ARGUMENTATION AND PERSUASION ESSAY ASSIGNMENT (page 1 of 3)

ARGUMENTATION AND PERSUASION ESSAY ASSIGNMENT (page 1 of 3)

ENGLISH 097-016 Developmental Composition II (Fall 2019)

Instructor: Steve McNamara

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

(1)    Complete Formal Academic Essay Writing for This Class

(2)    Continue to Practice/Develop Multi-Paragraph Essay Writing Skills

(3)    Practice/Develop Argumentation and Persuasion Essay Writing Skills

(4)    Continue Use of both a Writing Process and a Computer for Writing

GENERAL INFORMATION:

• Essay is due Friday, November 22, 2019. It may be submitted in hard copy form either in class or to Room B206 or in digital form by email (smcnamar@oakton.edu or smcnamar@d2l.oakton.edu).
• Essay is worth 200 points.

(3)    Essay should be approximately 750 words (3 pages) long, word-processed (in either 10, 11, or 12 point size and in a “readable” font—e.g. Calibri, Cambria, Courier, Times New Roman, Twentieth Century Condensed) and double-spaced.  Essay pages should be clipped or stapled (unless emailed).

(4)    Essay should be formatted per current Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines. These include the following key details:

• place in the upper RIGHT corner of every page your last name and the page number—the MLA Header
• place in the upper LEFT corner of only the first page your name (writer’s name), my name (instructor’s name),[unique_solution]

English 097-016 (class’s name), and due date (date month year order)—the MLA Heading

• place in the CENTER of the next line below the MLA Heading your essay’s title (NOT the assignment’s title)    
• Note: For a sample of proper MLA formatting for this essay, please see page 3 of this assignment handout.

SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS:

• STEP ONE: Survey the following 5 Oakton Community College-related educational policy issues:

• “All prospective Oakton Community College students should be required to complete a school-based orientation program (either on campus or online) before they are allowed to register for their first semester of courses.”

• “All Oakton Community College students should be required to take Oakton-based entrance placement tests in writing, reading, and/or math before they are allowed to enroll in their first courses in these academic disciplines (subject areas).”

• “All Oakton Community College students enrolled in developmental-level courses (those below 100-level) in writing, reading, and/or math should be graded with standard letter grades (A through F) instead of with Pass/Fail grades for these classes.”

• “All Oakton Community College students should be required to take and to pass a school-based “First Year Experience/Theme” course during their first year of study at Oakton Community College.”

• “All Oakton Community College students should be required to complete service learning-based (community service-based) projects in at least one of their courses during their first year of study at Oakton Community College.”

• STEP TWO: Select ONE of these 5 Oakton Community College-related educational policy issues to use as the topic for your essay.

                                                                                                                        MORE ON PAGE 2!

ARGUMENTATION AND PERSUASION ESSAY ASSIGNMENT (page 2 of 3)

ENGLISH 097-016 Developmental Composition II (Fall 2019)

Instructor: Steve McNamara

• STEP THREE: Using effective argumentation and persuasion writing skills, write a clearly focused, fully detailed, logically organized, and soundly written 6 paragraph argumentation and persuasion essay in which you argue either FOR or AGAINST the validity of your selected Oakton Community College-related educational policy issue, based on the information about argumentation and persuasion writing covered during class Friday, November 8, 2019, as well as based on the argumentation and persuasion essay outline and also the argumentation and persuasion essay samples available through D2L .

GRADING RUBRIC OVERVIEW:

• CONTENT (120 points)
  • ENGAGING TITLE (10 points)
  • STRONG INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH (25 points)
• ATTENTION GETTER/HOOK
• TOPIC/ISSUE INTRODUCTION
• CLAIM/THESIS STATEMENT
• ESSAY MAP/PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT
• FOUR THOROUGH BODY/SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS (70 points)
• TOPIC SENTENCES
• DEVELOPED EXPLANATIONS
• CONCLUDING/TRANSITIONAL SENTENCES
• POWERFUL CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH (15 points)
  • CLAIM/THESIS RESTATEMENT
• ESSAY MAP/PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT RESTATEMENT
• CLOSING STATEMENT/CLINCHER
• STRUCTURE (40 points)
• EFFECTIVE OVERALL ESSAY FORM (20 points)
• ONE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH
• FOUR BODY/SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS
• ONE CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH
  • CLEAR PARAGRAPH FORM (10 points)
• TOPIC SENTENCE
• SUPPORTING DETAIL
• CONCLUDING/TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE
• CONSISTENT TRANSITION USE (10 points)
• BEGINNING OF PARAGRAPH
• THROUGHOUT PARAGRAPH
• END OF PARAGRAPH
• WRITING (40 points)
  • SOUND SENTENCE SKILLS (30 points)
    • GOOD GRAMMAR
  • GOOD MECHANICS
  • GOOD PUNCTUATION
  • GOOD WORD USE
  • PROPER MLA FORMATTING (10 points)
  • ACCURATE ASSIGNMENT HEADING
  • ACCURATE HEADERS
  • ACCURATE SPACING/INDENTING                 MORE ON PAGE 3!

ARGUMENTATION AND PERSUASION ESSAY ASSIGNMENT (page 3 of 3)

ENGLISH 097-016 Developmental Composition II (Fall 2019)

Instructor: Steve McNamara

PROPER MLA FORMATTING SAMPLE:

ALL PAGES:              Your Last Name and the Page Number

PAGE 1 ONLY:

Your Full Name

Mr. M. (or Professor M. or Mr./Professor McNamara)

English 097-016

22 November 2019

Your Essay Title Here (NOT the Assignment’s Title)

Beginning of Your Essay Here