Essay Four will be a well-informed, argumentative 8-10 MLA-formatted research essay that demonstrates the skills you've developed this semester. Develop a strong draft that includes a review of the Essay Checklist items and pre-revision before submitting.

Successful Essay Four submissions will include –

• An interesting hook.
• An introduction that provides necessary context for the debate.
• A sound main claim.
• Closely related subclaims required to defend the main claim.
• Evidence and reasoning to support each subclaim.
  • Each subclaim must be defended by at least two different source authors.
• A counterargument and rebuttal.
• Properly embedded quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.
• Your analysis and explanation of key points and all quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.
• Accurate in-text citations.
• A conclusion that leaves the reader with something to think about.
• A Works Cited page for all sources I have not provided.
  • Everyone will have a minimum of THREE Works Cited entries.
• A demonstration of your mastery of the technical skills of academic writing.

Research and Sources

For Essay Four, you are required to use a minimum of five outside sources, THREE of which must be from your independent research. You can also use sources peers have found, but, again, THREE sources you use must have been found through your independent research.

Developing Your Research Focus

When thinking about your research focus, look at the "Big Questions" page for your topic and see if any of those ideas speak to you. You'll find your topic pages by clicking on your topic button, below. That will lead you to the Modules page where you will find both the "Big Questions" and "Sources" pages for each topic.