Controversy on American Identity

Argue your viewpoint in a current (within the past two years) controversy concerning American identity in a rigorously researched 4-6 page essay. Choose one of the three course threads to focus on: gender, race or ethnicity. You could also choose a controversy in which these topics intersect with each other or with other aspects of American identity. As a persuasive piece, the essay should advocate that the audience do, think or believe something. Think about the examples of argument you have seen during the course: what do they ask, demand or beg of audiences? How do they use the major appeals like ethos, logos, pathos and kairos to build a persuasive case? How are they organized? Why should people care about this right now? Model those rhetorical techniques in your own work, adapting and abstracting them to your own argumentative purpose.
Research Requirement
Your argument’s major claim and supporting ideas must be supported with a carefully considered balance of rhetorical appeals and evidence gleaned from research. Evidence, after all, functions as an appeal. You may use the research you did for your annotated bibliography assignment to support your claims. Do not drop those summaries into the persuasive essay. They weren't designed for your audience. If you find your argument needs more or different support, you may also include new sources. Remember that you are making an argument expressing your viewpoint by using evidence and refuting counterpoints, not merely summarizing.
Choose a target audience and an organizational strategy
Choose an educated audience that does not agree with you on the topic at hand. That means they should be undecided or hostile. For example, if arguing that social security benefits should be suspended for all women over the age of 65, you might choose a target audience like the Democratic National Convention where that position would be recieved with hostility. We encourage you to think about local venues where your argument could have real world impact such as a community association or the leadership of an institution you have a stake in. For example, if arguing that gender-neutral bathrooms should be featured in your school then possible audiences could include the local School Board or the local Parent Teacher Association.
Think carefully about all the available means of persuasion. What specific arguments and evidence will be most convincing to this audience? Will you need to refute ideas commonly held by the group? What emotional and ethical appeals will be effective in persuading your audience to consider (and hopefully accept) your claim? Are you part of this group, or an outsider? How can you organize your claims to lead the reader through a flowing logical sequence? When choosing where to put your thesis statement, sometimes when writing to a potentially hostile audience it is appropriate to withhold the claim until after the presentation of evidence to build support.
Mandatory Minimum Requirements Checklist
Imagine this is an article that could be published in an existing journal, magazine, newspaper, or on a website. Between the MLA heading and the essay title, briefly and specifically, describe the audience and the venue. Here is an example:
Example: “Daily Texan student, faculty, staff and alumni readers are generally aware of UT's top-six-percent rule automatic admissions rule. Many of these Daily Texan readers may have benefited from it when it was the top-seven-percent or top-ten-percent rule, so they probably will be hostile to my proposal to abolish it entirely.”
State a compelling thesis. Usually, such claims occur at the beginning of an academic essay. However, when writing to a potentially hostile audience sometimes it is appropriate to withhold the claim until after the presentation of evidence. The support for this thesis should come from your research.
You are required to use a minimum of six sources for this assignment. At least one of these should be an academic journal article. Carefully evaluate each source for its relevance and credibility--you aren't looking to pad the essay, but rather to support your claims.
Include a Works Cited list.
Include a descriptive title for your essay.