Social Issue Essay

1. Social Issue Essay Putting it all together

2. First, what is the goal of your essay? • Identify a social issue in American Society... something that keeps the average person up at night and then propose a feasible solution to the problem in a manner that persuades your audience to take action.

3. How to Organize the Essay • Intro: 5-6 sentences in length, gives an overview (very general) of the problem, identify how this problem affects everyone, introduce an acronyms you will be using in the essay, & ends with the thesis statement.

4. How to Organize the Essay • Body Paragraph 1: History of the problem; how did the problem become a problem, be specific – what does the problem look like for society? Who does it directly effect? Explore why your problem is a problem for current society. What are the long-term consequences of doing nothing? What are the short-term consequences of doing nothing?

5. How to Organize the Essay • Body Paragraph 2: Introduce the solution using solid, relevant research that proves your solution to be realistic and inspires people to act—what will happen if people don’t act? Why is your solution the answer? How will your solution benefit the masses?

6. How to Organize the Essay • Body Paragraph 3: Specifically inform the reader on what they can do—but you have to stay in 3rd person POV! You need to hit the audience with facts, statistics and paint a grim picture of what the future will look like if no one acts.

7. How to Organize the Essay • Conclusion: 5-6 sentences You need to wrap up your essay—highlight your topic and remind the reader of your main points. Do not include any new information! Do not include the word, “conclusion” in any fashion. Restate your thesis statement—it should be worded differently from your actual thesis.

8. Building a Body Paragraph • Minimum length: 8-10 sentences, but realistically they will be more like 10-12 in length • Each body paragraph should have a balance of research and commentary (your analysis, views, etc). • Begin with a topic sentence that tells the reader what you are going to discuss: a mini thesis • Quotes and paraphrases cannot be the first sentence of a body paragraph! • Concluding sentence that wraps up the ideas expressed in the paragraph and transitions to the next.

9. Building a Body Paragraph 2 body paragraphs is the MINIMUM! 3body paragraphs is the MAXIMUM! This means that your final paper will be somewhere between 4 & 5 body paragraphs! Your history/overview of the problem/issue should only be ONE paragraph—no matter what!!!

10. Quotes and Paraphrases • Do not stack your quotes one right after another—you need to seamlessly blend in your research. • Use a lead in for directly quoted material • Only directly quoted material is surrounded by quotes • Paraphrased information: information that you read from another source that you put in your own words—still needs to be cited or it is plagiarism • Anything that you didn’t know before you wrote this paper needs to be cited! • You can quote material that is quoted in your source

11. Required Sources Required Source Types: Webpage (reliable/credible) Scholarly/Peer-reviewed Journal Article Your choice (must be credible)

12. Splitek’s Warning! Although you might think that three sources is oh so many, you will probably need way more than that (between 5 and 7) to thoroughly explore the issue.

13. Parenthetical Documentation Must be used at least 6 times! Parenthetical Documentation Breakdown: Three Quotes Three Paraphrases * All quotes and paraphrases must be correctly cited! *

14. Vocabulary...the beautiful disaster • 10 correctly used words from lessons 9-12 • Words must be highlighted and labelled • They must be sprinkled throughout the paper—remember how hard it was to include them in just the first three paragraphs?  • A poor use of vocabulary can create a sense of weak ideas—they need to add power to your paper not take away from it!

15. MLA Formatting • 12 point font • 1 inch margins • Header (last name & page #) EX: (Jones 3) • Heading Your name Melinda Splitek ELA H 3-4 period (x) February 24, 2014 • Works cited page: is its own page, includes the header, alpha order, no full web addresses, anything cited in your paper should have a works cited entry

16. Staying Objective You must stay in 3rd person POV The following words are off limits: I, Me, My, Myself, You, Your, Yourself, Our, Ourselves, We, Us No rhetorical questions: the “you” is implied in a rhetorical question—you are speaking to me, you are asking me so it is not an objective 3rd person POV Purpose? To add validity to your argument! YOU are not an expert– so your views and opinions have to be expressed as facts that are supported by evidence!

17. Your Solution & the Audience • Your solution needs to be feasible, practical—you are not going to change the world with one paper! • Your solution needs to appeal to those who agree with you and those who do not! • Remember that your solution and use of persuasion should be so UH-MAY-ZING that your audience gets on the same page as you and is inspired to ACT! • Do not rely on pathos—pathos is the weakest of the appeals for this type of paper—ethos and logos should be woven throughout the paper. • Your focus should be on the audience that doesn’t agree with you—the audience that already agrees with your perspective will naturally support the proposed solution

18. Power Verbs A power verb is one that is so fantastic that it leads to action! Think about your word choice—it matters. It can be the difference between an okay argument and a strong, solid verb.

19. Your First Rough Draft Your first rough draft is worth A LOT of points but you have to earn them! Your second draft needs to include the following: Introduction 2 fullbody paragraphs (8-10 sentences) @ least 2direct quotes & 1 paraphrases All 10 of your vocabulary words highlighted and labeled. Typed with full MLA formatting