This assignment is to capture your preliminary thinking about your topic and the various perspectives surrounding it. there are undoubtedly many areas of stakeholders that hold perspectives such as government, non-governmental organizations, public, the press, science (in its many forms), and industry.

Try to find out as many perspectives as you can from these areas--remember, some areas may have more than one perspective such as scientific fields. You may not have as many sources as you need yet, but some sources should clue you into the diverse perspectives that areas hold.

You will want a topic that allows for academic researchnot just general websites or popular magazines research.

Avoid the topics listed below, and any topic that only has pro/cons or disadvantages/advantagesyou need more than two perspectives much like your last paper.

Consult with me if you need help or have questions about topic.

TOPICS TO AVOID:

NO Gun Control/Conceal Carry

NO Abortion (except the recent Supreme Court ruling)

NO Euthanasia

NO Death Penalty Pros/Cons

NO Legalization of Marijuana

NO Global Warming/Climate Control

NO Evolution/Intelligent Design

NO President Trump or President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris as candidates

NO Religious Beliefs (you can do comparative religion)

NO Legal Drinking Age

NO Gay Marriage

NO Animal Rights/Testing

NO Social Mediaadvantages/disadvantages

NO Basic Technology like cell phones or social media

NO Basic evaluations of products

NO canned Pro/Con OR any Advantages/Disadvantages Topics

• NO recycled high school or college papers from another class.
• NO five (5) paragraph essays! You cannot make 8 pages of text fit into 5 paragraphs.

First,

make a Planning Worksheet for Research Paper Planning Worksheet for Research PaperRemember, when you report on your research, you are basically informing people what views are "out there", but you are also informing them how you processed that information and create/support your argument as well. 1. What is your topic? 2. Purpose 3. AudienceTo whom are you speaking? 4. StanceWhat do you know or believe about your topic already? 5. What will be your tentative thesis? In other words, what question do you seek to answer or what viewpoint do you intend to promote in your paper? To whom or what view are you responding? 6. What kinds of resources will you be looking for? Will you include any visuals? Will you do any interviews or other primary research? 7. What kinds of perspectives or positions are there on the topic? What do "they" say? Be specific about who is saying what. a. What does the person or group say? Can you rephrase or summarize the perspective? b. What do you think about this perspective? c. What points do you agree with? d. What points do you disagree with?

Second,

List of Tentative Sources

This assignment is a tentative list of sources for your paper that you have been locating to use in your Research Paper.

Try to list 12- 20 resources that you want to use. This list may shift a bit as you continue working on the paper because you may decide to find more sources or decide that some sources you thought would work really do not.

Please put these sources into APA format like they would appear in your final paper under References.

Third,

you need to sketch out the blocks of your paper. These are SECTIONS of your paper--NOT PARAGRAPHS. Your sources will support the various points you make or illustrate what "they" say. It may take several paragraphs to explain each of your premises. Premises are reasons why you think the way you do about your topic.

You can sketch out an outline. It should look similar to this:

1. Introduction--What others are saying about my topic, any useful background knowledge, what I say about my topic, what is my thesis or argument?

2. Premise 1 In order for my argument to be solid, I am offering the first premise (reason) which is:

3. Premise 2 Furthermore, in addition to premise 1, I also want to offer this premise:

4. [Keep offering how ever many premises you have to support your argument]

5. At each premise or right before the conclusion, state what the naysayer might say to you. Then, what you will say in response to the naysayer.

6. Conclusion: Why is my argument significant? What will my audience be able to understand or do as a result? What will I ask my audience to do as a result of agreeing with my argument?

Forth,

Write your research paper and make sure to include the following:

Your paper should be at least 2600 words with a minimum of 12 sources.

your essay should be in APA 7th edition format for the entire paper. APA is quite different from MLA, so please consult the Little Seagull Handbook chapter on APA in the module for help. At the end of the chapter, is a sample paper so you can see what's there.

include the URLs for your resources.