Purchase Solution

How to Develop an Essay

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

English 103
Essay Instructions
For this essay, you will apply some of the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills you have been learning in this class to an evaluation of an argument that you will choose from recent published articles about current topics.
How to Proceed: Follow the instructions/steps below
1. Create a set of criteria based on either or both of our main texts on which to base your evaluation. In other words, make a list of the most important qualities of a strong and persuasive argument. It is very important to do this before you start the prewriting stage of your paper.
2. Go to the editorial page of a major newspaper such as the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, or any other newspaper that serves a large, diverse population. Select one of the articles (preferably on a topic that interests you), and analyze its elements of argumentation. If you are reading letters to the editor in response to an editorial, be sure to read the original editorial (you should be able to find it in the newspaper's archives), to give context to the letter and help you understand what it's all about.
3. Review the article (and maybe some responses to it on the editorial page) and determine if it meets the criteria for a strong argument.
4. Create an introduction which describes the qualities (in general) of a strong and persuasive argument.
5. Create a thesis statement which defends the article as a strong persuasive argument, and list at least three reasons in your thesis. Alternatively, you can create a thesis which says that the argument is neither strong nor persuasive, and list three reasons for your judgment.
6. The body paragraphs of your essay will be organized around each item of criteria (reason), and for support you will give the direct evidence from the articles and from our text, and you will give your judgments about how or if the article measures up to each main criteria (that you have selected) for a strong argument.
7. Your conclusion should not be a restatement of your thesis, but rather a paragraph perhaps about the value of being able to ascertain a strong argument from a weak argument—it should be about the value of using critical thinking skills in our everyday world—filled with much information which we must sort through, sometime to make important decisions (voting, for example).
MLA format and no plagiarism

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

The expert determines how to develop an essay.

Solution Preview

Organization of the Essay~

Introduction: Some background information about the topic you are researching that the reader(s) should be aware of, and you need to end it with a strong, working thesis statement. There should Not be any documented sources in the Introduction paragraph. Documented sources should start occurring After the Introduction paragraph only. Your thesis statement has to solely come from your own voice; it can Not be documented. Since gas prices have been rising and falling so frequently, that would be an easily arguable topic to write about. In your thesis statement, you can write it this way: There should be a proposition against oil prices rising because not only is over-charging on oil prices on American consumers unfair, but over-charging can cause economic downfall...(I've added specified examples to follow there; please refer to the attachment to make sure you read all pages.

First Body Paragraph~
This paragraph needs to be about the 1st. arguing point directly taken from your currently working thesis statement which can be about rising gas prices that would cause consumer to cut down expense. This is an easily accessible topic meaning that there're already existing and current resources on the WWW for you to locate. Since your bid is high, I will have completed all the research processes for you along with an instruction-based five paragraph format. All you have left to do since the paragraphs will have already been set up in an ...

Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
The Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

How well do you know Poe? This brief quiz will take a look at key plot points, characters, and settings of several of Poe's short works.

Literary Elements

Quiz yourself on basic literary elements! Understand important terms necessary for ELA!

How well do you know the plot of Pride and Prejudice?

This is a basic multiple-choice quiz. You will be given four choices for each question.

How to use Homonyms

Homonyms are words that sound the same, but have different meanings. See if you can tell which word goes with each sentence.

Macbeth Comprehension Act Three

Test your knowledge of basic plot, character analysis, imagery, and language on the third Act of this famous Shakespeare play.