We have been examining contemporary issues. Your writing assignment (which we will use in part to get acquainted with a solid topic for your research paper) involves learning about a chosen contemporary issue related to one of the textbook chapters. Each of the options below involves writing in a common rhetorical pattern about a contemporary topic or issue. The issue can be directly from our textbook or you can pick a topic merely related to the subjects of our readings in our textbook. You need to have enough to say to write at least two to four pages double spaced. The topic can be something you already know a lot about or a totally new topic that interests you. You may even decide to explore an issue related to your chosen profession. Avoid writing about partisan issues such as abortion and government regulation unless you have a very new and unique position on the issue. These topics are also too large a topic for such a short paper. You must use correct MLA style from Rules for Writers. You must use at least two sources from the library databases for your paper. This paper must be written in a common pattern such compare contrast pattern or a classification pattern. Ideally this paper can be used as a stepping stone into your final research paper. For example, for this paper you could compare and contrast the gun laws in a few states then in your research paper you can examine the larger issue of a specific gun control law or mass shootings. You could also look at the ways a few states treat mentally ill patients in preparation for your research paper on mental illness. Students are discouraged against selecting topics that they already have strong view points about. For example, if you already have a strong opinion about treatment for mentally ill patients then probably you should pick another topic for this paper.

Option A. Write an essay in a compare and/or contrast pattern looking at some of the facts associated with a topic you are interested in exploring.

Option B. Write an essay comparing, contrasting, or classifying points of view on a contemporary issue you have chosen. This does not involve taking a stand on the issue. It only compares and contrast two points of view on the topic or two possible solutions to a contemporary problem.