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Writing a Sourced Position Essay

Critical thinking involves the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of arguments and synthesize them to draw your own, logical conclusions.  To the best of your abilities, it involves abandoning one’s biases and assess logically by avoiding fallacies, understanding claims, and taking a clear position.   Some arguments involving defending one’s own ideas and positions—a proposal, for instance, provides evidence supporting the idea and addresses any obvious disagreements while a literary essay summons evidence from the story to support the particular interpretation.  Yet other arguments take place within a culture of controversy.  These classical arguments involve taking a position within an argument that is already underway in which two or more positions are clearly defined.  These are the kind of essays that one thinks of when dealing with controversial topics such as abortion, the draft, the drinking age, the death penalty, and the Pledge of Allegiance.  Our sourced essay will be this kind of argument but more nuanced.

 For this paper (5 - 6 pages), we will focus on weaving various sources together in a coherent way, on integrating others’ ideas seamlessly into your own, and on citing sources correctly to avoid academic dishonesty. 

 For this essay, you will use at least three of the essays from the text; you may use other reference sources only—this includes encyclopedias (not Wikipedia or other online only encyclopedias) and dictionaries.  You must demonstrate your ability to use paraphrases, summaries, and direct quotations with flexibility.

 The essay will be assessed by your ability to write a convincing argument that is logical and that refutes counterarguments, by the sophistication of your ability to choose, use, and integrate sources, and by your overall writing abilities.