Writing Homework Help

 Drafting Your Paper

During Week 4 you will use the information gathered through research in previous milestones and from readings for this milestone to create a first draft of your Argumentative Research Paper, focusing on correct adherence to MLA guidelines for research paper writing, effective use and incorporation of research into your paper, effective embedding of quotations into your writing, and overall sentence structure.  You will have at least 5 paragraphs: 1 intro paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, and 1 conclusion.  Your paper should be 750-1200 words long and have at least three sources in it. We will add the counterargument next week. If you experience writer’s block starting your essay, skip the introduction and come back to it.

Learning Outcomes

• Use research to support your reasons
• Develop a writing strategy.
• Evaluate your draft and one of a classmate.

What You Will Learn

• Utilize the writing process that works for you
• Understand how to integrate quotes into your work
• Understand organizational patterns of an argumentative essay
• Identify sources and how they can be used with a specific audience

You will complete…

Task 1: Understanding “Writing with Sources” and Integrating quotations (60 points)

Task 2: First draft of paper 

Learning Activities

Read

• Textbook Reading: Chapter 4 The Curious Researcher: A Guide to Writing Research Papers
• PowerPoints

Watch

• Videos on Research Papers

Do

• Task 1: Understanding “Writing with Sources” and Integrating quotations 
• Task 2: First draft of paperSignal Phrases and Templates to Help You Quote
• They Say/I Say TemplatesWhy Templates? Academic writing requires presenting your sources and your ideas effectively to readers. According to Graff and Birkenstein, the first element in the process involves “entering a conversation about ideas” between you—the writer—and your sources to reflect your critical thinking (ix). The templates allow you, the writer, to organize your ideas in relationship to your thesis, supporting evidence, opposing evidence, and the conclusion of the argument.The Most Important TemplatesOn the one hand, __________. On the other hand, __________.Author X contradicts herself. At the same time that she argues __________, she also implies __________.I agree that __________.She argues __________, and I agree because __________.Her argument that __________ is supported by new research showing that __________.In recent discussions of __________, a controversial issue has been whether __________.On the one hand, some argue that __________. On the other hand, however, others argue that __________.Introducing a Quote:X insists, “__________.”As the prominent philosopher X puts it, “__________.”According to X, “__________.”In her article, “Article Title,” X maintains that __________.X complicates matters further when she writes that __________.Introducing Standard Views:Americans today tend to believe that __________.Conventional wisdom has it that __________.My whole life I have heard it said that __________.Making those Views Something You Say:I have always believed that __________.When I was a child, I used to think that __________.Writing a Summary:She demonstrates that __________.In fact, they celebrate the fact that __________.Disagreeing:I think that X is mistaken because she overlooks __________.I disagree with X’s view that __________ because, as recent research has shown, __________.Introducing Your Point of View:X overlooks what I consider an important point about __________.I wholeheartedly endorse what X calls __________.My discussion of X is in fact addressing the larger matter of __________. These conclusions will have significant applications in __________ as well as in __________.Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. New York: Norton, 2006.Signal PhrasesAcknowledges
  Adds
  Admits
  Addresses
  Argues
  Asserts
  Believes
  Claims
  Comments
  Compares
  ConfirmsContends
  Declares
  Denies
  Disputes
  Emphasizes
  Endorses
  Grants
  Illustrates
  Implies
  Insists
  NotesObserves
  Points out
  Reasons
  Refutes
  Rejects
  Reports
  Responds
  Suggests
  Thinks
  Writes