinking
Mark-Ups by the Mark-Up due dates, you must submit the Mark-Ups (without a grade) with the
final draft. Any essay submitted without first having been read by SmarThinking will receive a
grade of ZERO.

Let me know if you have any specific problems. Remember, no late work will be accepted.