Read chapter 22 in Elements of Argument in its entirety to gain some ideas for your paper and to get a feel for the pros, cons, and different aspects of this broad topic of Climate Change. Not that the chapter title is NOT “Global Warming.” Choose an aspect of this topic that you feel strongly about—Some ideas include political or economic standpoints, legislation, the media’s role in reporting on the topic, normal long-term changes in weather patterns, speculation vs. fact…the list goes on, and you’ll gather more ideas once you read the chapter. You should also do a little light “research” to find out more on this topic before you start organizing your ideas.
Take a stand—argue about any aspect of Climate Change—that it is more of a political topic than a scientific one… that the media doesn’t discuss it enough/ that the media discusses it too much…that laws need to change…etc. You’ll be required to run your thesis/ claim by me before you begin so I can check to make sure you have an arguable angle. What you may not do in this paper, though, is point fingers at or blame any one person or group. Your arguments, as always, need to be based on facts and evidence, and not unsupported feeling or personal judgments (i.e., no use of the word “fair”!).
You are required to cite at least THREE ideas or quotations from any of the essays in the chapter, or two from the chapter and one from a viable source (approved by me) to support your own ideas in your essay, using at least TWO different essays from the chapter. Include a Works Cited page. See the example (below) of a Works Cited entry using your textbook as a source.
Be sure to include a refutation (opposing viewpoint). Your essay should be three to four pages in length.
See the sample student essays I provide to give you an idea of what to do for your paper.
Since you are citing another’s work, you will need to include a Works Cited page (see your text), which should look like this:
Loki, Reynard. “4 Reasons Climate Change Affects National Security.” Elements of Argument, Twelfth
Edition. Annette T. Rothenberg and Donna Haisty Winchell. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 201. 519-521. Print.
What you have in the above citation is the name of the essay and the book in which it appears (your textbook). Also included in this citation is the publication information (which you would include for any book) and the page numbers on which this particular chapter appears. For any essay that you use, substitute the author’s name, essay title, and page numbers. Then, put your citations in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. Be sure to use proper indentation as noted above. Adjust this citation for the other two authors and remember to include both authors in your own essay; likewise include both authors in your Works Cited page, in alphabetical order by author’s last name, double-spaced and indented as per MLA format.
